Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

Gesandte

English translation:

ambassadors, witnesses, representatives

Added to glossary by Robert Kleemaier
Mar 22, 2004 23:47
20 yrs ago
German term

Gesandte

German to English Art/Literary Religion Christianity / Bible
In a Christian book, telling the Gospels from Peter's perspective: Jesus says
"Der Tag wird kommen, am dem ich euch in alle Welt sende, um die frohe Botschaft zu verkünden."
Das Wort war ausgesprochen. Wir sollten Gesandte werden.
The client thinks "missionaries" sounds too modern, "Christ's ambassadors" may be too political-sounding. Any ideas for the perfect word?

Proposed translations

+1
4 mins
Selected

See options below

This is often referred to as 'witnesses', 'ambassadors' or even 'representatives' in Christian circles where the Great Commission is held high

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Note added at 6 mins (2004-03-22 23:54:41 GMT)
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Addendum: \'Christ\'s ambassadors\' is perfectly fine, for that is what a Christian is supposed to be or become: a reflection of Christ Himself.

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Note added at 34 mins (2004-03-23 00:21:55 GMT)
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For more hits, type in \'Jesus \"Great Commission\" witnesses OR representatives OR ambassadors\' under Google and you\'ll get 22,000+ hits to choose from. HTH.
Peer comment(s):

agree Kim Metzger : Ambassadors sounds good too in this context.
1 day 23 hrs
Thx, Kim. :-)
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+6
51 mins

envoys

The Twelve Apostles

..."In the Gospels the Twelve were simply to be Christ's envoys. As Jesus was sent by His Father, so the Apostles were sent by Jesus."...
Peer comment(s):

agree Robert Kleemaier : very nice!
2 mins
thank you, Robert.
agree verbis
2 hrs
agree Fantutti (X)
5 hrs
agree Johanna Timm, PhD
5 hrs
agree Jonathan MacKerron : fits nicely
9 hrs
thank you all
agree Mario Marcolin : nice
11 hrs
Thank you all.
Something went wrong...
+1
2 hrs

ministers

as representatives of Christ
Peer comment(s):

agree Mario Marcolin : representatives
10 hrs
Something went wrong...
+2
2 hrs

emissaries

Emissary is another possible tranlation for Gesandter. It would fit with the context here, and also is a good translation of the literal meaning of 'somebody who is send out/emitted'
Peer comment(s):

agree Fantutti (X) : yes, emissaries or envoys!
2 hrs
agree Robert Kleemaier : luvly
12 hrs
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+2
11 hrs

apostles

In a religious context, this word could be appropriate as its root meaning is "one who is sent" (cf. Paul as "the apostle to the Gentiles").
Peer comment(s):

agree Deborah Shannon : I'd definitely use the appropriate, biblical word. I always thought it meant messengers.
22 mins
neutral Robert Kleemaier : Possible, but if your target audience is new to Christ the use of jargon like this will be of no impact to the reader
3 hrs
agree Johanna Timm, PhD : agree that 'apostles' is indeed the term we are looking for; but Robert has a point : in this particular context the 'standard' biblical term would sound somewhat odd
14 hrs
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