Executive Summary

Why it matters

Romans is the theological backbone of the New Testament, and Punjabi presents a doctrinal-translation risk profile unlike any other language in this pipeline: its single most natural word for God (ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ) and its single most natural word for salvation (ਮੁਕਤੀ) are both drawn from Sikh theology, one avoidable and one already embedded in established Punjabi Bible usage. Getting these two decisions wrong either strips the curriculum of its warmest, most native-sounding vocabulary or quietly imports a Guru-mediated theology of liberation in place of the gospel.

Key findings

• The registry tracks 40 doctrines across Romans 1-16; 30 require mandatory human theologian review before any translated segment ships (7 Critical, 23 High).
• Salvation is the pipeline’s only Critical-risk term this Language Package deliberately retains rather than rejects: ਮੁਕਤੀ is the established Punjabi Bible rendering, so this curriculum requires a mandatory clarifying gloss on every doctrinally load-bearing occurrence instead of replacing the word outright.
• Apostleship is raised to High risk specifically for Punjabi (Medium in comparable languages) because the nearest-sounding alternative, ਗੁਰੂ, is not a stylistic variant but a title reserved exclusively for the Ten Sikh Gurus and the Guru Granth Sahib.
• Incarnation and Deity of Christ face a double audience risk unique to this language: Hindu-heritage readers may import avatar-descent theology, while Sikh-heritage readers may reject the very idea of divine embodiment as incompatible with Waheguru’s revealed formlessness (ਨਿਰੰਕਾਰ).

Risks

• The “most natural word” trap: ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ and ਗੁਰੂ are the two most fluent, warm, reverent words available for “God” and “apostle/teacher” in everyday Punjabi — and both are rejected, because their fluency comes specifically from a closed Sikh revelation structure this curriculum must not imply endorsement of.
• Living, not historical, syncretism categories: unlike some Sanskrit-textual risk categories in other languages, Punjab’s Sant tradition (rejected for “saints”) and Sikh Qaum identity (flagged for “gentiles/nations”) are active, present-day religious and social categories, not archaic literary ones.
• Formless-God incompatibility: for Sikh-heritage readers, incarnation is not merely a wrong-word risk but a doctrine that may be heard as a category violation of God’s revealed nature, requiring theological framing rather than vocabulary substitution alone.

Opportunities

• ਸੰਗਤ (the gathered faith community, central to Sikh communal worship) is a genuinely strong, positive fit for “fellowship” with no contradictory theology attached.
• ਪਵਿੱਤਰ (holy) is used naturally in Sikh liturgical language for sacred purity, giving this curriculum one of its few terms with clean cross-religious overlap rather than tension.
• Sikh ਹੁਕਮ (submission to Waheguru’s Divine Order) offers a genuine, teachable point of comparison for providence, even though it is too liturgically specific to serve as the translation itself.

Recommended actions

• Route every Critical and High risk segment (30 of 40 doctrines) through human theologian review before publication; do not allow automated-only review to touch these terms.
• Enforce the mandatory Sikh/Christian mukti-distinction gloss as a hard validation rule, not a stylistic suggestion, given how easily ਮੁਕਤੀ could otherwise be read as fully synonymous with Sikh liberation theology.
• Brief native-speaker reviewers on the living, present-day status of the Sant tradition and Sikh Qaum identity so they catch these risks as active cultural realities, not textbook history.