| This research is motivated by the presently urgent need for cross-cultural understanding, especially between the Middle East and the West. An important source of current misunderstandings is differences in religious ideologies. Developing an understanding of the spiritual heritages of distant cultures would diminish such ideological gaps. What would contribute to this is translation of mystical and religious texts of alien cultures. A study of the process of translation using rhetorical, contextual, and systemic theories would be valuable to this work.; The purpose of spiritual texts is to transform the reader. This is achieved through a rhetorical approach that is characteristic of such texts. Spiritual texts establish a deep and lasting relationship with their readers that leads to a transformation in their attitudes and behavior. Understanding of this rhetorical character of spiritual texts is needed for their successful interpretation and translation. Additionally, the translator needs to be aware of their cultural contexts. However, the translator's knowledge of the text and the context is not the only element contributing to the translation work. The translator of spiritual texts, like any reader, is subject to transformation due to a personal cognitive and emotional engagement with the text. Such transformation creates an objectivity dilemma for the translator that can be addressed through reflexive self-correction.; To better understand the rhetorical, contextual, and transformational nature of mystical texts, case studies of several texts were undertaken. In particular, Middle Eastern texts that deal with the subject of transformation were selected, texts focusing on the notion of creation, a metaphor for spiritual transformation. These case studies demonstrated that there is a similarity between the concept of transformation in these texts and the theory of communication developed by Wittgenstein, Burke and Buber, among others. Based on this, a theory for spiritual communication is proposed, namely the “perpetual creation” theory of spiritual communication. This theory helps us better understand Wittgenstein, Burke and Buber's approach to communication theory and it helps communication scholars to comprehend the concept of transformation in mystical and religious texts. It also helps translators to understand the transformational aspects of translating culturally distant mystical and religious texts. |
