Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

10 – 13 December 2025

I am delighted to convene a panel on translation, religion and technology at the IATIS conference in Oman in December 2025. Submissions are currently open for the panel and the deadline for abstracts is 30^th April 2025. 

For more on the conference see https://www.iatis.org/index.php/8th-conference-oman-2025

Panel 9: Translation, Religion and Technology

Convenor: Anne O’Connor (University of Galway)

While it is acknowledged that in a digitally linked world, religious experience can travel at speed and globally, the challenges of the linguistic dimensions of this communication, and the role played by translation have not been adequately considered. As religious content, rituals, and interactions become increasingly present online, attention to translation becomes crucial in the global digital space. The modes of communication of digital religion offer exciting new opportunities for translation scholars which have heretofore been untapped (Blumczynski and Israel 2018). Although much attention has recently been paid to digital religion (Campbell 2012; Dawson and Cowan 2004; Lövheim and Campbell 2017), and to the forces of new media impacting on religious interactions, the linguistic and translational aspect of this communication is rarely mentioned. Only a few scholars, such as Mandair (2019), Beal (2022) and Moll (2017), have examined translation in new forms of religious media, and have demonstrated the complexity of linguistic interrogations and the evolving communicative strategies in the religious realm.

Interaction with technology can encompass religious communities engaging with digital tools—whether through online sermons, virtual worship services, or religious apps—with translation becoming a key factor in ensuring that these practices remain meaningful and accessible across linguistic and cultural boundaries. Much study on digital religion has considered the new opportunities opened up for religion by the internet and user interaction with web-based technologies and social media. For religion online (Helland 2000), organisations and institutions use digital spaces and technological tools to enable a presence that reaches beyond a local or national borders and thereby encounter many translational issues. However, religions also make use of translation technologies in contexts other than digital spaces and it is important to acknowledge the presence of translation technology in physical religious spaces. Where a religious group has a multilingual community, technologies can enable religious practice and communication, especially in the absence of a common language. Moreover, interpreting in religious contexts, which has long been ignored (Furmanek 2022), is primed for innovative uses of technologies to enable communication and understanding. Audiovisual translation, ad hoc interpreting devices, and volunteer-led technical innovations can all be present in religious spaces as communities seek to overcome linguistic barriers to enable religious practices. This panel will address how these technological solutions can be sustainable in the long term and whether they can contribute to a more sustainable future in religious practices.

This panel will focus on the intersection of translation, religion and technology in the diverse religious spaces mentioned above. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Theuse of translation technologies in religious contexts
• AI-assistedtranslation and its use in religious communication
• Translationand online religion/religion online
• Institutional religioustranslation practices and technological change
• Volunteerreligious translation activities incorporating technology
• Religioustranslation in informal, low-resource settings
• Translation,religion and social media
• Interpretingin religious settings and translation tools
• Theintersection of religious practice, belief, and community with digital technologies
• Balancingbetween innovation and tradition, between technological advancement and historical sacredpractices and texts
• Alternativediscourses and their presence in digital religious spaces
• Enablingreligious practice through translation technologies
• Adaptingreligious content for new digital environments
• Thedigital realm as both a space for innovation and a challenge for maintaining religious (and linguistic) authenticityand continuity
• AI,ethics and religious translation
• Issuesof gender in religion, translation and technology
• Canonicalreligious texts and technical/digital change
• Untranslatabilityand religion in digital contexts
• Technologyand sustainable futures for religious translation

For informal enquiries: Anne.oconnor@universityofgalway.ie

The paper explored how terms from other domains, such as ecology, undergo semantic shift in Laudato Sì to portray the view of the Catholic Church’s on climate change. The conference was a great opportunity to interact with others working on terminology and lexicography, by bringing new methodologies to the study and description of general and specialised languages.

Conference website: https://euralex.jezik.hr/about-the-event/

Book of abstracts: https://euralex.jezik.hr/book-of-abstracts/

They presented in a Panel / Working Group (1.5.): Large-scale projects in translation history: practices (conveners Lieven D’hulst & Yves Gambier) on “Tracking Religious Translation in the Nineteenth Century—methodology, challenges and findings”. In this paper they outlined their methodology for documenting the extent of religious translation in the nineteenth century, discussed the challenges faced and shared some initial findings.

Full paper is available below:

We are working towards a comprehensive understanding of the movement of religious texts across Europe and further afield to emerging Catholic communities on other continents in the nineteenth century. The long temporal span and rich bibliographies available in the form of book lists published in the period’s Catholic directories, religious almanacs, and publishers’ catalogues—and to a certain extent, modern library catalogues—are balanced out by the often scant or hard to detect metadata or digitized book contents. In order to acquire a substantiated and multifaceted description of the data, we established over 20 definitory properties of those publications—from release year and place to author and translator name and gender to publisher to original language and so on—including paratextual indicators such as presence and/or authorship of prefaces, religious approbations, images, notes specific front-page or end mater/notes, etc. All of these properties will translate in a subsequent phase to data features to be computationally processed and analysed for quantifying, visualizing, and comparatively assessing the publication and (trans)national translational flows and trends between and across cultures and regions and the establishment, in the process, of complex infrastructures and networked religious communities.

