This New Living Lamp
Rick Mansfield the one-time power blogger went through an extended desert sojourn in which he hardly blogged anything. Then peeps began to be heard from his nest and it appeared that the heat of This Lamp would once again bring forth life. But then, I was seriously alarmed to see a series of posts about cast-iron skillets and iPhone woes. What? I asked. And whither?
I had even listed Rick on my Links page as:
THIS LAMP: Occasionally takes a break from his vodka and caviar to give us a good Bible translation related post.
Rick only noticed that yesterday and sent me an exploratory message which I believe is a preface to a cease & desist notice.
Another interesting bit of Mansfield trivia has to do with Rick’s ankle. Many moons ago I used an image of a tattoo on Rick’s ankle in a post on my blog. That image was incredibly popular with the search engines and the post consistently got multiple views per day. Until…
What was the cause of that nose dive? I replaced Rick’s ankle image with another picture! So now, I’ve put Rick’s picture back in and we’ll just have to see what happens with the stats in the near future.
Well, all of that is fluff (but fluff is fun!) compared to the actual reason I am writing this post. Rick has begun posting on the NLT Bible. This might seem like a minor issue but considering Rick’s long-term promotion of the TNIV translation I think this is a big change. In fact, I suspect that Rick along with a number of other TNIV advocates will be jumping ship and will begin promoting the NLT as the idiomatic Bible translation of choice. Check out some of the names of NLT fans:
- Rick Mansfield at This Lamp
- Wayne Leman at Better Bibles
- Yours truly at Lingamish
- John Hobbins at Ancient Hebrew Poetry
Yep, you heard it right. The incredibly snobby Bible blogger, John Hobbins actually likes the NLT! It shouldn’t be surprising that Bible translator types like Wayne and myself like the NLT (Heck, Tyndale at one point gave everyone in Wycliffe Bible Translators a free copy. Smart move!). But John Hobbins?!?
In Rick’s recent post he mentions that Christianity Today is going to start using NLT as its default translation. And a commenter also mentions that Wycliffe Bible Translators uses NLT as their default translation. I haven’t heard of any denominations that are using it as their translation of choice. I’d also be interested to hear about Bible colleges and seminaries that are promoting this translation.
So after all this does this mean that I’ll be dumping the CEV and adopting the NLT? Absolutely not! The translations are fundamentally different. CEV is much less free than the NLT and I suspect it is going to age more gracefully than the NLT (Although I’m slightly alarmed at the reversion to using “grace” in the 2006 revision). But more important than the translation style is the distribution strategy. CEV is essentially an open source translation. The American Bible Society has far less restrictions on this translation and it is available for free in far more formats. It is the best translation for children, and for contexts where non-native speakers of English use the Bible. I have said before that if our family lived in the US we would probably use the NLT because it is widely available, widely accepted and is an easy to read translation.
Check out Rick’s extended article on the New Living Translation of the Bible: Rise of the New Living Translation.
Lingamish, you wrote:
CEV is much less free than the NLT
Is “much less free” a typo for “much freer”? My wife and I find the NLT to be more literal than the CEV. The CEV uses more idiomatic English than the NLT, although for “mainstream” English versions the NLT is the best today for its English.
If John Hobbins is an NLT fan, he has chosen a strange way to express his support. I agree with some of his misgivings, as well as having doubts about its apparent Calvinism.
Wayne, you may be right. CEV IMHO uses less alternative idioms for Biblical idioms than NLT. I’ll do some more studying and get back to you on that.
Peter, that is high praise from Hobbins! ( Note also: “I find it impossible to read from NLT without marveling at its freshness.” )
I really hope that NLT discussions don’t degenerate into Calvinist or Feminist diatribes. NLT has escaped that until now.
No, no, that wasn’t a cease and desist email. Heck, if I did that, then a dozen other solidarity blogs would spring up and say the same thing!
I don’t think I’ve ever actually tried caviar though. And vodka–not since the late eighties I think.
I also find the NLT to be much freer than the CEV, by the way. And better translated.
For the record, I’m not jumping the TNIV ship anytime soon. I’ve been promoting the NLT for quite a while, though perhaps not as much as the TNIV. But the NLT is definitely gaining momentum and readers which I see as a good thing. And the TNIV seems to be going nowhere which I see as a very sad thing.
And for what it’s worth, the NLT is not a Calvinist translation. I never heard ANYONE make that claim until brother Peter did yesterday. In fact, when anyone does deride the NLT, it’s almost always a Calvinist doing it.
BTW I requested a review copy of the NLTSB from Laura. I’ll let you know if I get my hands on one. I’m currently loving the CEV Learning Bible. It might be fun to do a cage match…
I think David was thinking of me when he mentioned vodka and caviar. I could tell you a few vodka and caviar stories from my years in the lands where they are much consumed, but I’m not sure I dare to do so in public!
Purty please?!?
Soon you’ll be able to add Esteban Vázquez at The Voice of Stefan to the list of NLT groupies! (Post is in the works.)
I’m aghast. A staunch fuddy-duddy like you?!?
Hey now, mister! I resemble that remark!
I’ve had a private love affair with the NLT since 1996, my freshman year of college. I bought a copy of the then hot-of-the-press translation and ended up using for a Bible study on Acts I lead. I found it to be superbly well done (I already had a few years of Greek under my belt by then), and I have never tired of it. I do prefer the REB, but the NLT isn’t far behind!
(I mean, check out that translation of Rom. 5:12-21. Like, whoa, dude. Plus, I will have you know that the infallible Moisés Silva was one of the translators!)