This video has quite a helpful summary of some of the issues involved in translating the name of God in different religious contexts. The North-American flavour doesn’t communicate particularly well across the Atlantic, but try not to let that put you off.
For a different, and somewhat humorous, take on the same subject you might like to read this.
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Among bible translators the controversy has not been about using Allah in Arabic Bible translations. Almost all biblical scholars and translators already accept the validity of using Allah as a translation of Eloah/Elohim (Hebrew) or Theos (Greek) in Arabic languages. The real issue revolves around the use of Allah in non-Semitic languages where other words for god exist and have been used by all non-Muslim religions to convey the idea of deity for centuries. In these contexts Allah is only used to refer to the Muslim deity and using Allah to refer to the God of Scriptures is invalid and wrong. While it is true that there have been some misconceptions in the last few months as this issue has exploded into the public square, the debate itself among scholars is much older and has never centered on the use of Allah in Arabic languages, but rather the concern has been about the use of Allah in contexts where, historically, other words for “god” have been used by all non-Muslim religions and “insider movement” proponents have now chosen to break with tradition and use Allah in these contexts. By not even mentioning the heart of this debate, Wycliffe has left viewers with a very misleading perception of the issue. It is disturbing to me that Wycliffe leadership refuses to engage in discussions on the issues that have raised so much concern, but instead puts up a “straw man” that is easy to knock down. It doesn’t show honesty or integrity when they refuse to address the real concerns that have been raised regarding their translators uses of Allah in bible translations
Thanks for your comment, Mike. However, I think that you are missing the point altogether because you are confusing two related, but distinct issues.
Firstly; I agree with you that there is serious debate between scholars about how to translate the terms Eloah/Elohim and Theos. This is, perhaps, particularly acute in Islamic contexts but the problem occurs in other parts of the world, too. It is one of the most difficult things in translation. However, you are wrong to accuse Wycliffe of not being engaged in a discussion on this. However, technical, scholarly discussions of this nature don’t tend to occur on popular-level blogs like mine but in journals at conferences and in other situations where scholars and translators meet to debate.
However, your rather mild “While it is true that there have been some misconceptions in the last few months as this issue has exploded into the public square” rather misses the point. There has been a huge amount of publicity on Christian TV, in magazines and on radio statements with influential preachers and speakers declaring that any use of ‘Allah’ to describe the god of the Bible is illegitimate. This is not a nuanced, scholarly discussion but a simple blanket condemnation of any use of the term in any context. It is this, simplistic understanding that the video in this post is addressing.
Regarding non-Semitic languages; I can only speak out of my own experience. In the part of West Africa I worked in (Ivory Coast and Mali) there were a significant number of non-Semitic languages in which generations of Christians had used the term ‘Allah’ to refer to the God of the Bible. This is nothing to do with Bible translators or ‘insider-movement proponents’, it was simply how people used their own languages. I know of a number of translations which date back to the early part of last century and certainly pre-date Wycliffe’s arrival in West Africa in which the term ‘Allah’ is used.
Mike and I have been discussing this issue in a comment thread at Better Bibles Blog. I don’t want to get into the same discussion here. But it is helpful to note your experience from West Africa, of languages where Christians have long used the word “Allah”, to add to my own experience from former Soviet republics.