Leland Ryken will be answering some timely questions on Bible translation starting tomorrow on the Crossway Blog.
Dr. Ryken’s new book, Understanding the English Bible Translation: The Case for an Essentially Literal Approach arrived at Crossway’s offices the same day that Fox News and USA Today featured articles on Bible translations and revisions.
Ryken has been professor of English at Wheaton College since 1968 and has written thirty books, including Choosing a Bible (which you can read online in full) and The Word of God in English. He also served as literary stylist for the ESV and as coeditor of the ESV Literary Study Bible.
[...] a comment » So, uhm, why is Dr. Leland Ryken still writing books about subjects he’s not qualified to [...]
Pingback by Books on Translation « ΕΝ ΕΦΕΣΩ — September 8, 2009 @ 1:37 pm
I know this is not the best place to leave this comment, but I believe you may be able to forward it to the right person.
There is a mistake in the note on Ecclesiastes 2:1-2. The word for pleasure used there is NOT sakhaq – it is simkhah. You may want to correct that in the following edition.
Please forward the comment to the appropriate person.
Blessings,
Cristian
cristianratza@gmail.com
Comment by Cristian — September 13, 2009 @ 10:08 pm
Dr. Ryken has worked with Bible translators and his previous book shows he is very knowledgable in this field. I have attended SIL and have no complaints about Dr. Ryken’s previous book.
Comment by Joseph — September 16, 2009 @ 9:34 pm
What is up with all of the ESV bashing among some of these bloggers? People are reading the ESV and God is speaking to them through it, so why don’t we stop all this ridiculous trash-talking about Bible translations and the scholars who created them?
The same goes to all the NLT and NIV bashers out there too! They’re all good for their own reasons and all of them are used by God to speak to his people.
Comment by Will — October 1, 2009 @ 10:00 pm
I think the case for “word for word” isn’t really a case at all. It doesn’t matter to me if I read from the ESV or the NLT I can find the same truth in them. ( aka God’s word) My personal favorite is the merge of the formal and dynamic…..NIV. I know Chrisitans who use the ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT and they’re all growing. Translation matters very little in my eyes. I think the ESV is in serious dangers of becoming just a new calvinist translation. I think its a great translation, I own a copy, but word for word translations don’t sit well with me. You can’t just expect hebrew and greek to fit well with English.
I will give kudo’s for the ESV being more idiomatic than the NASB.
Comment by J. — October 20, 2009 @ 10:52 am
Cristian,
Thank you for you intentionality in seeing God’s Word accurately published. We are grateful for your interactions with this blog and look forward to investigating your claim further. Thanks again.
May God’s Grace Fill You,
Ben K.
Comment by bkrueger — April 8, 2010 @ 11:25 pm