"The Word of God in English" by Leland Ryken
Reading an interesting book on Bible translation: "The Word of God in English" by Lelan Ryken (Crossway). Basically, it's a treatise-come-diatribe against "dynamic equivalence" in favor of "essentially literal" translations. While he makes some very good points, he comes across (to me) as being someone who focuses more on "does it sound right?" (this coming from his admitted standing as a literary critic) as the primary criteria for a Bible translation. Thus, the KJV and RV are wonderful because they are masterworks of literature and the NIV and TEV are disasters because they are not. Having established this as his basic premise, he then goes back and uses "facts" to back up his preconceived notions.
Much of his feelings on the matter can be summed up in these few sentences (pg 63): "Many of these [modern] readers carry Bibles that lack dignity and that have been reduced to the level of colloquial discourse. The general tendency has been to demote literary beauty and eloquence. We are not in a golden era of English Bible translation." This is, of course, a subjective view. As a literary critic he views certain Bibles as containing literary beauty but--and I fully acknowledge this as a reviewer myself--what I find beautiful in any art form may not be found as such by someone else, or anyone else.
He speaks much against the idea of translations that are geared towards the audience rather than the author. I can understand that complaint a little bit, but I can't get past the idea that the best thing I can do with a Bible is a] read it and know it myself and b] share the Good News with others. So if I come across someone reading one of the weakest translations (i.e. The Living Bible) am I better off working with what God has provided, or trying to force them to go to something better? Aren't I better off to follow Jesus's command and engage in discipleship? Sharing the word in a way that can be understood and, perhaps, lifting them up to a "better" translation but mostly lifting them up towards God?
And while I'm on my soap box . . . there seems to me to be a trend in Christianity--and I say this as someone who loves and reveres the Bible--to put the Bible above the God who gave it. As if orthodoxy to a certain translation--or method of translation--is more important than the God who provided it. Within this idea is the idea that we cannot share the Gospel with someone without a Bible. I believe the Bible is our most reliable source of God's word, and that no word can be from God if it contradicts his written word, the but the greatest evangelistic tool we have is love, which may or may not even require words. After all, wasn't the gospel shared before (and while) the Bible was written?
Ryken does make some good points, but for every one of those he makes there will be at least one (and usually more) points that I can't agree with. I just read a part where, in his argument for the authority of scripture (which I agree with!) he uses 1 Thessalonians 2:13 as validation for the printed word being authoritative. I read the verse, though, and it sounds to me like it is talking about the word of God Paul and company preached orally and
to apply it to the written word of God is a stretch. This is one of the areas where the writer frustrates me because even in the midst of a good point, he backs it up badly. Like his earlier argument in favor of the KJV because of all the commentaries that have been written about it. I like the KJV, but the fact that there are commentaries about it is a poor argument. Besides the fact that it was virtually the only version to comment on for a long time, all of Shakespeare's works are heavily commentated. Does that make them scriptural?
He also argues heavily in favor of theological terms like "propitiation". OK, if the greek word used originally is best translated "propitiation", I have another question: would the original audience have understood the word used better than we understand propitiation? If it were confusing to them, then it's all right to use a confusing word to us (maybe the verse was intended to get us digging deeper to figure out what that word meant). But, if the greek word was something commonly understood by the readers of the day, is the correct translation an exact but misunderstood word or an understood but inexact word? I don't know that I have a hard and fast answer to that question for all instances, but I know I lean toward the understood word. If I write a letter to someone in a foreign country and use the term baseball--which they have no frame of reference for--would I rather the translator render the word accurately or explain it to the reader as a "horsehide-covered sphere used in a popular American game"? Maybe this is where the ideal Bible is a study Bible. Word for word in the text, but heavily noted in the margins or at the bottom as to the meanings of confusing words.
To quote my friend Mike, "We need to communicate as clearly as possible to the intended audience and for the intended purpose. Which, by the way, can change over time and should change for different situations. Anyhow, I vote for a need for different translations for different purposes. If the purpose is advanced scholarship, then a word-for-word translation with appropriate comments, and the original text available for more detailed study, then so be it! I wouldn't agree that the same translation is the best for a junior high kid trying to get to know God better."
And to say this is just a part of the dumbing down of modern culture is to ignore reality. Words often change meaning (it's why we are translating from Greek to English to begin with: New Testament Greek died out and--at least on this continent--English sprung up). Because the word was best translated "propitiation" in the 18th century it does not automatically follow that that word should still be translated that way in the 21st century. For instance, in the seventeenth century if I were to say something was "awful" that would be a compliment.
More later!
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