Re: New Living Translation

Dale M. Wheeler (dalemw@teleport.com)
Thu, 27 Mar 1997 07:29:35 -0800

Permit to add an addendum to my previous post (spurred on by some private
responses); I do in fact recommend "paraphrastic" translations as one of
the several students should use in their study, like LB, NLT, CEV, TEV. The
GREAT benefit of these translations is that when studying a passage one can
IMMEDIATELY see what line of interpretation the paraphrase is
taking...granted it is only ONE line of interpretation, but nevertheless
its perfectly obvious when compared to a more literal translation like the
NASB. You may or may not agree with it in the end, but you certainly can't
miss it. This has the double benefit of making that particular line of
interpretation clear and giving the preacher/teacher some good ideas on how
to communicate that interpretation, if that's the one he/she has chosen. I
always tell my students that virually without exception they should never
say from the pulpit, "In the Greek it says..."; rather they should say,
"Now, the ********** translation has, I think, captured this idea of this
passage quite nicely when they translate it....." The fog will lift from
the pews and the unGreeked masses will say, "I could have found that too
!"; which may encourage them to go read and study their Bibles at home
(rather than going home saying/thinking, "Well, since I don't know Greek,
I'll just leave ALL that Bible stuff to the preacher."

End of sermon # 528.... (-:

XAIREIN...

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Dale M. Wheeler, Th.D.
Research Professor in Biblical Languages Multnomah Bible College
8435 NE Glisan Street Portland, OR 97220
Voice: 503-251-6416 FAX:503-254-1268 E-Mail: dalemw@teleport.com
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