Subject: Gender-neutral NIV |
Bible Note: Makarios, many cheers to you for posting the reference to web site www.KeptTheFaith.org. It is a web site that every thinking Christian would do well to visit. The enormous amount of hype and pure, unvarnished propaganda that is being shoved down our throats by mercenary Bible translators and publishers is patently misleading and gives us cause for alarm. It strikes me as significant to trace the ownership of the publishing rights of both the TNIV and NIV to its ultimate source. Zondervan, the publisher, is owned by Harper Collins Publishers (which also publishes the gender-inclusive NRSV). Harper Collins is a subsidiary of The News Corporation, the chairman and chief executive officer of which is Rupert Murdock, who also owns Twentieth Century Fox Films. It therefore seems fair to ask, "Is this TNIV the "accurate translation" that the Bible-reading public needs (as the publishers claim)? Or is it seen by the firm headed by Murdock as just another way to line its pockets with more fast bucks?..... Of course, TNIV joins other gender-inclusive versions already on the market, among which are NRSV and NLT (New Living Translation). All these versions (including the present NIV) take liberties with the biblical text by employing to greater or lesser degrees the so-called "dynamic equivalence" -- a fancy name for paraphrasing -- in rendering the biblical manuscripts into English...... It is of interest to note that three of the most reliable and accurate word-for-word modern translations in the English language are the New American Standard Bible (NASB); the English Standard Version (ESV); and the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). The thing these versions share in common, in addition of course to the painstaking care they have taken to render the biblical texts with all possible fidelity and word-for-word accuracy, is that the publishers of all three of these versions are NOT-FOR-PROFIT organizations. Now that's something to think about, it seems to me. --Hank |