Well, well, well. Look who appeared on the podcast! @Christy
On today’s episode, Christy shares with us her experience as a Bible translator working in a remote community in Mexico, the important work she has done with us on INTEGRATE and the Forum, and how her experience homeschooling her kids has helped her navigate faith with her children.
LISTEN: Christy Hemphill | A Cockatoo Among Kittens - Podcast Episode - BioLogos
Really cool. Looking forward to it on the way to work this morning. I always enjoy when someone from the forums, even if they hardly comment, shows up on the podcast. Not that Christy hardly comments.
Some wish you would. 
I’m grateful for you as one of my most diligent external typo-checkers. Of course the post about you had a typo in it that I had to correct this morning, hopefully before too many people saw it. 
I always enjoy your comments. I think I’ve by far learned the most from you in here. Discussions with you have also changed several of my positions. I really enjoyed the podcast too.
One thing I was curious about based off the last post where you were talking about a sermon combined with you being in Mexico. I guess in my mind I presumed it was like you and your family out in Mexico but I guess it makes more sense that it’s you and a team. I also presumed the congregation was probably mainly hispanic and with Hispanic preachers. But I’m thinking maybe now the congregation is the same as the one a team of attends and maybe even this team is also where the pastor or sermons come from and that’s how you ended up with a western sermon in the hills of Mexico?
Also by my comment I meant that sometimes I hear a podcast and then realize that person was on BioLogos and in the forums even though during my time they’ve hardly posted but rather posted more often prior to me joining the forums. I felt my answer was confusing and so I wanted to be clear that I was not indicating that you was not active in the forums because you are. Which I’m glad for.
I can see how that would be confusing. I am actually currently in the US on a sabbatical for a few months and we had been attending the church that I grew up in and that sent us as missionaries. I normally live in Mexico and will be returning in January. But even in Mexico we have been watching US church livestreams during the pandemic. Before that we attended various churches in Mexico because we move around a lot between three places we work. So when we are out in the mountains where the translators live we go to a Me’phaa-speaking church. When we are in the town in Guerrero where we rent a house that we live in about half the year, we go to church at a Bible school for Me’phaa youth and that is some Spanish, some Me’phaa. When we are in Oaxaca at the training center where we spend time we go to a couple different churches there that are in Spanish.
Thanks, I appreciate you too! I just thought it was funny comparing me with people who hardly comment because as Hilary indicated, I’m sure some people feel I err on the other side of commenting hard. (You know, like work hard vs hardly work)
Reading this while waiting in the vet’s office. Will be listening on my way home.
It is nice to put a “life picture” to the name. And it is always good to hear from people coming from the opposite direction in life compared to oneself. I think those kind of stories give us a lot of hope as you see these barriers coming down.
There was a shout out to you, Mark, as the Forum’s beloved agnostic regular. 
Thanks Christy. Your feathers are beautiful and I detect no bird accent in your meow.
I’m home and I’ve got about ten minutes left. Then I’ve got to take my wife to live doctor appointment so for now I’ll just say I’ve enjoyed it very much.
One thing I liked is that it also really got me rethinking biblical translations. I’ve always been a fan of literal traditions and even have the ESV where when there is not a direct translation they just use the Hebrew or Greek work and then have a footnote. Which I definitely appreciate. But I was raised that things like the message Bible was almost a wicked. So I have never picked up a thought for thought Bible and whenever I heard scholars mention them and read from them I was always a bit confused.
But after listening to explain how because not all languages have a direct translation, and even when they do the point may be lost it makes me want to go get a thought for thought type Bible and read through it along with my other translations.
I think the best way to understand a passage is to read it in lots of different translations. That’s one of the huge perks of being an English speaker. It gives you a good picture of what kinds of translation decisions were made when you see how different versions handled things differently. Now with all the internet versions and Bible apps like YouVersion, it is easier than ever to read the Bible in lots of different translations.
I like using biblehub. I’ll read through a handful of translations and commentaries. Or rather in the last few months I’ve really been reading other translations. It’s normally been just NASB and then the original language and commentaries. Though most of the time now I only come across an area of concern, or curiosity, from others. I’ll hear something mentioned here, or on a podcast and get a book on it and while reading that book it will highlight other areas.
Just listened to this episode on my morning jog. Almost skipped it because the title didn’t grab me. So glad that I did, it was so affirming. I am one of those cockatoo homeschool moms out of step with the local SBC masses who briefly hopped on this forum looking for science curricula years ago when I couldn’t take any more Apologia. Had been thinking about starting up again as I am working through Novare General Biology - which seems to endorse evolutionary creationism - with my oldest this year. Checking out INTEGRATE this weekend.
Loved the translation discussion. As a transplant to Florida my kids know the concept of snow but have rarely seen it. How would you teach that in a culture without YouTube? Now I need to find a picture of pounded yams.
Thank you Christy!
Thanks for this great podcast. I really appreciated your discussion of the challenge of communicating cross-linguistically. It was my experience studying German and living in German-speaking countries as well. You described well the whole problem of what lies behind words and concepts that is simply not translatable, or not easily done.
Thanks for the hint, Debater! I understand better now.
It was a joy to get to know you and your work a bit better.
I forgot to mention, thank you for the enormously time-consuming work you and the other moderators do in the fora, i don’t know how you do this,plus the rest of your life. I am also astounded at how knowledgeable the moderators are in so many areas and the amount of time and energy you put into well-written, well-backed posts and replies. Bravo.
Ah thanks! The moderator title helps us justify all the time we spend here to our spouses, because it counts as “volunteer work” not “wasting time on the internet.”
My wife and I are teaching Sunday School for middle and high schoolers at our church. The topic last week was Bible translations, and we played them a clip from your podcast. They loved it, and were very impressed when I told them I had met you (at a Biologos Conference). Great job, @Christy, and blessings for all your work in the name of the Lord.
They seem a little confused about who the celebrity podcast guest is between the two of us.
I enjoyed this much! I admire your homeschooling. My parents were in a similar situation–they would not have homeschooled if they had had a school available, but my mom did a terrific job. I personally loved it. Thanks for your hard work. I agree that this forum is a way to discuss faith with people who are generally quite kind and thoughtful. Thanks for keeping it up.
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” -Colossians 4:6
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