Monday, June 16, 2008
Last week Jared Wilson listed several reasons why we don't read our Bibles. Here are some thoughts about the NLT Study Bible in relation to each of the points that Jared makes:
1. “We don't understand it.” It is a lot easier to understand the Bible when it is translated into “the language of the heart.” In our case, this means using good, contemporary, standard English. The NLT Study Bible uses the NLT, which is a clear winner for clarity and understandability. If people would just read the NLT, they would make great progress in understanding the Bible.
2. “There's nobody explaining it to us.” We do our best in the NLT Study Bible to focus on the significance and meaning of the text of Scripture, so that readers can clearly understand what it means by what it says. We put a big premium on helping people understand how it all fits together. That's why we devote so much space to the book introductions and section introductions, and why we have so many "theme notes," in-text articles that follow the threads of important biblical themes across the boundaries of specific books.
3. “Scripture is being touted less and less as central to the Christian life.” This is not something that we can address directly in the study materials, especially because our purpose in the NLT Study Bible is not to provide "life application," but to explain Scripture clearly so that the Holy Spirit can apply it in the hearts of readers. I do think, however, that when you understand the Bible clearly, you are more able to see how it applies to life. So in editing the NLT Study Bible, we made it our aim to remove the walls that would stand in the way of the Holy Spirit's work. • This is also a good place to mention the "Reading Plan" that we included in the back of the NLT Study Bible. It encourages a habit of daily reading and study on a reasonable, maintainable schedule over many years. Perhaps it will help steer a few more people to make Bible reading a part of their day.
4. “It is wielded as a weapon against people.” I really hate it when people try to do that to me, and I pray for the good sense to avoid doing it to others. In editing the NLT Study Bible, we've definitely tried to steer a theological course that is non-sectarian, while at the same time faithfully explaining Scripture. Doing that job well is an extraordinarily tricky business. It helps that we had people from a variety of theological camps working together and calling each other to account for their theological assertions in the study materials. It also helps that we tried to stay close to what the Bible actually says about things and avoid going very far beyond it in working out logical systems of thought. Of course, the challenge there is that we might be accused of inconsistency on this or that point. But as Paul says in the context of the local church, "Let two or three people prophesy, and let the others evaluate what is said," 1 Cor 14:29. Allowing a variety of perspectives and being open to evaluation is healthy for the body of Christ. In editing the NLT Study Bible, we worked hard at avoiding contradictions, but we also made a conscious decision to keep as many interesting things in the study materials as possible.
5. “The Bible says things we don't like.” Well, I can't help much there. In fact, if we translate the Bible clearly and explain it well, it will make people more uncomfortable. I've also noticed that we experience a real temptation as interpreters of the Bible to put "walls" around what the Bible can mean or how it can apply to us. The Bible says quite a number of things that are unacceptable to the contemporary mind. It is the most natural thing in the world to say of such things, "This is not applicable to us." As editors, we made every effort to remove such "walls" from the study materials. Our goal was to help readers to understand Scripture as it would have been understood by the original hearers. Our goal was not to work out just what that "means for me." I expect that the result will be greater discomfort among readers at some point or another. My hope is that readers will recognize the discomfort, take note of its source, and then consider before God how to answer it.
6. “Experts have eroded our confidence in Scripture.” Then I'd encourage you to read the NLT Study Bible carefully, because the experts who wrote it make it very clear that the Bible is worthy of our highest confidence and trust. We devoted a lot of space, particularly in the book and section introductions and in the chronology articles, to discussing the reliability and historicity of the Bible.
7. “We are undisciplined and lazy.” No argument there, and I am as lazy and undisciplined as anyone. As editors, we tried to provide some help to readers by giving them a "Reading Plan" at the back of the Bible. It lays out a course of reading that requires about 15~20 minutes each day, five days per week, 52 weeks per year. If you do that, you get through the whole NLT Study Bible in five years -- Bible text, notes, articles, everything (except the topical index and concordance; we didn't see any need for a reading plan on those features). We feel that this kind of schedule is something that people can actually maintain. We also did not assign dates to the individual readings, because in my own experience, having dates just means falling behind and experiencing guilt/failure. Who needs that? Wherever you are, and whatever date it is, pick a place to read and start reading.
So, there you have a few thoughts about how the NLT Study Bible addresses the reasons why we don't read the Bible. Are there other reasons that we haven't addressed?
1. “We don't understand it.” It is a lot easier to understand the Bible when it is translated into “the language of the heart.” In our case, this means using good, contemporary, standard English. The NLT Study Bible uses the NLT, which is a clear winner for clarity and understandability. If people would just read the NLT, they would make great progress in understanding the Bible.
2. “There's nobody explaining it to us.” We do our best in the NLT Study Bible to focus on the significance and meaning of the text of Scripture, so that readers can clearly understand what it means by what it says. We put a big premium on helping people understand how it all fits together. That's why we devote so much space to the book introductions and section introductions, and why we have so many "theme notes," in-text articles that follow the threads of important biblical themes across the boundaries of specific books.
3. “Scripture is being touted less and less as central to the Christian life.” This is not something that we can address directly in the study materials, especially because our purpose in the NLT Study Bible is not to provide "life application," but to explain Scripture clearly so that the Holy Spirit can apply it in the hearts of readers. I do think, however, that when you understand the Bible clearly, you are more able to see how it applies to life. So in editing the NLT Study Bible, we made it our aim to remove the walls that would stand in the way of the Holy Spirit's work. • This is also a good place to mention the "Reading Plan" that we included in the back of the NLT Study Bible. It encourages a habit of daily reading and study on a reasonable, maintainable schedule over many years. Perhaps it will help steer a few more people to make Bible reading a part of their day.
