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Sunday, September 06, 2009

What Does Your Translation Say About You?

iMonk is wondering if the ESV lives up to its marketing. I recently bought the ESV Study Bible for my iPhone and I'm still evaluating it. I’ve used the NIV for 25 years in the pulpit, and it’s still my translation of choice (with a curious eye to their announced 2011 update). I occasionally quote from the NLT and on very infrequent occasions I will quote from the NASB or The Message when making a point in the pulpit. According to Scott Mcnight’s witty observation (quoted in the iMonk post), what does that make me?

“NRSV for liberals and Shane Claiborne lovers;

ESV for Reformed complementarian Baptists;

HCSB for LifeWay store buying Southern Baptists;

NIV for complementarian evangelicals;

TNIV for egalitarians;

NASB for those who want straight Bible, forget the English;

NLT for generic brand evangelicals;

Amplified for folks who have no idea what translation is but know that if you try enough words one of them will hit pay dirt;

NKJV and KJV for Byzantine manuscript-tree huggers;

The Message for evangelicals looking for a breath of fresh air and seeker sensitive, never-read-a-commentary evangelists who find Peterson’s prose so catchy.”

I guess that makes me a “complementarian evangelical” who spends time with “generic brand evangelicals” and enjoys visiting the “seeker sensitive” folks though grounded on my “Reformed complementarian Baptist” heritage?

Okay, I can accept that.

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