Interview with Dr. Ed Blum, General Editor for the HCSB

If you have any interest in the HCSB translation (and if you read my previous post, you know that I do), run don’t walk to Will Lee’s blog, Anwoth, where he’s just posted the transcript of a lengthy interview with Dr. Ed Blum, General Editor of the HCSB:

I had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Ed Blum, the General Editor for the Holman Christian Standard Bible. I have been using the HCSB for several years now, and it is by far my favorite translation. I think this interview will be helpful to clear up misconceptions about the HCSB as well as to help people unfamiliar with this translation learn a little about what has become a very influential translation.

The interview is divided into four parts. You can read the whole thing or jump to the parts that interest you the most. They are, (1) Distinctives, (2) History, (3) Translation, and (4) Marketing.

There’s a ton of fascinating facts and details to be gleaned, including the promise of a second edition revision and a Study Bible in 2009. Dr. Blum compares the HCSB’s language and critical footnotes to virtually every modern non-Catholic translation in his interview:

Our goal was to be more accurate than the NASB, and to be as readable as the NIV if possible. Sometimes we can’t be as readable because they’re paraphrasing, and a paraphrase is easier. But we tried to make it easy to read.

You’ll also learn the Majority Text history of the translation, how the NASB almost became the HCSB, why the HCSB could (ed. should!) have been known as “Logos 21″, what the translators and publishers disagreed on and what the future of the “H” is. Dr. Blum also clarifies the relationship between the HCSB translation, Broadman & Holman publishers, Lifeway and the Southern Baptist Convention.