Page 5 - The Circle / July 2016

That translation must take place if Godly Play is to advance around the world is a given fact. That the practice of translation is painstaking and sometimes painful is also a fact. On the one hand we have these beautiful stories so carefully and poetically rendered over such a long period of time. Jerome Berryman has produced a body of work that is singular and special, and we are appropriately grateful for this gift. As such, all of us in Godly Play want to honour and
respect that work and take great care in ensuring our translations as closely approximate the original as they can. On the other hand we do have the challenges and limitations that are to be found when we take words and phrases written in one language and translate them into another language. Painstaking and sometimes painful indeed.
With this in mind, the Godly
Play International Council has
developed best practices around
the translation of Godly Play
stories into different languages. I would encourage you to keep these in mind when informally translating the stories—you can access the Covenant here. If your association is involved in more formal translation processes that may lead to publishing, I would ask that you please contact me at andrew@godlyplay. ca so that we can follow the procedures appropriate to this work.
As noted above, this work of translation is careful, painstaking, and sometimes painful work. Careful, painstaking, and painful because at the heart of the contextualisation enterprise is a core principle, and that principle is that Godly Play—the method, the language, the way—has an integrity that cannot be compromised. One of the things that brings me great delight is the extent to which our international
partners I meet know this. I have sat with those doing the work of translation and can attest that they hold the core principles of Godly Play very close even as they do their work of making Godly Play comprehensible in their context.
Let me add, however, a note of caution. My concern would be that we as Godly Play leaders or associations too rigidly or comprehensively attempt to formally adjust or adapt Godly
Telling a story in Belgium
Working on French translations
Play to a particular context or culture. To do so could show a lack of trust in the method itself, a lack of trust in the story, and a lack of trust in the child, or the child in all of us, to ultimately contextualise the experience. The Godly Play method has proven that it can translate effectively into other contexts, cultures, and languages. The stories, although rooted in a particular place and time, have proven timeless and transcendent. And the child, or the child in all of us, engages in the ultimate act of
contextualisation when she or he wonder where they could be in the story or choose as their work something that only makes sense to them at that particular time in that particular place. In a word I would say that it is important that we hold this context work lightly and with deep trust; a risky but rewarding stance.
And so as Godly Play spreads so too will the need to contextualise. As I note above, this work is crucial, careful, and sometimes controversial. Crucial because as Godly Play enters new countries, cultures, and contexts there is no doubt that, at the least, subtle adaptations will need to be made. Careful because we all want to take great care to honour the legacy we have received while equally honouring the context that received it. And controversial because we are bound to disagree about what represents appropriate and necessary contextualisation. Nonetheless, in the spirit of the circle we will stay close, listen to one another, and dedicate our efforts to what is best. And perhaps above all, let us commit that our work—although crucial, careful, and sometimes controversial—is also deeply prayerful. C
Andrew is the Godly Play Advocate for International Development. When not travelling you will find him on the floor telling stories to a circle of children. andrew@godlyplay.ca
A GODLY PLAY QUARTERLY PUBLICATION 5