Linguistic Gap Analysis
Linguistic Gap Analysis — 2 Peter — English → Assamese
Purpose and Scope
This document executes PRD Phase 1 Step 8 for the 2 Peter curriculum. It surveys the full letter (chapters 1–3) against the pool of available Assamese theological vocabulary — both the terms inherited from the Romans baseline translation_memory.json/bible_term_registry.json and the terms newly required by 2 Peter’s distinctive doctrinal content — and identifies:
- A doctrine vocabulary matrix: for each of the seven curriculum doctrines, what Assamese vocabulary is available, where it is weak, and what translation strategy is recommended.
- Missing vocabulary vs. crowded semantic neighborhoods: terms Assamese simply lacks a ready equivalent for (requiring coined compounds), versus terms where Assamese has too many candidate words, several of which are theologically dangerous and must be actively fenced off.
- Transliteration vs. paraphrase decisions: a reasoned policy for which Greek-origin technical terms should be transliterated and which must be paraphrased into descriptive Assamese compounds.
- A ranked list of the letter’s highest-risk ambiguities, ordered by combined doctrinal weight and syncretism risk, to guide Phase 1 Step 9 (doctrine risk registry update) and Phase 2 review routing.
This analysis assumes and does not repeat the baseline Romans findings; it extends them only where 2 Peter introduces new terrain (principally: divine nature/theosis language, Christ’s return, cosmic eschatology, and false-teacher polemic — none of which occur in Romans).
1. Doctrine Vocabulary Matrix
| Doctrine | Available Assamese Terms | Weaknesses of Available Terms | Recommended Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Reliability and Inspiration of Scripture | ভাববাণী (prophecy), ভাববাদী (prophet), পবিত্ৰ আত্মাৰ দ্বাৰা চালিত হৈ (carried along by the Holy Spirit), প্ৰত্যক্ষদৰ্শী (eyewitness), কল্পিত কাহিনী (myths) | No single native Assamese word captures “Spirit-carried but human-authored” without drifting toward either (a) mechanical dictation or (b) trance-mediumship, a live category in Assamese Shakta/folk practice (spirit possession of an oracle/medium). Also: বেদ/বেদবাণী-style vocabulary for “revealed scripture” already carries Vedic-revelation (śruti/apauruṣeya — “not of human authorship”) assumptions that would overcorrect in the opposite direction from mediumship. | Retain the baseline-extended compound পবিত্ৰ আত্মাৰ দ্বাৰা চালিত হৈ with mandatory translator note distinguishing directed, personality-preserving inspiration both from mechanical dictation and from oracular/medium channeling. Reinforce with ঈশ্বৰৰ পৰা মানুহে কথা কোৱা (1:21b) to keep human authorship explicit. |
| Growing in Christian Virtue | সদাচাৰ (virtue), আত্মসংযম (self-control), সহনশীলতা (endurance), ঈশ্বৰনিষ্ঠা (godliness), ভাতৃ-প্ৰেম (brotherly affection), প্ৰেম (love), জ্ঞান/পূর্ণ জ্ঞান (knowledge) | The most crowded doctrine in the letter. Nearly every candidate word for “virtue,” “discipline,” “devotion,” and “knowledge” has a strong pre-existing home in Assamese Hindu ethical/ascetic vocabulary (গুণ = the three guṇas; ইন্দ্ৰিয় দমন = yogic sense-restraint; ভক্তি = Ekasarana devotional practice; জ্ঞান = jñāna-mārga liberation-knowledge). Using the “obvious” word in each case imports an entire alien soteriological framework (merit accumulated by ascetic self-effort toward liberation) into what Paul-adjacent Petrine ethics presents as Spirit-empowered fruit growing out of relationship with Christ. | Systematically prefer the less obvious, less loaded near-synonym in each case (সদাচাৰ not গুণ; আত্মসংযম not ইন্দ্ৰিয় দমন; ঈশ্বৰনিষ্ঠা not ভক্তি) even where the rejected term is more colloquially “natural.” Anchor জ্ঞান/এপিগ্নোসিস always to its object (”…যীচু খ্ৰীষ্টৰ জ্ঞান”) in every occurrence, never left as an abstract state. |
