Twitter Updates

“Liberal bias has become the single biggest distortion in modern Bible translations.”

Thus reads the opening line of the Conservative Bible Project – a committee who has tasked themselves with making a new translation of the Bible adhering to conservative values. At the risk of sounding liberally-biased I don’t think these folks have an inkling of what they’re talking about, nor do they comprehend the complex exegetical nature of the task for which they wish to undertake. It would seem rigorous exegetical methodology is associated with liberal “wordiness”. Listen to this jaw-dropping assertion [with inserted commentary in red brackets - Warning: I'm going to renege on my usual policy of withholding polemics]:

Of these three sources of errors, the last introduces the largest error, and the biggest component of that error is liberal bias. Large reductions in this error can be attained simply by retranslating the KJV into modern English [the KJV? Are you serious??? Why the KJV? What is the underlying assumption behind this amazing statement?]

and even more jaw-dropping assertions:

1. Framework against Liberal Bias: providing a strong framework that enables a thought-for-thought [why is thought for thought decidedly a conservative value over word for word?] translation without corruption by liberal bias
2. Not Emasculated: avoiding unisex, “gender inclusive” language, and other modern emasculation of Christianity [fair enough. this is still being debated by more reputable sources]
3. Not Dumbed Down: not dumbing down the reading level, or diluting the intellectual force and logic of Christianity; the NIV is written at only the 7th grade level [ummm. ok. it's funny how ironic this statement is]
4. Utilize Powerful Conservative Terms: using powerful new conservative terms as they develop;^[4] defective translations use the word “comrade” three times as often as “volunteer”; similarly, updating words which have a change in meaning, such as “word”, “peace”, and “miracle”. [according to who? Who on the committee is going to correct these etymological problems with the correct use?]
5. Combat Harmful Addiction: combating addiction by using modern terms for it, such as “gamble” rather than “cast lots”;^[5] using modern political terms, such as “register” rather than “enroll” for the census [isn't that changing the original meaning of the text then? guessing that original meaning is a value of these folks]
6. Accept the Logic of Hell: applying logic with its full force and effect, as in not denying or downplaying the very real existence of Hell or the Devil.
7. Express Free Market Parables; explaining the numerous economic parables with their full free-market meaning [again - isn't that changing the text - thus not being faithful to it?]
8. Exclude Later-Inserted Liberal Passages: excluding the later-inserted liberal passages that are not authentic, such as the adulteress story [who in the world on this team is makign these judgements? Why single out this particular pericope? It's bizarre]
9. Credit Open-Mindedness of Disciples: crediting open-mindedness, often found in youngsters like the eyewitnesses Mark and John, the authors of two of the Gospels
10. Prefer Conciseness over Liberal Wordiness: preferring conciseness to the liberal style of high word-to-substance ratio; avoid compound negatives and unnecessary ambiguities; prefer concise, consistent use of the word “Lord” rather than “Jehovah” or “Yahweh” or “Lord God.” [to deny the use of YWHW or Jehovah is just a huge blunder showing a complete lack of scholarship - these folks don't know the nature of the task, nor how to go about it - I question if any of these people received even a conservative Biblical education]
    

Planes should be flown by experts. Translations need to happen by those who understand the exegetical task. These people have no conception of that. So the Conservative Bible Project is nothing short of ridiculous and simply laughable. No one should sanction this project.

Like

Unlike