Friday, June 24, 2011

Various Opinions on the NIV2011

If you want some more voices on the new NIV, check out the following:

http://ancienthebrewpoetry.typepad.com/ancient_hebrew_poetry/2011/06/dissatisfaction-with-the-new-niv-among-biblical-bloggers.html#more

http://www.wels.net/news-events/forward-in-christ/bible-revision-new-international-version-2010

I've attached here the pdf of a PowerPoint I presented on the NIV 2011. You may not get everything out of this from just the document, but for what it's worth:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1089433/Bible%20Immersion/NIV2011.pdf

Overall, I see the NIV2011 as a slight improvement over the NIV1984. However, change, when it comes to Bible translations, is always painful.

I do have to say though, even since I made the decision back in 2003 to (for personal use) read the Bible nearly exclusively in the original languages, I find it hard not to laugh deep down inside when people harshly condemn or intensely praise any one translation, because any translation leaves so much out. As I've put it before, translating the Bible is like getting only a backpack to take treasure from a great storehouse. Any translation HAS to leave something out.  But of course, I understand the need for an accurate and understandable vernacular translation.

By the way, I think the esteemed former bishop of Durham would agree...
http://youtu.be/7hVVNYIPK_Q

7 comments:

  1. I couldn't agree more about any translation adding an extra layer of abstraction (and possibility for errors). Although, I will continue primarily using English translations, until I believe my Hebrew and Greek are comparable to the teams of professionals who translated the NIV and other English versions (so probably forever).

    I think your "collecting a treasure in a backpack" analogy is a great way to describe our ability to extract any truth from God's word and attempt to store it in our human brains.

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  2. Thanks. I'm waiting to see what will happen long term with the NIV, and whether or not we're going to see a greater or lesser variety of translations used in various English speaking church bodies.

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