It has been an absolutely huge week for those of us who watch Bible translation and Bible scholarship. Zondervan, the company that publishes the NIV & TNIV Bibles, announced that they are discontinuing the TNIV translation and commissioning an update to the NIV.
The TNIV was intended to be a Bible that would be more "gender-inclusive." It often changed words that were masculine into gender neutral terms. Words like "brothers" were translated as "brothers and sisters." Words like "man" were translated "human beings." Many conservative pastors and scholars objected that this was letting culture values drive our understanding of the Bible, instead of letting the Bible drive our understanding of culture.
The announcement that the TNIV will be discontinued is a victory for those who desire to stay as close to the literal understanding of the original text of the Bible as possible. The people in charge of the NIV should definitely be commended for recognizing this and taking action to address it.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
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3 comments:
Speaking of Bible translations.. I've been intrigued about "The Message" version of the Bible. Did it (has it) generated any controversy?
The message is an excellent "paraphrase." It should not be used as a translation for serious Bible study, but instead an excelent resource for devotional reading.
That's almost too bad. The NIV's use of dynamic equivalence served a niche for Bible translations. I hope they keep an aspect of that. There needs to be a balance between the NASB, ESV, and paraphrases such as the Message. The European version of the TNIV seemed wildly popular across the pond. I'm surprised it never took off here.
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