| False Teachers and Their Judgment | মিছা শিক্ষক / মিছা ভাববাদী (false teachers/prophets), স্বামী (despotēs, master), কিনি লওয়া (bought), বিনাশজনক ভুল মতবাদ (destructive heresies), অন্ধকাৰময় বন্দীশালা (Tartarus) | Assam’s contemporary religious landscape (competing Satradhikars, gurus, sadhus, and rival Vaishnavite sub-sects) makes “false teacher” vocabulary politically live; a poorly chosen term risks reading as sectarian polemic against a specific existing tradition rather than the letter’s own doctrinal category (denial of Christ’s redemptive lordship). নৰক (Naraka) is the “obvious” word for any postmortem punishment but imports an entire Puranic afterlife cosmology (Yama’s judgment, multiple hell-levels, karmic time-limited sentences prior to rebirth). | Keep মিছা শিক্ষক/মিছা ভাববাদী doctrinally defined (denial of Christ + destructive falsehood), not merely “a teacher from another tradition.” Never নৰক for Tartarus; use the descriptive paraphrase অন্ধকাৰময় বন্দীশালা with mandatory note. Keep স্বামী (despotēs) contextually fenced from both প্ৰভু (κύριος) and the domestic “husband” sense. |
| The Certainty of Christ’s Return | পুনৰাগমন (coming/return), প্ৰত্যক্ষদৰ্শী (eyewitness), প্ৰতাপ (majesty), মহিমা (glory) | This is the single highest-stakes doctrine in the letter linguistically. The structural pattern of “a divine figure descending at history’s climax to judge/restore” is not merely similar to Puranic Kalki-avatar eschatology — Sankardev’s own Ekasarana tradition inherits this expectation directly from the Bhagavata Purana. There is no Assamese word for “return” that does not, by default reading, activate this frame unless actively fenced. | Never অৱতাৰণ. Use পুনৰাগমন consistently and require the mandatory translator note (same tier as দেহধাৰণ in the baseline) at every first occurrence in every document, explicitly naming the one-time, final, personal return of the same historical, resurrected Jesus as the point of contrast with a repeatable avatar-descent cycle. |
| The Day of the Lord and Final Judgment | প্ৰভুৰ দিন (Day of the Lord), বিচাৰৰ দিন (day of judgment), জুই (fire), আকাশমণ্ডল লুপ্ত হ’ব / মৌলিক পদাৰ্থ পুৰি ধ্বংস হ’ব (cosmic dissolution), নতুন আকাশ আৰু নতুন পৃথিৱী (new heavens/earth) | Second-highest linguistic danger zone. Assamese has a ready-made, single, elegant word for “cosmic dissolution” — প্ৰলয় — that is also the precise term for Puranic Pralaya/Mahapralaya, the recurring cyclical dissolution-and-recreation built into the kalachakra (endless time-wheel), taught in the Bhagavata Purana itself. This is a genuine missing-vocabulary problem: no single native word exists for a linear, final, non-repeating cosmic dissolution. | Never প্ৰলয়. Use the longer descriptive paraphrase (আকাশমণ্ডল লুপ্ত হ’ব / মৌলিক পদাৰ্থ পুৰি ধ্বংস হ’ব) precisely because its very awkwardness as a coined phrase, rather than a single reified noun, signals “this is not the familiar category” to the reader. Mandatory translator note required at every occurrence, paired with the finality claim in নতুন আকাশ আৰু নতুন পৃথিৱী (a permanent new creation, not a stage in a repeating cycle). |
| Patience of God’s Timing | ধৈৰ্য্য (the Lord’s patience), পলম (delay), মন-পৰিৱৰ্তন (repentance) | ধৈৰ্য্য itself is safe and largely unloaded, but the reason given for the delay is doctrinally exposed: an Assamese reader accustomed to Yuga-cycle cosmology may default to hearing divine “waiting” as an impersonal cosmic clock running out its predetermined course, rather than a personal, relational forbearance responsive to human repentance. মন-পৰিৱৰ্তন is safe but sits near প্ৰায়শ্চিত্ত (ritual atonement to offset karma), a live folk-Hindu category. | Retain ধৈৰ্য্য and মন-পৰিৱৰ্তন as recorded, but require accompanying context (not necessarily a formal translator note, since risk is High not Critical) making explicit that the delay is personal and purposive — giving opportunity for repentance — not a fixed cosmic countdown indifferent to human response. |
