[Faith-talk] There is now neither male nor female, but all are one in Christ Jesus.

[Fr. John Sheehan]

Obviously the best course is to learn to read Hebrew and Greek. I'm not being 
silly - in my studies I learned enough Greek in one intensive summer course to 
be able to get through the New Testament. Haltingly, looking up a lot along the 
way, but it got better and easier and much more enriching. Hebrew is more 
difficult, but worth the effort.  

But realizing that won't happen for more people, two thoughts on translations. 
The first is to realize how much Bible scholarship has improved since the King 
James version was done - and remember, it was done for a King in a politically 
charged period, where religion was a major political topic. Some translations 
reflect that. Good translations today have linguistic and archaeological 
knowledge the translators did not have back then. The old English is lovely to 
hear, but often not to be relied on if your interest is going back to the 
original text.
 
Which leads to my second observation - you need to know what you are going to 
use the text for when you select a translation. For prayer, I use the Jerusalem 
translation. For study, when I need an English text, the RSV is the closest to 
the text, both in structure and usage. (NOT the New RSV, where political 
correctness and the desire to be inclusive influenced the translation.) The RSV 
does not try to smooth out the English to make it easier to read or more 
interesting, they adhere to the structure as well as the vocabulary of the 
original language.)

Some folks will always try to find ways to sell new editions. Remember the 
Reader's Digest Bible several years ago, where editors simply cut out anything 
they thought uninteresting. They lost most of the Book of Leviticus, for example 
- too many laws. There have been several feminist Bibles, attempts at gender 
neutral translations, and I'm sure there will be more in the future. 
Fr. John R. Sheehan, SJ
Chairman


Xavier Society for the Blind
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________________________________
From: John J. Boyer <john at godtouches.org>
To: faith-talk at nfbnet.org
Sent: Sat, January 8, 2011 3:04:41 AM
Subject: [Faith-talk] There is now neither male nor female, but all are one in 
Christ Jesus.

Our understanding of these words has improved over time. The Bible is 
full of sexism, but we have come to realize that this is a reflection of 
the culture in which it was written. That said, I agree that gender 
references shouldn't be changed. This often distorts the meaning and 
reflects our own cultural bias.

The KJV is good in most places, once you get used to the language. 
However, it does contain a lot of errors. Modern translations are based 
on much better texts in the original languages and have gotten rid of 
most of the errors.

Prayers and blessings,
John

-- 
John J. Boyer, Executive Director
GodTouches Digital Ministry, Inc.
http://www.godtouches.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Peace, Love, Service


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