Guest Post
Kevin Schaal, in a recent post, commented that our grounds for using a preferred Bible translation is something “we need to talk more about…not less.” A positive development in the recent conversation is that we seem to be focusing more and more on reading comprehension and less and less on textual criticism. Yes, textual criticism matters, but the majority of believers are just plain unqualified to productively wade into an array of subject matter that rivals the board game The Campaign for North Africa for byzantine complexity. No one should take this as an insult. Textual criticism is simply very, very demanding. Nowhere else in biblical studies, perhaps, will you encounter so many technical terms: lectio difficilior lectio potior, the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method, Text und Textwert! This is a specialized science, even an art. Anyone brandishing it as a weapon for the translation debate would do well to heed Kurt and Barbara Aland’s words of caution:
“Anyone interested in contributing seriously to textual criticism should have the experience of making a complete collation of at least one of the great early papyri, a major uncial, and one of the significant minuscule manuscripts. In textual criticism the pure theoretician has often done more harm than good” (The Text of the New Testament, 281).
Admittedly, few of us intend to seriously contribute to the discipline, but odds are, most of us are simply building our arguments on secondhand arguments anyways. Now don’t get me wrong, textual criticism is important and necessary. I think of it like R. P. C. Hanson, who quipped, “I look upon the textual critic as I look upon the man who comes to clean the drains. I should not like to do it myself, but I am very glad that someone likes to do it” (Biblical and Patristic Studies in Memory of Robert Pierce Casey, 1). I’m glad people do it too, but it’s been the warp and woof of the KJV-Only debate for years and accomplished unquestionably little in the way of changing minds over which translation to use. How could it? If people, by definition, cannot look at the evidence for themselves (because it’s written in Greek), what can they ever do except cite dueling authorities?
On the other hand, the understandability of a given translation is something everyone is able to grapple with. People should be able to understand the language of their English Bible — this is something every Christian should agree on (Neh 8:8; Matt 28:18-20; 1 Cor 14:9). Examining whether that’s actually taking place and the best ways to make it happen is something every Christian should be interested in. Maybe textual criticism could benefit from a little rest on the top shelf in the garage while we turn our attention to considering if people can understand the translation of whichever original text we deem best.
Perhaps it’s time we devote ourselves to the concerns of language comprehension with the same vigor we’ve given to the text criticism debate. It will require us to study up on the subject. It will require honesty and humility. Are we humble enough to admit that just because we speak English, we don’t know what all the words mean in our King James Bibles?
We must realize that this is nothing new! Noah Webster admitted this close to two hundred years ago when he prefaced his own English Bible translation with this comment on the King James:
“…in the lapse of two or three centuries…some words have fallen into disuse; and the signification of others, in current popular use, is not the same now as it was when they were introduced into the version.”
These words with changed meaning are what Mark Ward calls, “false friends.” They are just as dangerous as they sound! Webster saw them for what they are. If for no other reason than to be a good friend, we should warn exclusive readers of the KJV. These are the undetected red squares waiting to detonate across your screen in a game of classic computer Minesweeper. False friends (and their ilk) are exactly the concerns we should be talking about more as we profitably change tools and gears from establishing our text to understanding our translation.
Brent Niedergall is the youth pastor at Catawba Springs Christian Church in Apex, North Carolina. He’s pursuing a DMin from Maranatha Baptist Seminary and dabbles in textual criticism by transcribing Greek minuscules of 1 Timothy for the Editio Critica Maior.
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