ABSTRACT
The translation of sacred writings within, by, and for religious communities provides a particular fertile field for the exploration of translation as an emergent phenomenon in light of the fact that the concept of an emergent, complex adaptive system characterizes both sacred writings as incipient (source) text and sacred writings as subsequent (target) text. In this chapter, we explore the implications of translation as an emergent phenomenon with respect to the Book of Ben Sira within the Septuagint, the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek beginning in the 3rd century BCE. After describing the emergent textual tradition of the Septuagint, in general, and Ben Sira, in particular, we examine specific instances of translation in Ben Sira in which there is no extant Hebrew incipient (source) text, in which there is a single incipient (source) text, in which there are two identical Hebrew incipient (source) texts, and in which there are two different Hebrew incipient (source) texts. We illustrate how the complexity and alterity of both incipient text(s) and subsequent text can be conveyed in translation apart from reductionistic strategies of domestication or foreignization through the use of metatexts.
