This third edition is a further refinement of the second edition, which was a thorough revision of the first. Since the publication of the first edition, we have translated and the I. S. C. has published the first editions of the other volumes of the Spiritist Codification – The Mediums’ Book (2006), Heaven and Hell (2006), The Gospel according to Spiritism (2008) and Genesis (2009) – as well as the additional work What is Spiritism? (2010), and they will be revised as new editions are published.
In the first two editions, we made a few comments about how we approached a number of grammatical issues and we will reiterate them here. The authoritative French version was published in 1857, nearly 150 years ago. Apart from the challenge of translating from one language into another and overcoming the structural differences between the two, there were other challenges involving the time period differential. The first and greatest of these challenges was the problem of gender-neutral language. When referring to individuals, we addressed the problem by using plural pronouns as much as possible because they are gender-neutral, rather than the singular pronoun combinations he or she, him or her, his or her. When referring to a single spirit or soul, the neuter pronoun it was used, since, technically, spirits are sexless, though sometimes the singular form was changed to the plural; nevertheless, we used the personal relative pronouns who and whom when referring to a single spirit or soul. Masculine pronouns were eliminated when referring to God, because Spiritism does not hold to the idea that God should be personified; God is viewed as the First Cause (see question no.1), who works in creation strictly through established natural laws.
Thus, the proper noun God was used to replace the pronouns. In other instances, the singular man and all of its related pronouns were usually changed by employing the plural humans, human beings, individuals, etc., which were also used to replace the plural men.
Our main goal was to hold as closely to Kardec’s original as possible without producing either a transliteration or a paraphrase, which is why we retained as many original terms as possible and adhered to the original style as much as the grammatical and structural differences between the two languages would allow.
This edition also includes Anna Blackwell’s Preface to her version, which has served the English public since the 19th century.
Her Preface contains a short biography of Allan Kardec, but we have modified it slightly by updating it into modern English.
We suggest that the reader who may be unfamiliar with Spiritism as coined and codified by Allan Kardec begin by perusing the Table of Contents to locate an area of particular interest – a question concerning reincarnation, prayer, the premature death of children, life after death, etc. – and see how various high order Spirits (“the Spirits”) address the issue. This will lead to further interest, at which time the reader should begin with Kardec’s Introduction – essential for setting the whole body of knowledge as revealed by the Spirits within the proper context – and from there work through the entire book.
Darrel Kimble.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 2010.
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