Written by Aerial E Whiting
they maintained that biblical translations should balance readability and faithfulness to the original text.
Companies continue to produce new translations and revisions of old translations to keep pace with changes in the English language. Recent efforts include translations with gender-inclusive language.
The New International Version Inclusive Language Edition released in the United Kingdom in 1996 and the more recentToday’s New International Versionhave received criticism for attempting gender-neutrality.
The Christian publishing company Zondervan will replace the TNIV with a new New International Version edition in 2011 in response to the heat the TNIV has taken. The Committee on Bible Translation, the group working on the newest edition, has not determined the extent to which gender-inclusive language will be used.
Some Harding professors are in favor of gender-neutral language if it is appropriate to the language of the original text. Dr. Danny Mathews said that the NIV goes too far in its use of masculine language, citing Ecclesiastes 1:3, which translates “adam” as “man” but could translate it “humanity.”
However, with regard to “updating” the Bible’s treatment of gender, Mathews said, “I’m a little uncomfortable with that because if we update the Bible, what’s to keep us from updating other things that we don’t like? I think we need to allow the cultural characteristics of the Bible to remain even if it’s very strange to us today, even if we might find it offensive, allow it to remain.”
The general consensus among the Bible faculty members was that Bible translations should make sense to their audience but retain the original meaning. Dr. Daniel Stockstill and others said it was important to avoid letting interpretation replace translation.
“You do your very best to represent what is being said in an understandable way in the receptor language without influencing how one reads that text,” Stockstill said.
Many Christians prefer to read theKing James Versiononly, but the Bible faculty members found this inadvisable. The KJV is based on newer manuscripts, which are less accurate, and it uses outdated expressions.
One reason people prefer the KJV is that it sounds holy, according to Dr. Joe Brumfield. He pointed out, however, that the New Testament was written in koine Greek, or the Greek of the common man.
“Apparently God was very serious about having the Bible translated in the language of the common man on the street,” Brumfield said. “So, if our Bibles today are not understood in the common language of the common man, we’re missing something.”
The Bible faculty members believe in reading many biblical translations to understand the original meaning of the Scriptures.
The College of Bible and Religion does not require students or teachers to use any one translation in class. The general guideline is to have students do memory work from the NIV because that is the translation most students use, but this is not an endorsement of that translation, Stockstill said.
