Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>]

Chuck:

It is worse, people just simply don't read. Even some people who want to go 
into the ministry haven't read the Bible, not even once in English. How can 
they teach the ignorant, when they themselves are ignorant?

I spent four years reading Tanakh the first time, are they ready to do even a 
fraction of that? How many continue their studies after getting out of 
school? I'm appalled.

Some have read these quick theology in 40 days books and think they are 
learned.

Scholars are not the Wunderkinder who dazzle us with their brilliance in 
youth. They are those who have slogged the hours and are just coming into 
their own in their 50s.

How can we discuss b-Hebrew, when our only reference is what others say?

Karl W. Randolph.

----- Original Message -----
From: "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
-- 
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