Also, Xiaojing Zeng, our Doctoral Researcher participated in a pre-conference workshop, where she presented a poster called Translation and Print in Late-Qing China: A case of Jesuit Translator Li Di (1840–1911).

The History and Translation Network (HTN) was established in 2021 in response to the increasing significance of and interest in translation and interpreting history, both in translation and interpreting studies and historical studies (cf. “Manifesto”). The network has since connected a global community of scholars and practitioners from diverse disciplinary backgrounds who share the belief that acts of translation and interpreting are pivotal in the making of history and that considering their historical context is essential in comprehending said activities. One of its main objectives is to foster inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration and facilitate dialogue on the methodological and conceptual aspects of our research endeavors through conferences and other events. This vision was affirmed through the inaugural HTN conference held in Tallinn, Estonia, in May 2022 and the subsequent online follow-up event in May 2023, both of which highlighted the evident demand for such collaborative platforms.

The HTN 2024 Graz set out to continue the exchange started in these two events. Embracing the thematic focus of “History – Translation – Politics,” this year’s conference foregrounded the understanding of translation and interpreting as historically and politically contextualized activities that can potentially bring about cultural and social transfer and transformation. It probed the influence of politics on these activities while also exploring how translation politics can act as a catalyst for change within specific settings.

Conference Programme: Conference Program HTN 2024 (uni-graz.at)

Book of Abstracts: Book of Abstracts – HTN Conference 2024 (uni-graz.at)

Raluca presented a paper co-authored with Anna Furtado and Anne O’Connor, which explored the discursive and textual mechanisms that underpin the persuasive power of Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical letter Laudato Si’. The conference provided an invaluable platform for engaging with scholars from diverse backgrounds worldwide, offering fresh perspectives on the relevance and impact of these persuasive strategies. The abstract of the paper presented can be read below.

Wordcraft for the Earth:
Persuasive Techniques to Protest Climate Change in Laudato Si

Raluca Tanasescu, Anna Beatriz Dimas Furtado and Anne O’Connor
University of Galway

In 2015, Pope Francis’ encyclical letter, Laudato Si’, marked a decisive intervention by the Catholic Church in the ongoing environmental debate. Addressing climate science, consumerism, and integral ecology, the encyclical was lauded by many but also faced criticism for its reach beyond traditional religious concerns (Hofmann, 2015; Pasquale, 2019; DiLeo, 2020; Tatay-Nieto, 2020). Given the global scope of both climate change discourse and Catholicism, translating the Pope’s message about “our common home” into “one common language” entailed a vast and concerted multilingual and multimodal effort.

This paper explores the varied persuasiveness mechanisms present in the Italian original and in four of the translations of Laudato Si’ (in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese) as well as across its iteration into the film “Laudato Si’ – The Letter.” By using a critical multimodal discourse analysis approach (Bednarek, 2015) and leveraging corpus linguistics tools like Sketch Engine, text mining techniques and visual content analysis, the presentation will analyze the most consistent ways in which Pope Francis encourages change at textual level and enforces it visually. Our research has shown that among his preferred mechanisms are the use of modal verbs to encourage certain attitudes and propose concrete solutions to fight climate change; evidence-based science; labelling and shaming in relation to throwaway culture, consumerism and populist politics; narrative, storytelling and imagery; and the recurrent appeal to religious morality as a catalyst for our motivation to act sustainably. Pope Francis employs nuanced and gentle yet impactful verbs that convey not only a sense of pastoral care but also underscore his deeply personal engagement with the pressing issue of climate change. Through these carefully chosen words, the Pope spreads a message of environmental responsibility while delicately intertwining his personal commitment to addressing the pressing challenges at hand.

Our findings contribute to understanding the challenges and possibilities of communicating complex concepts like climate change across languages and cultures, particularly within religious contexts. Ultimately, we consider the implications of Pope Francis’ discourse for building a “common home” through the lens of a “common language,” acknowledging the complexities of religious communication in a culturally diverse world.

References:

Bednarek, M. (2015). “Corpus-Assisted Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Television and Film Narratives.” In Corpora and Discourse Studies: Integrating Discourse and Corpora, pp. 63-87. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
DiLeo, D. R. (2020) “Laudato si’ and Climate Change Communications. Public Theology Informed by the Social Sciences.” Journal of Catholic Social Thought, 17 (2): 261-292.
Francis, P. (2015). Laudato Si’. Vatican City: Vatican Press, May 24, w2.
Hoffman, A. J. (2015) “Laudato Si and the Role of Religion in Shaping Humanity’s Response to Climate Change.” Solutions, 6(5): 40-47.
Pasquale, F. (Ed.). (2019). Care for the world: Laudato si’ and Catholic Social Thought in an Era of Climate Crisis. Cambridge University Press.
Tatay-Nieto, J. (2020). “Sustainability, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and the Catholic Church’s Ecological Turn.” Religions, 11 (10), 488.

