I’ve updated my Bible Translation Selection Tool to include some additional, older versions. As I add these versions I want to note a couple of things about this tool. The ratings should be regarded as subjective. I make an effort to use objective standards, but especially on the fine points, it can be difficult to…
This passage is from the lectionary selection for February 5, 2006, Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany. 29And immediately as he came out of the synagogue he went into Simon’s house. 30Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 31And coming near he raised her up, taking her…
In some recent discussions, mostly related to my Seventh-day Adventist background (for those who may not know, I’m now a member of a United Methodist congregation but was raised SDA), I have encountered quite a number of questions regarding who various elements of scripture are for. For example, many Christians will say that the law…
Sometimes choosing a pew Bible is a kind of afterthought. I grew up in churches that didn’t even have pew Bibles. It was expected that all the church members would have their own and would bring them to church. But for many churches the pew Bible can have a major impact both on worship and…
I’m back to my discussion of inspiration, dealing with the issue of how one determines whether someone can speak for God. In this entry I’m going to look at the last two items on my list, divine widom, and the gift of discernment, which are closely related. As a preliminary, let me comment that I…
In my entry Finding an Authoritative Translation I talked about ways in which a person who is not familiar with the source languages can nonetheless check for translation problems and at least be forewarned as to where translation may become an issue in Bible study. I indicated I was going to go back to talking…
In my book What’s in a Version? and in my Bible Translation Selection Tool I do not deal much with the question of whether a translation is a revision or not, except when the translation is not taken from the original languages. In this entry, I’m going to look at a couple of revision histories,…
In George Orwell’s Animal Farm things eventually boil down to “all the animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” I think I can apply this to Bible translations as well as to animals, especially when one is looking for an authoritative translation. The fact is that no translation perfectly reflects the…
Wayne Leman on his Better Bibles blog, created an exceptional entry on the need for having translations that put the Bible into comprehensible, current English. Too often in the church we assume that people know things. We assume they know how to find the church, when services are, what is appropriate for them or for…
Oddly enough, while I’ve been commenting on The Book of Daniel on NBC, I’ve also been studying the Biblical book of Daniel for a discussion I’m having on the Compuserve Religion Forum. So if you were interested in the TV show, this is definitely not the entry for you. I grew up as a Seventh-day…