Bible translation and unity
Eddie Arthur has just blogged a must-read, All Together Now: Why Bible translation is important. We all (myself included) need to take Eddie's message to heart, esp. his final remarks about English Bible versions. (Peter Kirk has also blogged about Eddie's post.)
Wouldn't it be wonderful if Eddie's message got equal time at Focus On the Family, the Better Bibles Blog, CBE, CBMW, God's Word to Women, the ESV Bible blog, the TNIV Bible blog, Christianity Today, World Magazine, and everywhere else that debates over English Bible versions take place?
Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear!
Wouldn't it be wonderful if Eddie's message got equal time at Focus On the Family, the Better Bibles Blog, CBE, CBMW, God's Word to Women, the ESV Bible blog, the TNIV Bible blog, Christianity Today, World Magazine, and everywhere else that debates over English Bible versions take place?
Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear!
posted by Wayne Leman at 6:36 AM
7 Comments:
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Anonymous, I have collected around 84 distinct English translations (and paraphrases) of the Bible in the last twenty years--it's a hobby of mine. I have read completely through a number of them, and I have a sincere goal of reading through all of them. However, realistically, I don't really believe I will meet that goal, especially considering the rate that new translations come out, which I am sure I will continue to add to my collection. My own personal daily reading plan is fairly high--higher than what you find in the standard "read your Bible through in a year" plan because my goal always remains to read between two and four in a year. However, I am nowhere near approaching 100 pages a day, and I don't think that's a realistic sustainable goal for anyone. There are other things I have to and want to read, and there are other things I have to do with my day. All that to say, as someone whose goal IS to read through all available translaitons (realistic or not), I believe the claim regarding the inability to do so IS accurate except for maybe a monk alone in his cell with no other responsibilities.
I love British humo(u)r. Especially Mr. Bean! (smirk)
I've posted on my blog today about a time that I tried to read the Bible four times in a year. It's OK to shoot for quantity, but a better goal, I think, is to slow down and try for understanding and comprehension.
Essentially, I agree, lingamish, but I would also distinguish between reading and studying the Bible. I take large bites when reading and shorter when studying. I try to read the Bible everyday, but I do not study the Bible everyday. My rule that I've always given to my students is to make a goal to read the Bible daily and study the Bible one to two times a week. And of course, time always seems against us.
Good point, Rick. That's a helpful distinction to keep in mind.
To read the whole Bible out loud, Which of course takes longer than reading it in your mind, takes about 70 hours. As evidenced by the Audio Bibles available.
So, half an hour a day = 1 Bible in 140 days. So we could say 2 and a half Bibles a year at only half an hour a day. If you can't manage that then you really need to reassess how you organise your time and life.
Conversely, less time on the computer/web and less TV and 1 hour a day is easily achievable, which gives you 5 times through the Bible in a year or 5 Bibles a year.
Personally I would leave out the Paraphrases, but that is just me.
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