Showing posts with label Christian Standard Bible (CSB). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian Standard Bible (CSB). Show all posts

Friday 10 November 2017

From Two new bibles, first a look at not such a new one

The first new bible for this Autumn is perhaps not so new as it likes to pretend. The Christian Standard Bible (CSB) is descended from the HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible), which was first published in 2004. Often we get to know that a certain bibletranslation is written from the denominational view. The Holman bible (HCSB) distributed by a Baptist company (Holman/Lifeway) got also that label to be a ‘Baptist Bible’.  Perhaps for that reason the Holman disappeared in the name. their aim is like in the previous Holman bible to capture the Bible’s original meaning without compromising clarity and this in a contemporary language.
An optimal blend of accuracy and readability, this translation helps readers make a deeper connection with God’s Word and inspires lifelong discipleship. 
 the publishers say.

They do find that their new translation is for everyone — for readers young and old, new and seasoned.
It’s a Bible pastors can preach from and a Bible you can share with your neighbor hearing God’s Word for the very first time.
In the older HCSB version the Greek word kristos (or Christos Χριστός) was translated as Messiah when translators felt that Jesus was being referred to in a Jewish context, and Christ when not specifically in a Jewish context.  You could call this being helpful for context, but inconsistent in word-for-word translation accuracy.  The CSB has moved to the more traditional use of translating Christos consistently as Christ.

The fear of God's Name has moved the publishers this time not to use the Name of God. At the time of publishing the HCSB we where pleased to find one publisher who at least wanted to show where the Tetragrammaton stood, even when they did not choose for God's real Name, but preferred to print Yahweh. But now we are back to start, they avoiding their readers to see where it is about Jehovah God, omitting the Name of God and replacing it with the non-saying Lord. According to the translation team, most readers responded that they were unfamiliar with the Tetragrammaton (a Hebrew name for God, YHWH, which should be pronounced Yai How Whah = Jehovah), and that it was unhelpful and even an obstacle for new Bible readers. this one must understand from the point of view that most readers became confused and read that it was about Jehovah God (or Yahweh in that version) whilst their pastors said it was about Jesus.

We wonder who can think that it is
The overall thought in changing it was that people can figure out who the ‘LORD’ is easier than they can figure out exactly who ‘Yahweh’ is or why we call him that. Hence the change.
Concerns over this were addressed by Dr. Iain M. Duguid, a member of the translating team,
 “as a translator for the original HCSB and part of the oversight committee for the revision, I’d encourage you not to panic. The CSB retains the strengths of the HCSB and (in my opinion) improves on them. Yes, we have followed the NT and most English translation in going back to the LORD for Yahweh, largely because we felt the previous attempt ended up in inconsistencies. But it is a revision, not a wholesale new translation. Many passages have been left untouched because we felt we got them right first time around. In other places, we have sometimes moved in a more literal direction, for example “Lord of Armies” instead of “Lord of Hosts” and “Children of Adam” for “ben adam.”

 Csb-translation-logo
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Also of interest
  1. Bible: Translations are Reliable
  2. English Bible History by John L. Jeffcoat III and Dr. Craig H. Lampe
  3. Tyndale, the Bible and the 21st Century
  4. The most important translation…
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