4. “It is wielded as a weapon against people.” I really hate it when people try to do that to me, and I pray for the good sense to avoid doing it to others. In editing the NLT Study Bible, we've definitely tried to steer a theological course that is non-sectarian, while at the same time faithfully explaining Scripture. Doing that job well is an extraordinarily tricky business. It helps that we had people from a variety of theological camps working together and calling each other to account for their theological assertions in the study materials. It also helps that we tried to stay close to what the Bible actually says about things and avoid going very far beyond it in working out logical systems of thought. Of course, the challenge there is that we might be accused of inconsistency on this or that point. But as Paul says in the context of the local church, "Let two or three people prophesy, and let the others evaluate what is said," 1 Cor 14:29. Allowing a variety of perspectives and being open to evaluation is healthy for the body of Christ. In editing the NLT Study Bible, we worked hard at avoiding contradictions, but we also made a conscious decision to keep as many interesting things in the study materials as possible.
5. “The Bible says things we don't like.” Well, I can't help much there. In fact, if we translate the Bible clearly and explain it well, it will make people more uncomfortable. I've also noticed that we experience a real temptation as interpreters of the Bible to put "walls" around what the Bible can mean or how it can apply to us. The Bible says quite a number of things that are unacceptable to the contemporary mind. It is the most natural thing in the world to say of such things, "This is not applicable to us." As editors, we made every effort to remove such "walls" from the study materials. Our goal was to help readers to understand Scripture as it would have been understood by the original hearers. Our goal was not to work out just what that "means for me." I expect that the result will be greater discomfort among readers at some point or another. My hope is that readers will recognize the discomfort, take note of its source, and then consider before God how to answer it.
6. “Experts have eroded our confidence in Scripture.” Then I'd encourage you to read the NLT Study Bible carefully, because the experts who wrote it make it very clear that the Bible is worthy of our highest confidence and trust. We devoted a lot of space, particularly in the book and section introductions and in the chronology articles, to discussing the reliability and historicity of the Bible.
7. “We are undisciplined and lazy.” No argument there, and I am as lazy and undisciplined as anyone. As editors, we tried to provide some help to readers by giving them a "Reading Plan" at the back of the Bible. It lays out a course of reading that requires about 15~20 minutes each day, five days per week, 52 weeks per year. If you do that, you get through the whole NLT Study Bible in five years -- Bible text, notes, articles, everything (except the topical index and concordance; we didn't see any need for a reading plan on those features). We feel that this kind of schedule is something that people can actually maintain. We also did not assign dates to the individual readings, because in my own experience, having dates just means falling behind and experiencing guilt/failure. Who needs that? Wherever you are, and whatever date it is, pick a place to read and start reading.
So, there you have a few thoughts about how the NLT Study Bible addresses the reasons why we don't read the Bible. Are there other reasons that we haven't addressed?
posted by Sean Harrison at 2:36 PM
This is going to be a slow three months waiting for it to hit the shelves.
Another reason folks don't read the Bible as much as they should is that some translations take over the responsibility of interpretation for the reader. So we end up with a Bible that has some of God's words and some of man's words, instead of simply translating God's Word in an essentially literal way.
Hi, Larry. Can you explain why you see a connection between the nature of some Bible translations and the observation that people aren't reading the Bible enough?
Sean,
Sure...the more a translation mixes interpretation and translation together, the more there is a mix of God's words with man's words. Then the Bible becomes more and more like any other book, and therefore read just as often as other books - rarely. The Scripture loses its authority as the Word of God as the word of man creeps into it.
Beyond that, it also lends itself more to theological slant. If one is interpreting instead of translating then one's theological presuppositions enter the text at a much more frequent rate.
As an example of poor translation:
In Genesis 3:14 the NLT has the serpent "groveling in the dust" instead of "eating dirt." So it misses the point of the punishment fitting the crime (the serpent got Eve to "eat" the fruit, now he "eats" the dirt).
Acts 16:34 is a good example of theological slant. The NLT has the whole household believing, when the Scriptures only tell us that the jailer believed. I presume they do this because of their theological presupposition that only believers should be baptized.
Rom 16:1 also shows their presupposition that it's valid for women to hold the office of Deacon.
Hi, Larry. Thanks for your reply -- now I can see where you're coming from. This issue is too big to deal with in the comments, so I would invite you to read The Nature of Translation, Part One along with Part Two, which addresses your examples.
Sean,
I understand the underlying reasons for dynamic equivalence, i just don't agree with them. I never much cared for the false dichotomy of translating words versus thoughts. I have found it to be much more of a symbiotic relationship. After all, you can't translate the thoughts without using words.
The basic principle in dynamic equivalence is to translate for the reader, while the basic principle in essentially literal translations is more to translate for the author.
Sean,
Firstly, let me say that the samples look really helpful. The reading plan sounds like it will be helpful too. I have used the One Year Bible format with some success in the past but have found that I also need times where I dwell longer on shorter passages. This reading plan looks like it will help do this.
I think another reason that we don't read our bibles (which is related to reasons 1 & 3) is busyness and distractions of life. Not making it a priority.
Larry,
The basic principle in dynamic equivalence is to translate for the reader, while the basic principle in essentially literal translations is more to translate for the author.
I disagree. The author doesn't need his work translated for him. He wrote it. The only party in need of a translation is a reader who doesn't read the language in which the text was originally written. Because of this, I think a dynamic equivalent translation is a good thing.
Phil, I struggle with busyness and distraction as much as anyone. What do you think we can do to help ourselves and others to put aside the busyness and distractions and spend the time in the text of Scripture?
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