Thursday, January 21, 2009 » Dr. Steve Lennox, professor of religion, recently published a review of the English Standard Version Study Bible for the Evangelical Journal.
Lennox, who occasionally reads an ESV Bible, said his initial feelings toward the translation were not very positive because the translation did not �unpack� the verse in a new way. He said, however, that he was impressed by the ESV Study Bible due to the extensiveness of its notes which includes access to tools online.
�Once you start to read [a translation] and use it on a regular basis, it becomes kind of a grammar and a dictionary for the way you think about faith,� Lennox said. �There�s something about a Bible translation that draws you into it and then makes it hard to switch and go elsewhere.�
Lennox said there is no harm in this unless one begins to �divinize a translation,� as many have done with the King James Version or the New International Version.
�I think people get too worked up, too antsy about � a specific translation,� said Christian ministries major Josh Santos (so). �All the translations of the Bible are an attempt to communicated the gospel in the best way possible. The King James was probably the best way in the 1600s, but today, obviously it�s not.�
Santos reads the NIV because it�s easy for him to understand. He said he often uses BibleGateway to look up confusing verses in more modern translations. �I like to read [the verse] in all the different translations to get the best overall idea of what�s being said,� Santos said.
Lennox said variations of Bible translations have little to do with accuracy, but literalness and readability. Literal translations of the Bible are accurate because they relay exactly what the writers wrote, like the ESV which translates the original text �word-for-word as much as possible,� according to Lennox�s review. Readable translations and paraphrases like Eugene Peterson�s the Message are accurate in communicating the writer�s point, but may not use the same language as the original text.
Lennox said the ESV came about in response to Today�s New International Version, an update on the NIV.
�It was actually people who were � very loyal to the NIV and were concerned that the TNIV was compromising in places that it shouldn�t be compromising, especially the gender language,� Lennox said.
In Lennox�s review, he said, �the word �man� � [is] used in the collective sense of the whole human race.� Some translations, like the TNIV, have opted to use �people� instead.
�I do not think that being gender-neutral is necessary, but I think that it is a step in the right direction,� said Andrea Rahman (sr), who wrote an editorial about the gender-inclusive Bible in a fall issue of the Sojourn. �I think all Christians need to understand that the books of the Bible were written for the people contemporary to the writer.�
Rahman said that writers of the Bible used masculine terminology when addressing groups of people because their cultures were patriarchal.
�So we should also do our best to understand what the text meant thousands of years ago and translate it to our current culture of gender equality,� Rahman said.
�[In the Epistles] Paul was speaking to a general audience,� said Santos, �so I think when he said brothers he was also including men, women and children.�
Lennox said that overall the ESV Study Bible is an effective tool for understanding the ancient text.