| Divine Nature and Escaping Corruption | ঈশ্বৰীয় স্বভাৱ (divine nature), ভাগী/সহভাগী (partakers), ভ্ৰষ্টতা (corruption), কু-অভিলাষ (sinful desire), ঈশ্বৰৰ শক্তি (divine power) | This is the letter’s single most theologically dangerous phrase (θεία φύσις, 1:4) precisely because Assamese/Sanskrit-derived vocabulary offers an almost perfect false friend: ব্ৰহ্ম-স্বৰূপ or পৰমাত্মাৰ সৈতে একত্ৱ would render “partaking of the divine nature” as Advaita Vedanta’s atman=Brahman ontological merger — the goal of jñāna-mārga mokṣa — turning a participatory, relational, Christ-mediated sanctification into a self-realization claim of becoming divine in essence. | ঈশ্বৰীয় স্বভাৱ + ভাগী/সহভাগী (never a compound suggesting merger/identity), with a mandatory translator note at every first occurrence stating explicitly: participatory sharing in God’s moral, communicable character through relationship with Christ, never absorption into, or identity with, the divine essence. |
2. Missing Vocabulary vs. Crowded Semantic Neighborhoods
2a. Genuinely Missing Vocabulary (no ready Assamese equivalent — coined compounds required)
These are concepts for which Assamese, even drawing on its full Sanskrit-tatsama resource, has no existing single word that carries the correct sense without either (a) importing a foreign category or (b) being simply unintelligible without explanation. In every case the strategy is a descriptive compound phrase, not a single reified noun, deliberately to avoid readers reaching for a nearby single native word that would misdirect the doctrine.
| Concept | Why no native word exists | Coined Compound Adopted |
|---|---|---|
| θεία φύσις — divine nature (participatory, not ontological) | Assamese theological vocabulary for “sharing in the divine” runs almost exclusively through Advaita/bhakti absorption or devotee-elevation categories | ঈশ্বৰীয় স্বভাৱ (+ মandatory note) |
| παρουσία — Christ’s one-time, final, personal return | The only existing “return of a god at history’s climax” schema is the cyclical avatar-descent pattern | পুনৰাগমন (+ mandatory note) |
| Linear, non-repeating cosmic dissolution by fire | The only existing single-word term (প্ৰলয়) names the cyclical version | আকাশমণ্ডল লুপ্ত হ’ব / মৌলিক পদাৰ্থ পুৰি ধ্বংস হ’ব |
| ταρταρώσας — a specific, one-time angelic confinement pending judgment | The only existing single-word term (নৰক) names a multi-level karmic hell-realm | অন্ধকাৰময় বন্দীশালা |
| δεσπότης applied to Christ’s ownership by redemption-purchase | Assamese has no word distinguishing “owner-by-purchase” from “lord” (প্ৰভু, already reserved for κύριος) or “husband” (also স্বামী) | স্বামী, contextually fenced (see 2b) |
| ἐπίγνωσις vs. γνῶσις as two distinct but related grades of relational knowledge of Christ | Assamese জ্ঞান is a single word; the Greek NT’s two-term distinction has no lexical parallel | (পূর্ণ) জ্ঞান for ἐπίγνωσις vs. plain জ্ঞান for γνῶσις — a qualifier-based distinction, always object-anchored |
2b. Crowded Semantic Neighborhoods (too many candidate words, several unsafe — require active fencing)
These are the inverse problem: Assamese offers several plausible words, and the most natural-sounding or most commonly used one in ordinary religious speech is precisely the one that must be rejected.
