In rejecting word-for-word translations, Dr. Daniel B. Wallace explains that, “Jerome argued against this, noting that his translation of the Vulgate was not word-for-word, but sense-for-sense.” A follow-up comment suggests that Jerome implied that he translated holy scriptures “word for word.” Here’s my question: Does it matter what Jerome did? More generally, does it matter…
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According to the Religion Newswriters Association, Bible translation stories were among the top 10 religion stories of 2011. The RNA singled out three events that contributed to the prominence of Bible translations in the news this past year: Celebrations of the 400th anniversary of the King James Version. There’s no doubt that the King James…
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This past July I had the pleasure of presenting at a TEDx conference in East Hampton, the broad theme of which was “The Next Generation.” So I offered an 18-minute segment on Bible translation, on what so often goes wrong with translations, and on how to avoid the common mistakes. I couched these topics in…
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David Frank at BBB asks if a translation has to sound like a translation. Not surprisingly when it comes to the Bible, two answers emerged: “yes,” and “no.” David’s point was that a translation into English should sound like English. Bob MacDonald seems to counter that the foreignness is part of the text and a…
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In 2008, as I was writing And God Said, I described the King James Version (KJV) as the “fool’s-gold standard” of English Bible translation. That was approximately 397 years after the watershed publication of the KJV, hardly a date worth noticing. But today the KJV turns 400, and with that anniversary has come renewed world-wide…
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I’m thrilled to announce the beta version of my latest project: Exploring the Bible videos. The site is a growing collection of short text-based videos about the Bible, frequently focusing on translation issues. The first three videos (also available on YouTube) are: John 3:16 – What does “God so loved the world” really mean? Quiz:…
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The BBC News Magazine has an interesting, accurate, and balanced piece on the KJV out today, called “King James Bible: How it changed the way we speak.” Based largely on works by David Crystal (Begat: The King James Bible and the English Language) and Alister McGrath (In the Beginning: The Story of the King James…
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Recent posts from my Ancient Wisdom, Modern Lives:
