Comments Off on Bible Translations – A Taxonomy (via AHP) Bible translations can be a bit confusing to the lay person as I’ve noted in a previous post. But, here is a link to a classification system for them that John Hobbins of Ancient Hebrew Poetry has posted from the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Some of the classifications are debatable, but it looks like a helpful resource nonetheless.
Buying a Bible can be confusing as I was reminded when someone in my Monday morning Bible study class brought up that they may be purchasing one. So, we had a discussion today about which one I would recommend. That’s a little simpler for me because as a Catholic I generally (at least for classes in my parish) recommend a translation with Deuterocanonicals (e.g. New American Bible or the New Revised Standard Version), which narrows it down quite a bit. But, as an academic, I think I can become a bit numb to just how confusing it is walking into a bookstore and buying a Bible even with the number of translations narrowed down. I guess it would be somewhat analogous to me walking into a auto parts store and looking to buy a carburetor (yes, I had to Google that to get the correct spelling).
One of the aspects that I didn’t realize was confusing for my participants when buying a Bible was the different “editions” that are put out. For instance, many in my parish use the St. Joseph edition of the NAB. What was throwing them I think was whether the “St. Joseph Edition” or the “New American Bible” was the more important aspect of that equation. I explained to them the difference between the translation and editions/study notes/etc. that are developed as additional elements included with the translation.
I don’t think that this discussion was necessary because it was a Catholic Bible study and we all know Catholics don’t read the Bible ;-). I have had similar discussions to this one in Protestant communities of which I was a part. And, I’m not sure what exactly the point is that I’m trying to make. I guess it would just be to give another example of the “curse of knowledge.” When you’ve studied something for quite a while, you sometimes have no idea what other people may or may not know.
Posts on Translation:
Genesis 1.1 and the Importance of Comparing Translations