Did a poor word choice affect the course of Christianity?

Common but misleading translation of ‘metanoia’ had its origins in Latin

Image adapted from photo by Samuel Regan-Asante; licensed by Unsplash.

Is it possible that an inadequate translation from Greek into Latin more than a millennium and half ago has shaped the way Christians tend to think today about what it means to have an encounter with God?

Look at these two possible translations for the first two verses of Matthew 3 as …