Knight of Columbus Scribe/Exegete reviews Zondervan's "Today's New International Version" Bible. It's Not Complete! Los Angeles 2/8/2005
Zondervan and the Committee on Bible Translation missed a huge opportunity to reinsert the Apographa back into the Bible. The 19th century saw publishers, led by the British and Foreign Bible Society, voluntarily omit them. Martin Luther translated these books from Latin and gave them a special place near the middle of his Bible.
(PRWEB) February 9, 2005 -- Today's New International Version (TNIV)speaks of
"Timeless Truth in Today's Language". There are over 300 different language
interpretations for the Bible. This is the modernized followup twenty seven
years later to the bestselling English translation, the New International
Version (NIV).
1978 saw the International Bible
Society and Zondervan produce the NIV, to update the King James' Version as most
people had long since stopped speaking the King's English. Now the Committee for
Bible Translation (CBT) and Zondervon have targeted 18-35 year olds with this
new Bible that includes a CD. Their goals then and now was to insure God's
unchanging message will continue to be expressed clearly and understandably to
an emerging generation of readers.
The opening
page quotes Matthew 29:19; "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
Good "Trinity" start.
An interdenominational
team of world renown translaters and language experts were used, some from the
original NIV team. They remained unswervingly faithful to the original Hebrew,
Aramaic and Greek. The TNIV claims to speak God's
Words.
The concise three page appendix includes
revised spelling for proper names. The Word of God as Scripture can grow and
adapts to new translations. Even His name can change. The new pronunciations
conform more to the Hebrew originals. Hebrew is the language of the Chosen
People and has been called the language of God.
The Catholic (means universal church of Christ) Church claims sole authority
to supervise and endorse translations. The back jacket cover promotes the
"Entire" Bible in an easy to read format. Signifigant controversy. Here is a
quote from Memorial Bibles International of Nashville, TN from their authorized
King James Version's Introduction. "Both the Greek and Roman Catholic have
always recognized the Apographa as Canonical. The exclusion of these books from
the Bible came as a result of the Reformation. When Luther translated the Old
Testament from Hebrew, those books were of course absent; but recognizing their
presence in the Latin Bible, Luther translated them and put them in a group by
themselves, between the Testaments. There they remained in most Protestant
Bibles until the 19th century, when publishers, led by the British and Foreign
Bible Society, voluntarily began to omit them."
The New American Standard Bible (NASB) maintains the Apographa (from Greek,
means secret or hidden) and it's 152,185 words. These books, like Esdras
I&II, Macabees I&II, and others contain esoteric Truth originally
designated for the initiated.
The TNIV is
obviously a Protestant Bible. The responsibility for translation is held by a
self governing body, the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT). They point out
the infallibility of God's Word in written form, but remind us that every human
effort is flawed - including this new version of the NIV, the
TNIV.
So...is God's Word in the TNIV or not?
The Dead Sea Scrolls were used to supplant doubtful Masorectic text. Messiah
(Hebrew) replaces Christ (Greek) in most cases. They mean "Annoited One". The
word Saint was replaced with "alternative renderings". This seems to be a direct
attempt to remove credence from it's competitor, the NASB, through
disassociation. It may also be an attempt to further establish a position by
indirectly challenging the proclaimed authority of the Catholic Church. This
appears to be similar to the 19th century attitude that removed Luther's
Apographa translation.
The CD includes Christ's
Passion from the Gospel of John and is well done. The controversial ad for this
Bible will run in Rolling Stone Magazine's February 2005 issue. The endorsement
by a popular Christian Rock group should help sales. At $20 in the USA, this
moderately priced Bible should continue where the NIV is leaving off. A
bestseller.
Daryl Breese, is a "forward looking"
Knight of Columbus. Previous releases have dealt with Jewish/Christian Unity and
explaining Bible Mysteries. His website is www.isthebeast.com
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb206538.htm