By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY
The scholars and publishers behind the world's leading English language evangelical Bible announced Tuesday that they would publish a updated translation in 2011.
"And we'll make sure we get it right this time," says Keith Danby, president and chief executive officer of Biblica, once known as the International Bible Society.
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Biblica, the Committee on Bible Translation and evangelical publisher Zondervan jointly announced the newest New International Version Bible — and acknowledged they were still singed by the fire and brimstone cast down on earlier update efforts.
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The NIV, now in pews and homes in 46 countries, was originally published in 1978; it was updated in 1984. A plan to revise it in 1997 died when word got out that it would use "inclusive language" — code for largely eliminating masculine pronouns.
The scholars and publishers tried again, releasing an accessible updated translation in 2005. This Bible had a slightly different name, Today's New International Version, or TNIV It eliminated masculine or feminine usage they said was unsupported by original manuscripts or unclear in modern lingo.
The TNIV was greeted with horror bytraditionalists and scholars. Wayne Grudem, author of The TNIV and the Gender-Neutral Bible Controversy and a professor of the Bible and theology at Phoenix Seminary in Scottsdale, Ariz., spotted 3,000 places where words such as "man," "father," "son," "brother" and "he" vanished.
Tuesday, Danby said they erred in presenting past updates, failed to convince people revisions were needed and "underestimated" readers' loyalty to the 1984 NIV
Maureen Girkins, president of Zondervan, says the "divisive" TNIV and "cherished" 1984 NIV will not be published after the newest NIV comes out. "We need to undo the damage," she adds.
This time, more than a dozen Bible translation committee scholars will "review every single gender-related decision we have made and make sure we are putting God's unchanging word into English people are actually using," committee chairman Douglas Moo says. Moo also pledged they would not bow to social pressures from any direction: "We are all committed evangelicals who believe in the importance of every word in God's word. … We can't fit the Bible into any cultural mode."
Wheaton (Illinois) College English professor Leland Ryken, however, is unimpressed with the NIV translators' use of a "dynamic equivalency" translation that he says "departs from what the author actually wrote and adds an editorial layer of judgment and commentary."
He and Grudem both worked on a literal word-for-word translation, the English Standard Version, published in 2001.
Grudem said Tuesday, "I'm delighted to see they have realized the TNIV was simply never going to be accepted by the Christian public who value accuracy in translating the word of God. I'm thankful for their honesty."
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