“Religious Text and Discourse” Cultural Association
Initiated by members of the Romanian Language and General Linguistics Department from “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” University of Iaşi, the “Religious Text and Discourse” Cultural Association attempts to answer a number of real issues. Preoccupied themselves with the translation of biblical texts and with the construction and functioning of the religious discourse, while at the same time mindful of the needs of reserchers in the fields of linguistics, theology, history, and philosophy, Alexandru Gafton, Sorin Guia and Ioan Milică have tried to initiate together a way of sharing their preoccupations and knowledge about the religious text and discourse (with everything it comprises: translations, original compilations and compositions of religious texts, religious discourse in all its past and present aspects).
Therefore, the Association aims to contribute to the scientific study of both the translation of religious texts, and the categories of religious discourse, but also to promote the Christian moral values.
Through the activity of its members, the association has three main objectives:
- The scientific study of Romanian translations of the biblical texts, from the 16th century to the present, by following their sources;
- The scientific study of auxiliary religious literature (books of sermons, homilies, etc.);
- The analysis of fictional texts constituted around biblical and theological insertions in literature.
The first objective is dedicated to the manner in which the translations of the biblical text managed to relate to biblical terms with fundamental values, translating those concepts into the Romanian language. At the same time, we try to analyze the mechanisms involved in the translation of the biblical texts in the context of different ages, in order to understand the mechanisms that govern the process of translation the biblical.
The second objective targets the ways in which the religious discourse was established in the Romanian spirituality, its functions in time and its effects.
The third objective aims to identify and analyse mainly the characteristics and the hermeneutical components of the reception and interpretation of the sacred texts in literature and the impact of the religious culture on literature.
In order to reach these objectives, the Association, through its members' activity , is involved in various scientific areas of research such as translatology, philology, linguistics, rhetoric, bibliology, church history, homiletics and the history of mentalities. Through their activities, the members of the Association actively participate in the scientific research of religious texts (translations of biblical texts and sermons) analyzing the manner of construction of the corpora of religious texts as well as the dynamics of the religious phenomenon. Similarly, the members of the Association participate in the creation of the the working tools necessary for this king of research (monographs, editions of the texts, analyses of the religious text and discourse, dictionaries, corpora, bibliographies, syntheses and historical writings on the reception and circulation of the biblical and religious texts).
The “Religious Text and Discourse” National Conference was designed as a broad scientific event meant to create a framework for debate on the translation of religious texts, on the religious discourse, on the sacred in literature, on the religious phenomenon in general, in order to participate at the stimulation of the academic research in those directions and to spread the most important trends in the study of the religious phenomenology.
The main objectives of the Conference are:
- The description of the dominant elements of the Romanian language and religious culture from a linguistic, theological, historical and philosophical perspective;
- The observation of the importance and role of the religious phenomenon in the human life;
- The identification and dissemination of the appropriate methodologies in the analysis and interpretation of some forms of manifestation of language and mentality, seen as defining aspects of the religious phenomenon in the larger context of the cultural interferences, and the development of new ways of informing the public;
- The establishment of long-lasting ties between members of the academic community through the identification of research projects with a medium and a long term of development;
- Spreading the research results among a large public.
