Q&A: Religious Fantasy Book
Religious Fantasy Book
Question
Hello, I’m currently working on translating a fantasy book. The world in which it takes place is a world based on Jewish and Christian concepts, and naturally God appears there a lot, along with quoted verses. [Of course, the god of the book is far from the accepted and/or true definitions of God, but he is still identified with the Jewish-Christian God.]
How should one handle writing and distributing the book? Is it necessary to write all the names in altered form (G-d, L-rd of Hosts; I_Am, and the like)? If one writes them normally, does the book require burial/storage of sacred texts? Does this depend on my intention in writing it, or on the printer’s intention?
Answer
Interesting question. If it is not the Tetragrammaton, then in my opinion it does not require burial/storage of sacred texts, for several reasons, each of which is not unequivocal and each should really be discussed separately: 1. It was not written for holy purposes. 2. Most of the book is secular material and not sacred text (that is the opinion of some halakhic decisors, although it does not seem likely to me). 3. The intention is not the actual God (just as there is no need to place "other gods" in the Torah in burial/storage). 4. It is not written in Assyrian script on parchment with tagin, but printed.
Because of this problematic aspect, the advice I adopted in my own books was, since I did intend the actual God, at least in my view, to write it with a vav: "Elohim." That is not the Name of God, but at most an appellation (if even that), and therefore it does not require burial/storage of sacred texts.
May I ask which book this is?
Just out of curiosity.