In the movie Rocky 3, Russian boxer (Eastern Orthodox?) looking down at Rocky
and says, "I Will Break You!"
N. T. Wright and David Bentley Hart are both two of the most respected biblical scholars of our time. They both wrote a translation of the New Testament and both of them has different aims as to why they wrote their own specific translation. Wright's translations more literate and dynamic and Hart more crude and literal. I appreciate what both of these men were doing in trying to give a very readable translation of the New Testament.
After saying all that, Wright threw the first rock in criticizing DBH and then DBH unleashed his historical acumen and fury back at Wright. I for one do not like to see Christians fight this way although it is fine to simply agree to disagree. More traditionalists will say Wright one which I find strange Wright would criticize DBH who is an Eastern Orthodox for not being traditional enough (especially in light that Wright has said earlier in his books on Scripture that he follows scientific enquiry more in his understanding of the Scriptures than tradition).
One of DBH principles of translating the early textual manuscripts into an English translation when it comes to the art of textual criticism, the most unsettling rendering is the most accurate. This may seem counter intuitive to some but from my perspective, it makes sense considering how some scribes tried to fix or correct the text and therefore all the textual variants we have to this day.
I suspect more conservative readers will side with Wright and more progressive ones will side with DBH. I am in the process of reading DBH's translation and I look forward to reading N. T. Wright's translation when I can get to it. In the end, I suspect there are hidden gifts in both of these translations for those who have spiritual eyes to see.
No comments:
Post a Comment