New Testament Translations

[Mennogal]

I recently purchased a book titled “The New Testament” authored by David Bentley Hart, an Eastern Orthodox scholar of religion. This is his translation of the New Testament. I’ll post here my thoughts as I get into it. What other translations have you read or studied?

[Bootstrap]

I recently purchased a book titled “The New Testament” authored by David Bentley Hart, an Eastern Orthodox scholar of religion. This is his translation of the New Testament. I’ll post here my thoughts as I get into it. What other translations have you read or studied?

I like his stated goals, I'm not convinced that his translation meets them. I especially like the idea of letting authors with different styles be translated in ways that bring their writing style across. Fans of this translation would agree with the subtitle of one of the reviews mentioned below:

David Bentley Hart’s text recaptures the awkward, multivoiced power of the original.

So far, I haven't seen much of that coming from people I know in the New Testament Greek community, who are more inclined to agree with N.T. Wright:

Greek and English do not work the same way. So what does it mean to create a literal translation?

Translation is hard. We have some actual translators here who can speak to that. I am not a translator, I know some translators and speak to them regularly.

Here's a debate on David Bentley Hart's translation:

Translating the N. T. -- Wright and David Bentley Hart Tussle

This is one of the more positive reviews:

A Mind-Bending Translation of the New Testament

And a negative review by N.T. Wright:

The New Testament in the strange words of David Bentley Hart

You can read excerpts here, especially Mark and Matthew:

https://books.google.com/books/yup?vid= ... 0300186093

I am not particularly a fan, simply because I am not convinced that his English really does bring across the original Greek, it sometimes seems to produce awkward English that has quite a different feel and sense than the Greek. For instance:

Screen Shot 2018-08-19 at 09.13.47.png (75.58 KiB) Viewed 428 times

Who says "sired" in English, and why wouldn't you just say "fathered", as many translations do? To me, "siring" is a specialized term usually reserved for horses.

Even then, both "sired" and "fathered" describe what only a male can do, but the Greek ἐγέννησεν can describe the role of either a father or a mother in this process - it is the word used in Luke 1:57 to tell us that Elizabeth bore a son. There's no great word for that in English, but the Greek word is not specifically male, and it is not a technical term like "sired".

That's what makes translation hard.

[Mennogal]

Boot, I’m curious what you think of Raymond Brown’s “Intro to the New Testament....”

[Bootstrap]

Boot, I’m curious what you think of Raymond Brown’s “Intro to the New Testament....”

I don't have that particular book, but I do have several of his books. When I think of great Catholic scholars who have done important work on the Greek New Testament, he is the first who comes to mind. In the 1960s, when he started publishing, there weren't many of them, and he has done a lot to foster and grow that corner of solid biblical scholarship. He is very solid on the technical aspects, but he also grasps the central meaning and makes sure it doesn't get lost.

I have his commentary "The Gospel According to John", in the Anchor Bible series. I also have his The Community of the Beloved Disciple, which is easier to read and less technical and the "New Jerome Biblical Commentary", which he was a coeditor of. I would recommend any of these.

I would guess that his "Introduction to the New Testament" would be good, I just haven't read it.