Think Wink.

Earlier this year, I posted an article on why I think that Sunday School is the perfect place to teach lay people how to interact with Greek and Hebrew when they read the Bibles. Today I was thinking about this again and I couldn’t that this was a better idea to help lay people and the non-seminary educated pastors read the Bible better. But while I was thinking about this and the various Bible translations, I came up with a second part of this curriculum. After helping people get familiar with the original languages, a class should be taught to teach people how to use multiple translations to study Scripture.

Think about this. Many people use the KJV because that is the oldest translation used today, pretty much, as it has been in print since 1611 AD. Many of these people don’t realize that the KJV fails in translating so many passages because of either a translator error or its use of the Textus Receptus that errs in certain places in the Greek (though not every place).

Most people use the NIV because it has been around since a little after 1970. It is the highest selling Bible, and for good reason. It uses modern English that most people understand. Plus, there are so many variations of this translation, the newest being the TNIV. The NIV also has many formats ranging from thin-line to life application to study Bibles. It is marketed very well.

Then there is the NASB and the NLT which also are used widely. The NASB is used because of its claim and reputation to be the most literal translation on the market. The NLT is used because of its target audience being so young (eight graders I believe?) and thus it is extremely easy for the majority of junior high/middle school, high school, college, and post-college to middle age believers.

But how many people know the difference between a formal equivalent in the NASB, ESV, KJV, NKJV (these being the more widely known) and the dynamic equivalent in the NIV, NLT, CEV, NCV, and a paraphrase in the Message, the Amplified Bible, and the Living Bible? Does the common lay person realize that there are totally different approaches and philosophies behind the differences in renderings of these translations? I can’t say, but if I had to venture an opinion I would say they might be aware but not understand.

I think this would be helpful for a few reasons. First, this will help show the importance of knowing Greek and Hebrew because of the many different ways a particular word or construction of Greek grammar. One example I can think of is that famous text of Matthew 11:12 where Jesus says, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” There are four ways to translate this verse because “has suffered violence” can either be passive or middle voice and work fine. And the end of the text can also mean the kingdom is plundered. When one reads many translations, this might help decide which way to go.

I think that this class should do the following. First, it should instruct lay people to what formal equivalent, dynamic equivalent, and paraphrase translations are. It should identify the philosophy and give examples of each translation. It would give strengths and weaknesses of each philosophies. It should also encourage the reading from a representative of each philosophy so that the people in the class can get a feel of the translation. The philosophies should be compared in reading to each other so that the people can see how they stack up against each other.

But one thrust of this class would be on the emphasis on the truth that no one translation gets it right at every turn. There is a need to read from multiple translations so that people can see the full range of readings from Scripture. Dynamic translations will help identify particular parts of original languages that shouldn’t be translated in exact word-for-word style and that some words, although might limit gender in a literal sense, speak of both male and female genders. Formal translations can take the reader more behind English and try to get them into what was actually written. This way a careful exegetical study can be done, reading through a lens of English that minimizes dependency upon translators. Then we can get our minds fully into the mind of the original author. Taken all translations together, one can get a good understanding of a particular passage.

Do you think that a class for churches that focuses on the different translations philosophies and the importance of diversity of reading is needed? If so, how would you do it? If not, why do you feel so? These are just preliminary thoughts on this type of class.

Related posts:

I Really Like This One

The Blogosphere

Greek Resources for Translation