While reading an Associated Press news story Monday, I learned a popular version of the Bible is being revised to include gender-neutral wording.
Zondervan, an evangelical Christian publishing company based in Grand Rapids, has spent $2 million in conjunction with the International Bible Society out of Colorado to develop the new translation.
The new translation is expected to change passages like “sons of God” to “children of God” (Matthew 5:9) and “a man is justified by faith” to “a person is justified by faith” (Romans 3:28). Terms referring to God and Jesus will not be altered.
The revision, to be called “Today’s New International Version,” is being derived from the “New International Version,” which has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide since it hit the market in 1978.
Upon learning of this story, my first thoughts were, “That’s pretty cool. It could help scripture touch the lives of those who can’t read past politically incorrect passages. Perhaps, they can be inspired by the word of my God in ways like I have.”
Normally, I take issue with political correctness, but in this case I’m willing to accept it- an opportunity to bring people closer to God always is worthwhile.
Then I got to the part in the story where the critics of this new version of the Bible spoke out.
Randy Stinson, executive director of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, a Kentucky-based group that works to preserve gender specific language, said, “We believe the Bible is the word of God, so changing these things deliberately is dangerous.”
Stinson admitted in the AP story he’d not yet seen any of the revisions but was concerned that meanings may have been altered. His concerns were echoed by many other Christian leaders including members of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest U.S. Protestant denomination.
Call me crazy, but this latest attempt to re-word the Bible is not the first human endeavor to translate the word of God.
I was taught the originals of the stories in the Bible’s collection of Christian Scripture were written in Greek, while the original scrolls of Hebrew Scripture books were penned in Hebrew.
In fact, none of the stories in the Bible were scribed as first-hand accounts. They were written after generations of oral tradition.
And then, when these stories were finally written down in their respective languages (not English in either case), copies had to be reproduced by hand for more than 1,500 years until the printing press was invented.
The stories of the Bible have been told and retold, written and rewritten, translated and retranslated from Hebrew to Greek to Latin to German to French to English to etc.
I can’t speak for everyone, but if I had to copy the Bible by hand word-for-word without the benefits of spell or grammar check (not to mention having to translate it at the same time), Christianity would be in trouble. Anyone at The State News will vouch for me on that.
The book known as the Bible, no matter how inspired by God, is not exempt from human error.
Scott Bolinder, a publisher at Zondervan, tried to ease critics’ tension in the story about the new Bible by saying the changes have been made “to reflect the original meaning of the text,” and are not part of a social agenda.
Zondervan holds North American publishing rights for the newest Biblical version introduced above and its predecessor.
The Christian New Testament of the newest version is scheduled to be on sale in April, while the full Bible including the Christian Old Testament is expected to be on shelves by 2005. It’s politically-incorrect predecessor will continue to be sold alongside it.
Call me na?ve, but my gut tells me to trust Bolinder’s statement. I don’t think a gender-neutral translation of the Bible can hurt the message of the text. In fact, if I were making these changes I may even go as far as to refer to God as It instead of Him.
This latest Bible rendition can only help Christian people in their efforts to understand God.
Critics of the gender-neutral language should not worry about the meaning of the text being altered.
By no means am I an expert on the Bible. I haven’t read it cover-to-cover. And I can’t quote it like the devoted Jewish men who are depicted on film and stage in “Fiddler on the Roof.”
But I don’t think the Bible’s “truth” can be found in quotes - no matter what language they are in.
The truth in the Bible can’t be found in any one word.
The truth in the Bible exists in the stories. To find the truth one has to search deeper than black letters printed on white pages.
Whether the pronoun is he, she or it, it is of little consequence. It’s not that simple.
Matt Treadwell is the State News opinion writer. He can be reached at treadwe7@msu.edu.
