The similar phrase 'Worldly Christianity' is one used by Bonhoeffer. It's J Gresham Machen that I want to line up most closely with. See his Christianity and culture here. Having done commentaries on Proverbs (Heavenly Wisdom) and Song of Songs (Heavenly Love), a matching title for Ecclesiastes would be Heavenly Worldliness. For my stance on worldliness, see 3 posts here.

10 Varying titles

1. J K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone became Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in America (as did the movie). Done apparently as it was believed Americans would not have heard of the Philosopher's Stone.
2. Philip Pullman's Northern Lights was renamed The Golden Compass in America due to the alethiometer looking like a compass. Scholastic believed "Northern Lights" would be the name of the trilogy and used "Golden Compass in the story" as a working title. By the time Pullman got wind of it and things were straightened out, it was too late. Pullman really liked The Golden Compass as a title, although it was a mistake, and patterned the other titles after it.
3. Where's Wally is published as Where's Waldo in the USA and Canada.
4. Hardy Boys Casefiles #117 Blood Sport was renamed Duel With Death in the UK due to the controversy surrounding fox hunting.
5. Two Dalziel and Pascoe novels were retitled for their American release: The Death of Dalziel became Death Comes for the Fat Man and A Cure for All Diseases became The Price of Butcher's Meat.
6. Ian Rankin's Fleshmarket Close turned into Fleshmarket Alley for American audiences.
7. The American title of the English translation of Let the right one in was changed to Let Me In, which removes the vampire nuances of the original title. It was changed due to the original title being "too long". Thanks to the release and success of the film, the title has been changed back. (They even thought that the author John Ajvide Lindqvist's name was too long and asked him if they could change that too.)
8. Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve and its sequels are collectively known as "The Hungry City Chronicles" in America, despite the series already having a perfectly good name - the Mortal Engines Quartet.
9. Joanne Harris's The Lollipop Shoes is The Girl with no shadow in the USA
10. Jim Packer's book on the Puritans was originally called Among God's giants, aspects of Puritan Christianity in the UK. In the USA it was known as A quest for godliness, The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life.
Any other examples?

2 comments:

Gary said...
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Ryan Burton King said...

'The Tin Star' short story became classic western film 'High Noon'.