One of the world's most widely read Bibles, the New International Version, has been modernised by a team of 15 American and British scholars.
Gone is the word "aliens", which the academics thought was invariably associated in the minds of the younger generation with extra-terrestrials. It is replaced with "foreigners".Even the term "saints" is deemed to be too "ecclesiastical" and has been banished, to be replaced with "God's chosen people". The Virgin Mary is no longer "with child"; she is "pregnant".
And, to the dismay of traditionalists, who will suspect a feminist agenda, "inclusive" language has been introduced throughout.Where the original read: "When God created Man, he made him in the likeness of God"; the new version says: "When God created human beings, he made them in the likeness of God."
More than 45,000 changes - about seven per cent of the text - have been made. Even the title has been changed to Today's New International Version.
Editor's note: When we accept interpretation outside the authority of the Church, we open the door to many false interpretations presented as truth. We also lose the ability to determine such.
Telegraph
5 comments:
UG. That is just wrong, I will just stick with my KJV for now, and into the future.
I can think of a good substitute for "saints" that beats "God's chosen people": "holy ones".
Saint is derived from the Latin for holy, sanctus. Holy, by the way, means "set apart".
I must ask this question. Is this the dumbing down of the gospel? We should all read the Scripture but should we whittle the Word of God down so that the masses may all interpret understand on on thier own?
Rob the problem with the youth not understanding the language, can easly be over come by Catacis (sp?), I know the Roman Catholics, and the Lutherans have Catacis. Yes I am adding just another thing along with the Theology to be taught, but the more the child is in the classes the stronger the faith can be built.
Powerball: I'm always wary of ulterior motives when Scripture is "simplified". However, I do not believe that every instance of simplifying language is a case of "dumbing it down". The Scriptures were written by ordinary men with little or no formal education. They used simple language. One shouldn't need an Oxford English Dictionary handy to read most Scripture. If a word used in translation no longer carries the original intended meaning, it no longer serves its intended function and should be replaced. For instance, "alien" is no longer understood by most to mean "outsider", "stranger", or "foreigner", and "saint" is assumed by most Roman Catholics to mean only canonized Saints, which was not the authors' intention.
Michael: I believe the word you're looking for is "catechesis".
Now, I don't want to see more Cotten Patch versions of the Bible sprouting up, but the language should be accessible to the common man. That's the way Scripture was written. That's how it should be translated.
For lots of good posts and discussions about translational practices, check out Better Bible Blog.
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