Bible translation blog roundup

I’m working on jotting down some new posts re Bible translation, but wanted to link to some recent posts from elsewhere in blogland:

• Gary Zimmerli continues to wrestle with the NRSV and other translations, touching on funding for the National Council of Churches, issuing a well-stated call to focus our energy on the Bible’s message rather than the motives of translation teams, and summarizing his conclusions from a long, tiring Bible translation comparison. I’ve found Gary’s comments to be refreshing and personal, and really appreciate the time he’s taken to share his exploration of many of the same issues I’m looking at. I’ve been very interested to read his recent comments on the NRSV in light of this poll, which tagged me as a potential Methodist (like Gary).

• Doug at Metacatholic has posted on the Jerusalem Bible’s translation of Ephesians 2:10, expressing his attraction to the more colorful language used in that translation vs. more traditional versions, e.g. the NRSV. I used a New Jersusalem Bible for part of a Bible study a few years back and found it, like the Revised English Bible, to be an excellent literary translation, but perhaps a bit fuzzier than I was ready for at the time. I naturally loved the treatment of the OT, with the names of God transliterated rather than translated.

• Rick Mansfield has issued a call for information on updating his widely popular survey of wide margin Bibles. I’m more than happy to help carry this banner and wish that every Bible publisher who decided to create a reference edition of their translation would bump up the paper size and let us add our own notes as well. To repeat, the best approach, in my opinion, is single-column text (black letter) with cross-references printed on the inside margin and 1-2″ of whitespace on the top, bottom and outside margins.

• Iyov provides an additional resource for NRSV devotees, with a list of some two dozen “favorite” NRSV editions. It’s an impressive list and sure to make you envious if your favorite translation is only available in a limited number of editions.