I’m slowly reading through Greg Boyd’s “God of the Possible” and came across the following quote, which was offered in the context of doctrinal coherence, but I thought had some interesting applications for the Bible translation debates:
Such doctrines provide a framework in which the Word of God makes sense, and this [...] is important for the Word of God to have as much impact on our lives as possible. By bringing coherence to the Word, such beliefs unlock the door that allows us to enter into the truth of Scripture with confidence and be transformed by the truth. The extent to which the Word of God is incoherent to us is the extent to which it is of no benefit to us.
Perhaps “coherence” can be as valid an approach as “concordance” is for some translations.
4 Comments
True. Makes a case for dynamic equivalents.
Elshaddai, I am waiting for you to finish this book and post your thoughts and reaction. I have a hard time with Boyd, so I doubt I will read his books. Not his position on matters, but rather his approach.
I am waiting for you to finish this book and post your thoughts and reaction.
At my glacial reading pace, it might be a while, but then again, it’s a slim volume with a larger font size… I’ll probably finish this weekend. I’m actually predisposed to favor Boyd from my earlier reading of Garry Friesen’s “Decision Making and the Will of God” book. It’s a significant argument in favor of free will - the big question in my mind so far is whether open theism brings God down to the mental level of mankind, such that what we perceive as reality *is* all there is to reality, rather than there being a sovereign mystery that is impossible for us to comprehend. I’ll try to write more when I finish up…
Hmm… I just saw the picture of the book. I ordered this a week ago from Amazon.com. It’s on my desk awaiting the read. I should be getting to it soon. I plan on a review too.