Bible Translation Studies Bookshelf:
These books are excellent additions to one's library and are particularly useful for research.
Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament
Jason BeDuhn's book compares nine translations (from
the King James Version to several 20th century translations, including the New World
Translation), not with each other, but with the original Greek of the New
Testament. He analyses, in chapters Four (4) through Twelve (12), scriptures such as John
1:1, 8:58, Colossians 1:15ff, etc., as well as Greek words such as proskuneo ("worship") and pneuma ("spirit"). His conclusion as
to which translation has been more accurate overall, based upon what words and
scripture passages he does analyze, might surprise many! His own preferred
translations, at times, ("a god" at Luke 20:38 for instance) are thought
provoking. This is an excellent book not least because it is written for the
public who have an interest in the subject of accuracy and bias in English Bible
translations. but also because the same public rely upon English
translations to understand God's Word today. It is paramount that
theological biases of our times and held by scholars that translate the Bible
into our tongue do not distort the true meaning of the Greek and produce
inaccurate renderings. BeDuhn's book demonstrates that this has been the case in
all the translations compares. But.....some much more than
others. You might not agree with everything he writes (he has his own biases
as he freely admits) but his is not only an honest evaluation but one free of
anachronistic theological presumptions.
The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early
Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament
The victors not only write the history, they also reproduce
the texts. In a study that explores the close relationship between the social
history of early Christianity and the textual tradition of the emerging New
Testament, Ehrman examines how early struggles between Christian "heresy" and
"orthodoxy" affected the transmission of the documents over which, in part, the
debates were waged. His thesis is that proto-orthodox scribes of the second and
third centuries occasionally altered their sacred texts for polemical
reasons--for example, to oppose adoptionists like the Ebionites, who claimed
that Christ was a man but not God, or docetists like Marcion, who claimed that
he was God but not a man, or Gnostics like the Ptolemaeans, who claimed that he
was two beings, one divine and one human. Ehrman's thorough and incisive
analysis makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the social and
intellectual history of early Christianity and raises intriguing questions about
the relationship of readers to their texts, especially in an age when scribes
could transform the documents they reproduced to make them say what they were
already thought to mean, effecting thereby the orthodox corruption of
Scripture.
The Role of Theology and Bias in Bible Translation: With a special
look at the New World Translation of Jehovah's Witnesses
In the natural sciences, a basic principle is to break
everything down to the smallest possible units and then study each unit. In
linguistics and in the study of the biblical languages, a similar principle was
followed with the word as the basic unit, but from the middle of this century
the view has developed that the smallest units which were meaningful for
translation had to be the sentence or even the paragraph. The author believes
that the pendulum has swung too far in one direction, and that it still is
meaningful to work with the word as the fundamental unit of translation. The
book therefore suggests that for a particular target group - those who, by the
help of their mother tongue, want to come as close as possible to the original
languages - a literal translation will be better than an idiomatic one. In the
course of discussion it is shown that the principles on which such a translation
is based accords fully with modern linguistic principles.
The King James Only Controversy: Can You Trust the Modern
Translations?
Answering those who claim that only the King James Version is
the Word of God, The King James Only Controversy examines allegations
that modern translators conspired to corrupt Scripture and lead believers away
from true Christian faith.
In a readable and responsible style, author James White traces the
development of Bible translations old and new and investigates the differences
between new versions and the Authorized Version of 1611.
Is your Bible translation reliable? Is it the real Bible?
The King James Version Debate: A Plea for Realism
"The King James Version is superior to all modern English translations of the
Bible": so say many popularly written books and pamphlets. The King James
Version Debate is the first book-length refutation of this point of view
written for both pastors and laymen. The author concisely explains the science
of textual criticism since the main premise advanced by KJV proponents is the
superiority of the Greek text on which it is based. After showing the problems
with this premise, the author refutes the propositions that: (1) the KJV is the
most accurate translation; (2) it is the most durable; (3) its use of the Old
English forms (e.g., thou makes it the most reverent; (4) it honors
Christ more than do other versions; (5) it is most easily memorized; and (6)
it is most suitable for public reading. Concluding the book is an appendix
in which, on a more technical level, the author answers W. N. Pickering's
The Identity of the New Testament Text, the most formidable defense
of the priority of the Byzantine text yet published in our day.
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