Paul Hiebert's Paper: A Word For God

The GOD Problem
How should the word of God, the God of the Bible, be translated in the Telugu language? The issue is that there is no word in the Telugu language that adequately defines the biblical God as the Ultimate Reality. At first appearance this would seem to be an easy task, after all in Paul Hiebert’s paper, “A Word for God,” it is clear that Ivan from the Union Bible Society and Yesudas, a high-caste convert, have worked out many details in translating the Bible into the Telugu language, but this task has actually proven to be the most challenging point.
The challenge lies in the fact that in the Hindu religion there are many gods who are just as fallible as people. These gods are called devas and become known as avatars once

Brahman, however, is known as the Ultimate Reality, a place where all hope to one day return to this ultimate reality; this force that is also higher than the devas and the avatars. Brahman is an impersonal force who has no emotions; Brahman is just there who is oblivious to the plight of the people. Nothing exists outside of Brahman all are one – trees, birds, people, who will one day return to the essence of this Brahman force. The Brahman force sees no uniqueness, no singularity or individual created apart from anything else. How is the God of the Bible, who is the supreme creator and clearly above these other gods contextualized in such a manner that the Telugu people will come to understand the personal loving nature of the biblical God? Hinduism knows no ultimate creator they only recognize the ultimate reality as Brahman but they also accept universalism. Universalism is defined “as the idea that all religions contain at least some measure of truth and lead their practitioners to God-realization-that is, liberation or salvation as conceived in

It is important to ensure that they understand that the Brahman that they have known had only been partly revealed. The True Brahman had been hidden from them, but not because of his choosing but because of devas and avatars ability to deceive the people of Telugu. These devas and avatars are all known to be deceitful and although they can help humans it is not hard to fathom that these little gods managed to keep Brahman in the background while keeping themselves in the forefront. In fact the sacred texts were not even permitted to be read to unworthy people. The Bible recognizes the evil works of Satan who can come dressed in sheep clothing. The True Brahman was preparation evangelica which means preparation for the gospel was already at work in the heart of future Christian, making them ready to receive the good news. Now Jesus, the son of the True Brahman has made the ultimate sacrifice giving up his own life and the people of Telugu are ready to hear and see the complete truth. To help contextualize the True Brahman as a loving Supreme Being and Creator who is also approachable and personable is to use the family structure, specifically, the role of the Father in a home. The father’s job is provide, protect, raise good, obedient, sons and daughters and to ultimately love them. Here parallels can be drawn between the True Brahman and the father of a home. In order to ensure that