| Semantic Neighborhood | Candidate Words | The Trap | Fencing Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moral excellence / virtue | সদাচাৰ, গুণ, সদগুণ | গুণ is the reified technical term for the three guṇas (sattva-rajas-tamas) of Samkhya/Vedanta cosmology — an entire metaphysics of matter, not NT moral virtue | Use সদাচাৰ exclusively; গুণ forbidden in this doctrinal sense |
| Self-discipline | আত্মসংযম, ইন্দ্ৰিয় দমন | ইন্দ্ৰিয় দমন is the standard term for yogic/ascetic sense-organ suppression as a self-powered path to liberation | Use আত্মসংযম exclusively, framed as Spirit-given fruit |
| Devotion / reverence | ঈশ্বৰনিষ্ঠা, ভক্তি, শ্ৰদ্ধা | ভক্তি carries the entire Ekasarana naam-devotional-practice apparatus (naam-kirtan, guru-lineage, formal devotional vows); already fenced off from “faith” in the baseline, same logic extends to “godliness” | Use ঈশ্বৰনিষ্ঠা exclusively for εὐσέβεια |
| Knowledge / gnosis | জ্ঞান, পূর্ণ জ্ঞান | জ্ঞান is the reified term for jñāna as a liberating, self-attained mystical/intellectual realization in jñāna-mārga | Never leave জ্ঞান unanchored; always attach the object (”…যীচু খ্ৰীষ্টৰ”) |
| Desire / craving | কু-অভিলাষ, কামনা | কামনা carries strong Kamadeva-associated devotional/erotic register in Assamese religious poetry and Vaishnavite lyric tradition | Use কু-অভিলাষ exclusively |
| Divine dwelling/appearance | দেহধাৰণ (baseline), পুনৰাগমন (new), অৱতাৰ/অৱতাৰণ (forbidden) | Both “incarnation” and “return” sit adjacent to the single most productive concept in Assamese popular theology — avatar-descent — and risk collapsing into it if the fencing note is dropped even once | অৱতাৰ/অৱতাৰণ forbidden for both; mandatory notes required at every first occurrence of both দেহধাৰণ and পুনৰাগমন in every 2 Peter document (2 Peter does not narrate the incarnation directly but 1:16-18’s Transfiguration account presupposes it) |
| Cosmic dissolution/renewal | প্ৰলয় (forbidden), আকাশমণ্ডল লুপ্ত হ’ব / মৌলিক পদাৰ্থ পুৰি ধ্বংস হ’ব (adopted) | প্ৰলয় is the exact, single, natural word an educated Assamese reader would reach for; its rejection must be reinforced at every occurrence, not just glossed once | See mandatory note requirement above |
| Postmortem punishment | নৰক (forbidden), অন্ধকাৰময় বন্দীশালা (adopted) | নৰক is likewise the single natural word; same reinforcement requirement | Mandatory note at first occurrence in every document |
| Liberation / freedom | মুক্তি (forbidden for salvation, per baseline), স্বাধীনতা (adopted, fenced) | The false teachers of ch. 2 promise “freedom” (ἐλευθερία) that is itself a false, corrupt promise — using মুক্তি here would compound confusion by pulling in the baseline’s rebirth-cycle liberation sense on top of the passage’s own irony | Use স্বাধীনতা with explicit contextual marking as a false, self-serving promise, contrasted with true freedom in Christ |
| Master/owner vs. Lord | প্ৰভু (κύριος, baseline), স্বামী (δεσπότης, new) | স্বামী’s ordinary-register “husband” sense could mislead in isolated segments; conflating it with প্ৰভু would erase a distinction Peter intends | Keep both terms distinct and never substitute one for the other; context must always specify “who purchased them” for স্বামী |
3. Transliteration vs. Paraphrase Decisions
2 Peter introduces several terms that a translator might instinctively transliterate directly from Greek (following, e.g., the baseline’s treatment of আব্বা/Abba or মচীহ/Messiah). This section records the reasoning for each decision.