Website: https://easr2024.se/

Programme: https://www5.shocklogic.com/scripts/jmevent/programme.php?Client_Id=%27KONGRESS%27&Project_Id=%2724472%27&System_Id=1

The world in Rome summer school is developed in the context of ENLIGHT, a European University formed by ten comprehensive, research-intensive universities from ten European countries. This year it is organized by University of Groningen. 

Tianyue Liang, Doctoral Researcher who took part in this year’s summer school said that it was a really good opportunity for students to tour Rome and gain a basic understanding of the city. The excursion was organized around both historic sites, like Capitol Hill and the Vatican Museum, and modern Rome, such as the headquarters of the FAO. The lecturers were incredibly knowledgeable about the city and Italy’s history. It was also informative to learn more about the Fascist heritage in Italy.

This year was Tianyue’s first time in central Europe, and it was nice to engage with students from other European countries, gaining a better understanding of how the European Union works and hearing how it benefits them. The summer school also provided Tianyue with a chance to see Vatican City and interview people for her research, putting her project in context.

The 2024 Summer School was hosted at the Edinburgh Futures Institute and aimed at training researchers in the digital humanities to work with software engineering.

Website: https://www.cdcs.ed.ac.uk/DHRSE-Summer-School-2024

Our colleague, Anna Furtado said that it was fantastic to participate in the 2024 DHRSE Summer School generously funded by the Alan Turing Institute. It was super impressive to interact and meet such a diverse group of people also working at the intersection of humanities and technologies coming from a humanities background. She added that as a woman, she was beyond elated to meet other women working with coding and data in research projects. Throughout the week they had the opportunity to learn extensively about code standards, collaboration, and sustainability through collaboration and group work. Anna is eager to put all these new skills into practice in her own daily work. 

She took part in Panel A: Bridging Cultures and Languages: Jesuit Pedagogy from Early-Modern to 20th-century China where she presented on “Li Di (1840–1911): A Chinese Jesuit in Late Qing and His Translations for Pedagogy.”

Presentation slides

Symposium Panels – June 11

Call for Papers

Programme

This conference brought leading scholars from various disciplines into conversation to break new ground and open new lines of inquiry into the translation, transgression and transformation of Catholicism as it has circulated globally across cultural spaces through the traffic and transfer of material cultures. 

Prof. Anne O’Connor contibuted to Session 2: Global Economies of Exchange with her presentation on “The Translation Trade: Global Catholic Exchange across Language and Geography”.

Prof. O’Connor commented: The Center for Research in Global Catholicism in St. Louis Missouri was a wonderful host for an international discussion on the global movement of objects in Catholic cultures. I was delighted to be able to present on 19th century translated Catholic works as part of the PIETRA project.

The relationship between religion and technology is a neglected theme that needs serious research, not just concerning the past, but also in the rapidly changing modern world, where religions and religious movements have become an integral part of the digital world, influencing public opinion, and sometimes even serving as propaganda for political regimes.

Thus, the conference hoped to contribute to the topic by bringing scholars from across Europe to Vilnius, celebrating its 700th jubilee where its founder, Grand Duke Gediminas invited scholars and scientists, ensuring religious freedom and making Vilnius a hub of religious discourse for centuries to come.

Prof. Anne O’Connor was pleased to present on “Linguistic and Translational Infrastructures: Multilingual Scaffolding in the Religious World” as part of Panel OP26: Thinking Infrastructurally about Religion (and Religiously about Infrastructure).

Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses the multilingual communicative infrastructure of the Catholic Church to discuss how a global religion is enabled by translational scaffolding.

Paper long abstract:

The Catholic Church has an unprecedented commitment to communication in multiple languages across various formats. The history, scope and extent of this multilingualism is unparalleled: from multilingual Twitter to contemporary stories on Vatican News, the Catholic Church reaches out to millions of people on a daily basis in their own native language. This multilingual effort is largely hidden and unacknowledged even though it is a fundamental infrastructure for a global religion. This paper will discuss the translational structures in place to enable multilingual religious communication in the Catholic Church. Although much is known about the institutional multilingual infrastructure of international organisations such as the EU or the UN (Pym 2000; Tosi 2003; Trebits 2009; Biel 2014; Drugan, Strandvik et al. 2018), the multilingualism of the Catholic Church has been largely ignored and investigations of translation structures have been largely confined to the Bible.

Using findings from the research project PIETRA (ERC grant 101001478) this paper will analyse how translational scaffolding allows for global communicative capacities which transcend the institutional centre. The processes involved in supporting multilingual output reveal how a collective is enabled despite linguistic difference. The mediation between the religious centre and regional locations through translation is not without its difficulties, however, as cultural and linguistic difference challenge the desire for a united religious community. Consistency of message across multiple languages, cultures and formats can put demands on the communicative apparatus of a universalizing religion. The paper will show how the tension between the need of religious authorities to control their message and the desire to communicate it as widely as possible is particularly acute at moments of technological change in the communication apparatus, placing additional strains on the capacities of the infrastructural linguistic scaffolds.