NLT has a Blog

Wayne Leman at Better Bibles Blog notes that there is now a blog for the NLT.

I note with pleasure that the first post deals in a very balanced way with the widespread belief that dynamic equivalence translation is the same thing as paraphrasing.  (One should note that in this case “paraphrasing” is not used in its technical meaning, but rather for an excessively loose rendering that goes beyond the limits of translation.)

Various approaches to translation convey various things well, and often other things poorly.  The CEV is easy to read, but doesn’t convey the literary style of the original.  A good example is the elimination of parallelism from Hebrew poetry in favor of clearly representing the meaning to English readers.

The NLT is an important translation because it provides evangelical Christians with a clear, dynamic equivalence translation.  I personally prefer the REB, but for numerous reasons the NLT will be more acceptable to conservative, American churchgoers.  For the same reasons, however, it is more subject to attack.  Tim Challies, in the post to which Keith Williams is responding, attacks the CEV, the NLT, and The Message, all of which have a reach into evangelical circles.

So I think it is very important that the NLT be properly defended, and I welcome this new blog.

PS:  While I commend Keith Williams for his very balanced post in an irenic tone, I frankly think that Tim Challies’ post is simply riddled with misunderstandings of translation in general and many specific points.  But I’ve probably responded to enough such posts recently.