| Term | Transliteration Option | Paraphrase Option Adopted | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| παρουσία (parousia) | পাৰুছিয়া (unused) | পুনৰাগমন | A bare transliteration would carry no inherent meaning to an Assamese reader and would likely be reverse-glossed by readers or informal teachers into the nearest native concept — অৱতাৰণ — defeating the fencing purpose entirely. A meaningful descriptive compound, reinforced by a mandatory note, is safer than an opaque loanword that invites folk re-interpretation. |
| Τάρταρος (Tartarus) | টাৰ্টাৰাছ (unused) | অন্ধকাৰময় বন্দীশালা | Same logic: an opaque transliteration would almost certainly be informally equated with নৰক by both preachers and hearers, since Assamese has no cultural “Tartarus” category to anchor a loanword to. The descriptive phrase is self-explanatory and resists collapse into the Puranic hell-schema. |
| δεσπότης (despotēs) | দেস্পোতেছ (unused) | স্বামী | Common-vocabulary paraphrase preferred; a transliteration here would be needlessly opaque for a common Greek word that has a workable (if fenced) native equivalent. |
| θεία φύσις (theia physis) | (no transliteration considered) | ঈশ্বৰীয় স্বভাৱ | No transliteration tradition exists for this phrase; a compound built from established Assamese roots (ঈশ্বৰ + স্বভাৱ) is the only viable path, with the risk managed entirely through the mandatory note rather than through word choice. |
| σωτήρ (sōtēr) | ছোতেৰ (unused) | পৰিত্ৰাণকৰ্তা | Follows the baseline pattern exactly (কর্তা-agent suffix on the established পৰিত্ৰাণ root); consistent with existing Assamese Bible Society convention, no transliteration precedent exists for this common title. |
| Proper names already fixed in the Assamese Bible tradition (Cephas is not in 2 Peter; but Peter/পিতৰ, Paul/পৌল, Noah/নোহ, Lot/লোট, Balaam/বিলিয়ম, Balak — introduced in 2 Peter 2) | — | Retain established Assamese Bible Society transliterated forms | Standard convention for proper nouns; no doctrinal risk, follows precedent of David/দায়ূদ, Isaiah/যিচয়া etc. in the Romans baseline instruction set. |
| আমেন, হাল্লিলূয়া style established transliterated exclamations | n/a | n/a (none occur as new items in 2 Peter; noted for completeness) | No new instances in 2 Peter beyond the baseline’s existing coverage. |
General policy derived from the above: transliteration is reserved strictly for (a) proper names with an established Assamese Bible Society form, and (b) a small set of already-canonized theological loanwords (Messiah, Abba, Amen, Hallelujah) that carry their own recognized devotional register in Assamese Christian usage. Every newly introduced Greek theological/technical term in 2 Peter is paraphrased into a descriptive Assamese compound rather than transliterated, because 2 Peter’s highest risks are precisely the terms where an opaque loanword would be silently reinterpreted by readers into the nearest (and doctrinally wrong) native category. Descriptive awkwardness is treated as a feature, not a defect, for Critical-risk terms.
4. Ranked List of Highest-Risk Ambiguities in 2 Peter
Ranked by combined weight of (a) doctrinal centrality to the seven curriculum doctrines and core passage, and (b) severity/proximity of the nearest competing Assamese religious concept.
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θεία φύσις — “partakers of the divine nature” (1:4) — Critical. Nearest neighbor (Advaita atman=Brahman merger, the explicit goal of jñāna-mārga mokṣa) is not merely adjacent but is the dominant philosophical account of “becoming divine” available to an educated Assamese reader. Highest risk of any single phrase in the letter because it can transform sanctification into a self-deification claim.
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παρουσία — Christ’s return (1:16; 3:4, 10) — Critical. Structural parallel to Kalki-avatar eschatology within the Ekasarana tradition’s own inherited Bhagavata Purana cosmology; risk compounded because it recurs across the whole letter (Transfiguration preview in ch.1, scoffers’ denial and reaffirmation in ch.3), giving multiple opportunities for the fencing note to be dropped.
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στοιχεῖα καυσούμενα λυθήσεται / cosmic dissolution by fire — Day of the Lord (3:10-12) — Critical. The single existing perfect-fit native word (প্ৰলয়) is also the exact term for the Puranic cyclical dissolution that the doctrine must be distinguished from; the temptation to use the elegant native word instead of the awkward paraphrase will recur at every translation pass.
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ταρταρώσας / chains of darkness — judgment of the angels (2:4) — Critical. Same “elegant native word exists and is wrong” problem as #3 (নৰক), compounded by the fact that Tartarus is a minor, easily-glossed-over detail that translators may not flag for special note-taking despite the risk.
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ὑπὸ Πνεύματος Ἁγίου φερόμενοι — carried along by the Holy Spirit (1:21) — Critical. This is the doctrinal anchor of the core passage itself; risk is acute because Assamese Shakta/folk mediumship offers a live, real-world phenomenological model (a spirit “speaking through” a suppressed human identity) that is structurally similar enough to mislead even careful readers without the mandatory note.
