Translating the Scripture

Artemis

People who know me and know that I use the Greek New Testament exclusively for preaching and teaching often ask me which translation is best. It’s a tough question in that translations are governed by multiple factors only one of which is accuracy and reliability.

In recent years perhaps no issue has been more of a factor in Bible translation than “gender-inclusivity.” Three recent translations, the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), Today’s New International Version (TNIV) and the English Standard Version (ESV), were all motivated by concerns (supportive or otherwise) over gender-inclusivity.

Today, feminist biblical scholarship has entered the mainstream, as has the push for gender-inclusive translations of the scriptures. For example, the revision of the Revised Standard Version along gender-inclusive lines (1991) placed a gender-inclusive translation into mainstream Protestantism. The TNIV sought to do the same for mainstream Evangelicalism. Moreover, even the ESV, a self-described “conservative” translation makes some concessions and accommodations to gender-inclusive concerns.

To what degree should a translator accommodate gender-inclusive concerns? Let me articulate three principles I employ when translating the scriptures for preaching and teaching, seeking to be inclusive of all God’s people and also faithful to the original intention of the biblical writer.

A Theology of Love

Let’s talk about love. May as well; tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and only the foolish and foolhardy among us dare forget it. Everywhere we turn (television, florists, departments stores, Hallmark) we’ll be inundated with the notion that love is defined as a romantic feeling that launches us on a quest to “acquire” someone to fulfill our personal desires. At least that’s the world’s definition of “love.”

But it’s not the Church’s.

A Reasonable Alternative

Back in the mid-90’s I was dean of a divinity school at a Baptist college near where I live. When I became dean, I led the faculty through a thorough revision of the curriculum in an attempt to try to make theological education more germane to what students actually do in the parish once they get there. I had spent considerable time as a pastor before becoming a divinity dean, and I was determined not to repeat the mistakes I had witnessed in my own experience with theological education. Chief among them was the complaint I heard from numerous students who, in one way or another, commented on their seminary experience with the indictment: “I had entirely too many professors trying to tell me how to be a pastor who had never spent even one day as a pastor themselves.” Can you imagine being in medical school and being taught by professors who had never actually practiced medicine?

Glimpses of Glory: Using the Cinema in Preaching

Imagine that it’s 11:40 A.M. Sunday morning, and you’re working hard in the sermon to help your audience understand the difficult and often painful work involved in being forgiven. “Forgiveness is hard,” you say, “because hovering over the broken relationship like a vulture are those deeds done you cannot undo, and those opportunities lost that can never be recaptured.” You made the point clearly and concisely, but in the minds and hearts of the audience, it is still just a “point,” not an experience. Then again, you could tell them a story…

Telling Time

Parochialism takes lots of expressions, but perhaps the least noticed is the way we tell time. Not everyone tells time the way we Americans do. The Chinese tell time differently. Their New Year begins in the spring rather than on January 1. Jews tell time differently too. Their New Year, called Rosh Hashanah (literally “head of the year”), is in the fall. A calendar is merely a way of organizing time for some purpose - social, cultural, commercial, administrative, or religious. How you tell time can be a telling indicator of what you value, what you think important, how you order your life.