Really this is very interesting. Having gone to Catholic school for 12 years and having been a lifelong Catholic I am fairly familiar with the Bible. I also took several courses in college that used the Bible as a text book, both historically and as literature. So this article is pretty interesting to me. There have been some articles and books written recently that also talk about these things. I think that it has become a little more mainstream since The Da Vinci Code was written and people have been searching for "truths" that are in the Bible and then have to come to gri[s with the problems of translations.



Bernie

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"Slowbern has always made astute observations."-Casey 03/10/2009
2013-2014 Detroit Lions---13-3 until proved otherwise.

I work with a guy who went has a bachelors degree in theology. Since he reads aramaic and greek he is my go to translator for biblical passages. One interesting fact he told me was that before the King James version the english word 'king' only appeared once (in reference to God) and all other rulers were referred to as tyrant.

It is funny that people would try to argue with him about what a passage said and he would write it out in greek or aramaic and show them where the bad interpretation was. Then people would still argue with him (he was a Pentecostal minister for awhile and didn't lose very often).

Interesting article. I agree that we often neglect to consider the complexities of translating as we read through whatever translation, some of which do not do justice to the original text. Personally, I think it's essential for the layperson -- when we do any personal Bible studies -- to have at least a few translations handy. Also, I appreciate my pastor, Sunday school teacher and doctrine teachers who are regularly referring to the original text and pulling out various translations to try to instruct what was originally being communicated. It's amazing how much greek and hebrew you can pick up this way. We’re so fortunate to have the benefits of modern scholarship and “another Counselor” (Jn 14:16). And, I think it's interesting the importance that Jesus Himself put on even the smallest part of Scripture (Mt. 5:18). It behooves us to heed Him.

I've gotta give some props to my religion instructors back in my Catholic school days. Even back in the mid-70's, these priests (Jesuits and Redemptorists) always made clear that the translations of many of the versions of the Bibles in print were not too clear even to much of its exegesis.

Hey.....we're talking about ANCIENT Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek (Attic and Classical), Latin...good lord, who knows how many languages, retellings, writings and whatnot?

T.