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ἐπίγνωσις / γνῶσις — relational knowledge of Christ (1:2-3, 1:5-6, 1:8, 3:18) — High. Recurs more often than any other flagged term in the letter (the growth-chain in 1:5-7 and the closing doxology in 3:18 both depend on it), so the risk is one of cumulative erosion — a single unanchored occurrence of জ্ঞান could retroactively color the reader’s understanding of every other occurrence toward jñāna-mārga self-realization.
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εὐσέβεια — godliness vs. ভক্তি (1:3, 1:6-7, 3:11) — High. Direct extension of the baseline’s already-established faith/bhakti fencing; the risk is elevated in 2 Peter specifically because “godliness” appears embedded in a list of virtues (1:5-7) where a translator working quickly through a chain of short words is statistically more likely to default to the shorter, more common ভক্তি under time pressure.
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ἀρετή — virtue vs. গুণ (1:3, 1:5) — High. Same time-pressure risk as #7; গুণ is shorter and more idiomatic than সদাচাৰ, creating ongoing translator temptation.
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δεσπότης vs. κύριος — “Master” who bought them (2:1) — Medium-High. Low frequency (single occurrence) lowers overall risk relative to items above, but the consequence of collapsing it into প্ৰভু would blur Peter’s specific redemption-purchase argument, and the alternative confusion with “husband” is a distinct, non-doctrinal but real intelligibility risk.
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ἐλευθερία / false freedom promised by false teachers (2:19) — Medium-High. Risk is primarily one of authorial irony being lost: if স্বাধীনতা is rendered without clear contextual marking as false and self-serving, a reader could mistake the false teachers’ promise for a legitimate biblical freedom claim, especially given Assamese Christian audiences’ familiarity with genuine “freedom in Christ” language from other epistles.
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μῦθος — myths (1:16) — Medium. Risk is that a gentler word (উপকথা) would soften Peter’s polemical claim into “quaint traditional tale” rather than “deliberately fabricated falsehood,” inadvertently placing itihasa/purana narratives (which many Assamese readers regard as historically true, not myth in the pejorative sense) uncomfortably close to the term being used, even though Peter’s actual target is the false teachers’ fabrications, not Hindu narrative literature as such.
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τὸ ἅγιον ὄρος — the holy mountain (1:18) — Low-Medium. Lower risk because the term itself (পবিত্ৰ পাহাৰ) is not doctrinally loaded, but the surrounding narrative expectation (a mountain as an ongoing site of divine encounter/pilgrimage, as with Kamakhya hill) needs a brief contextual note to keep the Transfiguration as a one-time historical event rather than an invitation to devotional pilgrimage practice.
5. Summary and Handoff
Of the terms surveyed, five require mandatory translator notes at every first occurrence in every 2 Peter document (carried forward from 08_core_glossary.md and reaffirmed here): পুনৰাগমন, ঈশ্বৰীয় স্বভাৱ, অন্ধকাৰময় বন্দীশালা, প্ৰভুৰ দিন/cosmic dissolution, and পবিত্ৰ আত্মাৰ দ্বাৰা চালিত হৈ. These five terms represent the intersection of the letter’s most doctrinally load-bearing claims with Assamese’s most theologically “crowded” semantic neighborhoods (avatar-descent, Advaita merger, Puranic hell, Puranic cyclical cosmology, and oracular mediumship, respectively).
A further eight terms (ἐπίγνωσις/γνῶσις, εὐσέβεια, ἀρετή, ἐγκράτεια, δεσπότης, ἐλευθερία/false freedom, μῦθος, and the Growing-in-Virtue chain as a whole) require sustained vigilance across repeated occurrences rather than a single note, because their risk arises cumulatively from translator fatigue and the persistent availability of a shorter, more idiomatic, but theologically compromised alternative word.
This analysis should be loaded alongside 08_core_glossary.md, bible_term_registry.json, and the Romans-baseline translation_memory.json before Phase 1 Step 9 (doctrine risk registry update for 2 Peter) and before any Phase 2 segment translation of 2 Peter begins.