Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 61

Putting Final Polish on a Bible Translation. Ouch.

In my previous post I mentioned how I started a full-time research position for the New Revised Standard Version in 1987-88.  I had several roles to play in that position.  Probably the most difficult involved trying to make sure that there was a consistency in the translation, from one biblical book, passage, and verse to [...]

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My (Backstage) Work for the New Revised Standard Version Translation

Here I continue some of my discussion of my involvement with the New Revised Standard Translation, not as one of the translators (I was still a graduate student) but as a behind the scenes helper and research grunt.  I start this post with a bit of autobiography and end with issues of translations. I have [...]

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How Do We Fit in the Universe?

Yesterday I put out a post that involved Psalm 8, one of the great passages of the Old Testament.  And I remembered that I posted a reflection on it many years ago, since it had made me think about something, well, rather significant: where we (I) fit into the universe.  OK then!  I've decided to [...]

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How to Botch a Bible Translation (because of inclusive language)

This post explains one of the real faux pas of the NRSV Bible translation, which, I regret to say, was not corrected in the new "updated edition."  It involves an unfortunate attempt to use inclusive language where it is misleading, and in this case, makes almost nonsense of the passage in question. But it's a [...]

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A Sensible Approach to Inclusive Language in Bible Translation?

The policy of the NRSV translation committee on inclusive language, as I began to discuss in the preceding post, was sensible, in my view.  It involved a three-pronged approach. Any passage that was referring to both men and women was to be rendered inclusively, even if the original language (Hebrew or Greek) used masculine terms [...]

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Should Bible Translations Be Gender-Neutral?

More of my reflections from years ago about working with the New Revised Standard Version translation committee in the early 1980s.  (With  a few updates in brackets [ ]) One of the problems the committee had to address involved the use of gender-inclusive language.  Part of the problem was that this issue was not a [...]

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2023 In Review

The blog has done extremely well this past year, thanks to you the members and the core of people who work to keep it going.  Here on our annual last day I’d like to take look back on what has happened and talk a bit about what lies ahead. I’m particularly pleased that we have [...]

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Problems with Translating a Single Greek WORD

In my last post I began to talk about my involvement with the translation committee for the New Revised Standard Version.  My Doktorvater, Bruce Metzger, was the chair of the committee and he asked me, during my graduate studies, to be one of the scribes for the Old Testament subcommittee.  In that capacity I recorded [...]

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December Gold Q&A Video

https://vimeo.com/896636204?share=copy

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How Do You Translate the Bible? My Work for the New Revised Standard Version Committee

About two or three times a month I get asked about translations of the Bible.  Usually the questions are about which one I prefer (answer: The New Revised Standard Version, i.e. the NRSV, and also an annotated edition, such as the Harper Collins Study Bible, which gives brief introductions to each of the biblical books [...]

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