We are still getting lots of great input from our readers on how to improve this well-loved blog. You can see a long string of suggestions (and leave your own) here: Tell us what you think!
The results so far on the survey What is the primary reason you read Better Bibles Blog? are split evenly between “Comparisons of Bible versions” and “Discussions of translation puzzles.”
JK Gayle suggested asking people about their favorite post which seems like a great idea.
In the comments on this post, tell us about your favorite post at BBB, or series of posts and why.
Bonus points if you can find your first comment ever on this blog. (The earliest comment I’ve found for me is here in November 2005).
Have a great week!
I was looking back at my archives to see how and when I had first interacted with BBB. Two thoughts:
ReplyDelete1. Wayne and Peter (and Rick at This Lamp) provided encouragement very early on to my posts about searching for a new translation. I remember the energy I got from having these bible-blog luminaries post comments on my blog - very cool!
2. My favorite posts on BBB have been Suzanne's series on Psalm 68 and the names of the God, as well as her series on "Shaddai". Go figure...
I always considered, and still do, BBB to be a place where people with far more knowledge than me discussed issues that I was interested in, namely translation philosophy and accuracy. Whatever is planned for the site in the future, I hope that the focus is on meat and not milk, though the latter helps the tough stuff go down from time to time.
I've already said my fav--and agree with ElShaddai: the Psalm 68 series.
ReplyDeleteBut one of the funniest titles was Suzanne's "Nahum 1:7 yada yada," which was my first to comment on (so gimme my "bonus" points).
David, Your "Leet speke" was an important post, I think. Got me thinking about translation, and about "outsider" issues related to the Bible.
All you contributors (including Wayne, Richard, Peter, Dan, Mike, and David L.) have had some great posts! I'd like to hear what your favorites have been.
My first comment here was this one, on the text of CEV, on 27th April 2005. In fact this may have been my first ever active blogging, as opposed to just reading blogs.
ReplyDeleteAfter this comment I didn't comment again until June 2005, but by July I had become a contributor as well as a regular commenter. And in the following month I started my own blog, although I didn't really get started until June 2006.
How did I find this out? I cheated: I searched the comments and posts at the new site.
My fav is Suzanne's discussion of prostatis.
ReplyDeletePeter! What a great idea. So my first comment was actually here on Dec 13, 2005. It was pretty whiny too. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnd the Psalm 68 post was amazing for me too because it inspired a lot of bloggers to post on a single topic which was something that I hadn't seen before.
I am really touched. Psalm 68 was a product of friendship between many blogger friends.
ReplyDeleteI am very busy right now and regret very much that I do not have time to blog as much as I did.
My own favourite posts were on the Lindisfarne gospels especially this one.
What I have enjoyed more than anything is the sense of symbiosis, of ideas bouncing back and forth between bloggers. Wayne has been a very strong friend for me in all the time I have been posting here.
Other friends who have given me much encouragement and material for my posts are Iyov, Dave Reimer, Rick Mansfield and John Hobbins who organized many of you to send me some much valued lexicons. I appreciate this token of friendship very much.
I like to write to give pleasure with words and hope that I can pursue this again.
My favourite overall post was this one. I think it has all the components for a representative post for this blog - singular "they", manuscripts, Greek, etc. etc.
Suzanne, thanks for reminding me of my post on singular "they" in Greek, and with such an endorsement! There was presumably a previous comment that was deleted. Reading it again, I might have thought that Carl Conrad had shown that this was not singular "they", but then the NET annotators seemed to think this was a real possibility.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it is not always necessary to feel that there is a definitive answer. Often I just enjoy the discussion. Not everything in life has a neat solution. Such a bother to the scientifically minded, I am sure.
ReplyDeleteI have too many favorites to name just one. I can say, however, that this is my favorite blog!
ReplyDeleteI lurk a lot, as mainly my interest is in seeing how translators approach the subject of translation and the problems you have to face.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this is a bit off topic I do have a question which I am finding rather hard to answer myself. Which version of the bible would you all recommend as being the most reliable and well-written? For a long time I used the NASB, looked at the ESV (which now has some amazing editions) but have recently gone over to the NRSV, despite the dearth of decent Anglicized editions although I seem to have now found a very nice two-tone compact one, as being a very lovely and easy to read version. But why is the ESV becoming so popular if the NRSV is recommended by academics as the more reliable?
Ginro, thanks for coming out of hiding to ask such a provocative question. I think you'll be hard-pressed to get a straight answer on that question since this blog exists to "question the question" so to speak. From the versions you list it sounds like you are used to using more formal translations. Some of us recommend easy-to-read versions as well for a variety of reasons.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the reason that ESV is becoming more prominent than the NRSV is that academics don't buy as many bibles.
ElShaddai Edwards, the first commenter on this post is an advocate of the REB which he enjoys for its formal-style and elegance.
Thanks for your reply David. I have never looked at the REB before so I shall do that.
ReplyDeleteBefore reading this blog I used to have the feeling that the only valid translation was a literal one, but as someone else has written, literal does not always mean accurate, so you have rather opened my eyes in many ways. And some of the mentions of the differences between Greek and the Germanic languages has also helped a great deal in my understanding of this subject.
The first post I linked to was in December 2005. It was a quirky little thing called 'How Many Were In the Manger' and it sort of sums up what I looked for in BBB. Interesting, not too scholarly, amusing and thoughtful.
ReplyDeleteThe best post, by far, however, was slightly tangential to the subject of the Blog; Suzanne's telling of the story of her life. Nothing else on BBB has moved me half as much.