Acts (Punjabi) — Executive Summary

Why it matters

Acts is the narrative hinge of the New Testament — the Spirit’s descent at Pentecost, the gospel’s leap from Jerusalem to “the ends of the earth,” and the church’s birth under persecution — translated for a Punjabi audience sitting between two living, theologically sophisticated traditions (Sikhism, dominant in Indian Punjab, and Islam, dominant in Pakistani Punjab) that each supply ready-made but doctrinally incompatible vocabulary for nearly every major theme in the book: Spirit-filling, vision, martyrdom, initiation ritual, and miraculous power all have close Punjabi lexical neighbors that would quietly rewrite the text’s meaning if used carelessly. Getting this right is not a stylistic preference; it is the difference between a Punjabi reader hearing the gospel of Acts and hearing a plausible-sounding echo of their own existing tradition.

Key findings

• The core passage is the doctrinal center of gravity. Acts 2:1–41 alone carries 6 of the curriculum’s 7 Critical-risk doctrines (Holy Spirit and Pentecost, Salvation, Lordship of Christ, Messianic Promise, Resurrection of Christ, and — through Peter’s citation of Joel — Fulfillment of Prophecy), making it the single highest-density passage in the entire Language Package.
• 107 enforced glossary terms now govern Phase 2 translation: 41 inherited unmodified from the Romans baseline package, 66 newly identified across the full 28-chapter sweep of Acts. Of these, 58 terms (11 Critical + 47 High) require mandatory human theologian review on every occurrence.
• 30 doctrines are tracked in the risk registry (identical in count and tier to doctrine_risk_registry.json): 7 Critical, 19 High, 3 Medium, 1 Low — 26 of 30 doctrines require human theologian review, 3 require native-speaker review, and 1 is automated-review-only.
• Five terms carry a mandatory clarifying-gloss requirement (a heavier obligation than ordinary glossary enforcement): ਮੁਕਤੀ (salvation, inherited from Romans), and four new to Acts — ਦਰਸ਼ਨ (vision), ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਦਾ ਨਾਮ ਲੈਣਾ (calling on the name of the Lord), ਸ਼ਹੀਦ (martyr), and ਰਾਹ (“the Way”). Each sits directly opposite an actively practiced Sikh devotional or communal category (Naam-simran, darshan, ਸ਼ਹੀਦੀ martyrdom tradition, bahu-marg “many paths” pluralism).
• Full-book coverage confirmed: all 28 chapters reviewed; chapters 12, 18, 21, 23, and 25 are explicitly logged as introducing no new load-bearing vocabulary or doctrine citation, reusing terms and doctrines established in adjacent chapters rather than being silently skipped.

Risks

• ਦਰਸ਼ਨ (vision, Acts 9 and throughout Paul’s conversion narrative) is the single highest-risk term in the curriculum: unavoidable (no natural substitute exists) yet saturated with the Hindu/Sikh devotional practice of beholding-and-being-blessed by a deity, guru, or the Guru Granth Sahib.
• ਸ਼ਹੀਦ (martyr, Stephen’s death in Acts 7) carries the heaviest cultural charge of any single word in the glossary, given the Khalsa martial-martyr tradition (ਧਰਮ ਯੁੱਧ) — a framework Christian martyrdom in Acts must be sharply distinguished from.
• ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਦਾ ਨਾਮ ਲੈਣਾ (calling on the Lord’s name, Acts 2:21/38) sits at the evangelistic climax of the core passage and collides directly with Naam-simran, Sikh piety’s central devotional practice — a missed gloss here would blunt the passage’s central altar-call.
• Signs and wonders / apostolic miracles (chs. 2–19, high frequency) risk recasting the apostles as pirs or siddhi-attaining yogis if ਕਰਾਮਾਤ or ਸਿੱਧੀ ever leaks into translation — a single lapse could recolor the reader’s whole mental model of Acts.
• ਰਾਹ (“the Way”) risks silent misreading through South Asia’s “many paths” (bahu-marg) framework even when the correct word is chosen, because the risk lives in the absence of the required exclusivity bridge-note rather than in the vocabulary itself.

Opportunities

• ਸੰਗਤ, ਸਾਂਝਾ, and ਸੇਵਾ (fellowship, communal sharing, and service in Acts 2, 4, and 6) are genuine positive bridge words into Sikh langar and sangat culture — among the most naturally warm passages to translate in the entire curriculum, provided grace-motivation (not merit or obligation) stays explicit.
• ਗਵਾਹ (witness) and ਦਲੇਰੀ (boldness) give Punjabi readers a legally-rooted, Spirit-given courage vocabulary distinct from martial valor — a chance to reframe bold faith without borrowing contested categories.
• ਖੁਸ਼ਖਬਰੀ ਲਈ ਪਰਾਈਆਂ ਕੌਮਾਂ (the Gospel to Jews and Gentiles), worked out narratively across Acts 10–15, gives the curriculum concrete, story-driven material to teach God’s impartiality against residual caste and communal hierarchy — a direct, positive point of contact with Sikhism’s own formal (if imperfectly practiced) rejection of caste.

Recommended actions

1. Lock all 107 translation_memory.json entries, and the five mandatory-gloss term templates, before Phase 2 translation begins; treat gloss wording as fixed, not restylable per-lesson.
2. Route every segment touching the 11 Critical-risk terms and the five mandatory-gloss terms to human theologian review as a non-negotiable first pass, ahead of general Critical/High queue processing.
3. Brief reviewers specifically on the ਦਰਸ਼ਨ, ਸ਼ਹੀਦ, and ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਦਾ ਨਾਮ ਲੈਣਾ glosses before Phase 2 Step 16 batch processing starts, since these are new to this curriculum and have no Romans-package precedent to lean on.
4. Treat Acts 2:38–40 as a single indivisible high-priority review unit (repentance, baptism, forgiveness, gift of the Spirit, salvation) rather than four separately-triaged low-risk terms.
5. Flag Acts 27:34 explicitly in QA tooling to catch any accidental use of ਮੁਕਤੀ where ਬਚਾਅ is required — a narrow but easy-to-miss false-consistency trap.