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Chatmaster shouts, Get all the latest info on Zondervan's new Bible, Today's New International Version. Just goto http://www.tniv.info" |
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Chatmaster shouts, What's all the fuss about Zondervan's new Bible? Check it out at http://keptthefaith.org" |
| ibtrying2 asks, Do you think that the reason the TNIV isn't being accepted has more to do with change and how most evangelicals hold the NIV as highly as many in the past have held the KJV? |
| Dr.Strauss says, That is a very good point. The NIV is the first Bible since 1611 to become more popular than the KJV. Any changes to the NIV text are likely to inflame some people. This is especially so in the context of a strongly anti-feminist Christian public, fearful of the direction modern culture is going. I also have to say that every translation in the history of the Bible has had some criticism. They use to kill people for translating Scripture into the language of the people (William Tyndale for example). Bruce Metzger pointed out that at least today they only burn the translations, not the translators. |
| Dr.Strauss smiles |
| ben25 asks, Do you see a connection between versions like the TNIV and those who think women can be pastors in the church? |
| Dr.Strauss says, That is a good question. There is always a connection, since it is the women's movement which has sparked many changes in the English language. However, many supporters of the TNIV, like myself, are quite conservative on the issue of the role of women in the church. Many of my conservative colleagues who also teach New Testament (people like D. A. Carson, Darrell Bock, Craig Blomberg, and many others) who are conservatives on the role of women in the church, still strongly support the TNIV. |
| guest580 asks, If the goal is to render a translation from original to English, then we could have another TNIV, because the English language is ever changing. Is this right? |
| Dr.Strauss says, Like the NIV before it, the TNIV will undergo periodic revisions (like the King James Version, by the way). So yes, the process of Bible translation is never-ending, since language always changes. This is why we read the Bible in English, and why the New Testament writers read their Bible in Greek, even though the original Old Testament was written in Hebrew. |
| stormyhost asks, How many women were on staff for the actual "translation" of this version? And who determined that a more "female friendly" version was necessary and appropriate? |
| Dr.Strauss says, Very good question. I know of only one woman on the CBT (the Committee on Bible Translation for the NIV and the TNIV), but I am not certain of this. In terms of the CBT, over half of the members were complementarian and a little less than half egalitarian. So the translation team was very balanced... Although there probably should have been more women represented. |
| ben25 asks, In the earlier TNIV chat, Tim Bayly talked about Greek words for people having God-ordained masculine gender markings. What do you think of this and how does it affect translation? |
| Dr.Strauss says, Tim Bayly unfortunately confuses grammatical gender with biological gender. All Greek and Hebrew nouns have gender, but these are just grammatical categories. For example, the Hebrew word for the Spirit is feminine, the Greek word for the Spirit is neuter, the Greek word for a book is masculine, and the Greek word for body is neuter. These are just grammatical categories with nothing to do with sex, or biological gender. Many masculine terms, like anthropos (person), adelphoi (brothers, brothers and sisters) can be used either in a male sense or in a generic sense (men and women). In each context we have to decide which is intended. Tim Bayly wrongly suggests that grammatical gender always suggests sex. But if this is the case, then the Spirit is a woman (in the OT) and an "it" in the NT. I don't think any of us want to go there. |
| chanan asks, What's the reading level of the TNIV? |
| Dr.Strauss says, I am not certain since I am not on the TNIV committee, but I believe it is supposed to be understandable to about third or fourth graders. |
| stormyhost asks, It seems that the distribution of Christian resources (including Bibles, study material, reference books, etc) has become a thriving business in recent decades. How do you answer the commercialization of the gospel of Jesus Christ? |
| Dr.Strauss says, Great question. I think we need to pour far more resources into International Bible translation, into languages that have no Scripture, and fewer resources into English, where we have so many resources. |
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Chatmaster shouts, Get all the latest info on Zondervan's new Bible, Today's New International Version. Just goto http://www.tniv.info"
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