As Harmless as Doves and As Wise as Serpent in Mere Christianity

岳艳

Clive Staples Lewis （Lewis hereafter） was esteemed as “the greatest Oxford man in the 20th century” ， who plays many roles in the literary fields. His work Mere Christianity has influenced thousands of its readers since 1952. It has always maintained its the top popularity in western Christian world， and it still wins a global Amen till this day.

Mere Christianity is a book that begs to be read in its historical context， as a bold act of storytelling and healing in a world gone mad. In this book， C. S. Lewis quotes a famous saying from the Bible， drawing a picture that of a Biblical Christian， that is， “as harmless as doves and as wise as serpent”. However， its meaning reminds unclear to many of its readers， especially when it was translated in Chinese.

The quotations “As harmless as doves” and “as wise as serpents” were actually from Matthew in the King James Bible when Jesus was giving exhortation to His twelve disciples to Galilean villagers： “Behold， I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves： be ye therefore wise as serpents， and harmless as doves.” But to translate the meanings of this quotation， the word “harmless” and “wise” are the key points， for the “harmless” aspect of the doves and the “wise” part of the snake are the points Matthew and Lewis wants to emphasize. In the Bible， the serpent was the accepted as the emblem of wisdom （Genesis 3：1）， and it is wary， sharp-sighted （Grotius）， flexible， and cunning even it has the evil purpose； the word “harmless” was written as “?νου?” in Septuagint and “?κ?ραιοι” in modern Greek， which means “intact， unmixed with evil， purely good”. Therefore， this idea of “be harmless as doves” and “be wise as serpent” is the combination of the intention of the doves and the strategy of the serpent. In terms of the intention， it should be purely good； in terms of the strategy， the disciples should be like the serpent， wise， flexible， sharp-sighted. This picture in the Bible was further explained by Lewis as “He （God） wants a childs heart， but a grown-ups head”， which is equivalent in a general sense since a child is usually harmless and a grown-up is normally strategic and mature.

In this case， the translator seems adopted the direct literal translation， even with the linguistic devices of quotation remained. Although the literal translation of the “祂要我们像有儿童一般的心， 但也要有成人的头脑” can illustrate the actual meaning in a general sense， which seems faithful to the original text. Such translation， however， could not fulfil the intertextual meaning and the intentionality of the author in Chinese language， for “馴良” in Chinese means “docile， teachable”， and “doves” in Chinese culture were normally regarded as the messengers and a presentation of peace， which has nothing to do with “purely good intention”； “灵巧像蛇” was read as “be flexible as snake” in Chinese， which partly reflected the intertextual meaning， but it still lost the sense of “being strategic， sharp-sighted”. Therefore， the universally advised literal translation of such intertextual device as quotation can cause the lost of meaning in the target language. After all， the first impression of snake is different in two cultures. In Western culture， serpent represents evil， while in Chinese culture， it only gives a sense of coldness and danger.

In summary， intertextual perspective challenges the traditional idea that meaning in a text is static for it binds with all the possible intertextual relations that have helped to develop the text and its meaning. When applied in translation studies， the translators subjectivity and his/ her intertextual knowledge were greatly demanded， which， by far， was found desperately need to be further studied in English and Chinese cultural communication.

References：

[1]汪咏梅.最伟大的牛津人：C.S.路易斯[J].世界宗教文化，宗教人物.2009（02）.

[2]The Wall Street Journal，‘Mere Christianity Still Gets a Global Amen，2016.3.24.

[3]C.S.LewisMere Christianity，New York，HarperCollins Publishers（1952）.

[4]Holy Bible，King James Version.

[5]Hatim & Mason（2001）.Discourse and the Translation.Shanghai.Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.