Silviu-Vasile Roșu, M.A.

PhD project

Sacrifice in Two Sanskrit Translations of the Letter to the Hebrews: A Contextual, Textual, and Conceptual Analysis

This dissertation examines the theme of sacrifice in the discourse of Protestant missionaries in the nineteenth century in and around Calcutta/Northern India, as well as the sacrificial theology and terminology reflected in two different Sanskrit translations of the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews from 1808 and 1851, produced by one and by two Baptist missionaries, respectively. In order to shed light on the historical context in which these translations emerged, the dissertation first draws on numerous passages from contemporary missionary literature (books, periodicals, letters, diaries) that refer to the category of sacrifice. A central focus is the Christian understanding of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross as a sacrifice, based on statements found in the Epistle to the Hebrews (contextual analysis).

The study then introduces the two Sanskrit translations of the Epistle to the Hebrews from 1808 and 1851, discussing, among other aspects, the translators’ biographies, the conditions under which the translations were produced, and their respective styles as well as distinctive features (textual analysis). Finally, the dissertation analyses specific concepts and expressions belonging to an essential Christian terminology which is required to articulate a theology of sacrifice in Sanskrit and which is to be found in the Epistle to the Hebrews. In other words, it investigates how particular terms from the koine Greek of the New Testament were translated into Sanskrit and how—where applicable—these translations modified the message of the Epistle to the Hebrews (conceptual analysis).