Biblical Hebrew Forum

["chuckles77 AT juno.com" <chuckles77 AT juno.com>]

My two cents on the differing Bible translations in English:

I've ministered in a full-time capacity for over ten years to college 
students here in the U.S., and I can attest to the steady decline in biblical 
literacy.  I see this more as a result of a cultural shift occurring in the 
States  but it also has, I think, to do with some fundamental problems in our 
education system.

I doubt, for example, that the average high school or college student has 
enough background in either the classics or the Bible to be able to 
understand such works as Dante or Milton or even parts of Chaucer or 
Shakespeare on their own.  Furthermore, the "microwave-ready" mentality 
prevalent in our culture (yielding passive interaction with texts vs. an 
active one) has certainly produced an atrophying influence to the next 
generation's ability to wrestle with a text, be it biblical, classical, or 
otherwise.  

I think the flood of English translations over the last few few decades, 
which tend to be more towards the DE end of the spectrum, is a signpost for 
these things.  However, that should not be taken as a criticism of DE 
translations in and of itself.  It's simply a fact.

I know and have befriended many students who have a minimal knowledge of the 
Bible.  They are completely unfamiliar with its accounts, and are often, to 
be honest, not very good readers.  For them, a translation such as the NLT or 
NIV really is the best translation to start out with.

As a student develops a familiarity with the Bible, I encourage them to be 
exposed to translations more on the FE side of the spectrum, such as the 
NASB, the ESV, or the new HCSB.  In this way they take on more of a 
responsibility to actively engage themselves with the text--and discover much 
more with a translation that is more transparent to what the original authors 
wrote.

My point, in echoing Comfort, is that different translations can play  a 
vital role in the step-by-step process a person goes through in developing an 
understanding of the biblical text.  The DE translations make the biblical 
text much more accessable at the outset for our students.  Yet my desire is 
for them to gradually "graduate" to FE translations that will offer a greater 
challenge to strengthen their exegetical "muscles" as well as opening their 
eyes to nuances of the text that are ofttimes missing in the DE translations.

So, can we agree that all the English translations discussed can serve a 
useful, and even important, role in helping people understand the Bible, if 
used appropriately?

All the best,
Chuck Wynn
Campus Staff, Riverview Church
www.eriv.net