Bible Question: The announcment of the forthcoming publication of Today's New International Version (TNIV) is creating quite a controversy among Christians, especially evangelicals. Do you feel that this will have any effect on the Bible buying public in the way they may view new translations in general? Will it lead to a trend away from "dynamic equivalent" and paraphrased versons and toward conservative and literally accurate versions? Will it cast doubt upon the motives and integrity of translation committees and Bible publishers? --Hank |
Bible Answer: As I recall, the TNIV is simply an updated NIV. Will it affect us more than the NIV? I doubt it. If anything, it will be about the same. People who like the NIV already use it. (I'm an NAS person, myself, and I just this year got the '95 update - my old Bible wore out.) To be fair, for anyone else who reads this, I've got the "old-new comparison" page open in front of me, and have gone through some of the bigger (or at least the most irritating) changes below. The more I look at it, the more I'm glad I have my NAS. They translate "huioi" (greek word translated "sons" in NAS, "old" NIV, ASV, NKJV) in Matt. 5:9 as "children" (Although the KJV says "children", the Greek word "tekna" is usu. translated as children. There is a difference. (Okay, slightly major beef with that one.) They often switch from "Christ" to "Messiah" (except where "Christ" is used as a name - Jesus Christ), since they mean the same thing. To me, it seems like a silly change (it would be much easier to switch the OT "Messiah"'s to "Christ"'s.) Grammar/Punctuation. They divide up the flow of thought and start sentences with "But". (English teachers beware!) They switch from specific to generic. "He who" to "whoever". Please, if you must change it, make it "the one who". It speaks of a specific (or specifics) one, rather than the generic "whoever". If you are asking if the controversy will cause people to steer clear of the TNIV towards something along the lines of NASB (or even NKJV). I don't know--Christendom certainly is not immune from fads. Well, there's my "2 cents worth". (Hey, considering what all you got, it's quite a bargain.) Benjamite |