Tuesday, April 19, 2011

NTW Version

Thanks to Mark Stevens it looks as if N.T. Wright has produced his own NT translation. No, it's not called the "NTW Version" or even the "Bishops's Bible" (that's already been taken). It is called The King's Version and is slated to come out in September 2011 with Harper Collins. It arguably stands in the tradition of James Moffatt who was a Scottish scholar who produced his own translation of the New Testament (and eventually Old Testament) and it even had its own commentary series that accompanied it, i.e. the Moffatt New Testament Commentary. You can see the one on Hebrews at Google Books by, you guessed, James Moffatt.

7 comments:

Merry Monk said...

I am extremely excited about this!

Ian Paul said...

I am not sure this is a *new* translation. As I think I commented somewhere else, NTW did his own translations for the 'For Everyone' series, and i suspect this will just be those passages all pulled together, won't it?

hugescribble said...

The "Publications" section of the ntwrightpage site, as updated in March 2011, includes, as well as notice of the last 2 volumes of the "For Everyone" series on Revelation and "Early Christian Letters", the following - "2011 The New Testament for Everyone. (Provisional title).....(forthcoming)(my full translation of the NT, taken from the various 'Everyone' volumes)". I must admit that I prefer the provisional title. To me "The King's Version" smacks of 1 Corinthians 1:12.

pennoyer said...

I don't care for the idea personally and I'm a fan of Tom Wright in many respects. It's one thing to publish your own translation as an integral part of a commentary series where the context makes it perfectly clear that this is my take on the meaning of the text. But it's another thing to publish your translation as a stand-alone book. In that context the idiosycracies of an individual scholar will go unnoticed for many, many people. For proof of this, one has to just look at the popular but uncareful use of Peterson's quirky "The Message" in lay bible study and even from the pulpit. Yes, that's an extreme example. But if people are uncritical with Peterson they will be all the more so with Wright. - Ray

michael jensen said...

With the greatest of possible respect, it takes a certain measure of...self-confidence to do this, doesn't it?

John Dickson said...

@michaeljensen 'Self-confidence' indeed! Do you remember when we used to work together at St Clement's, and I used to print my own translations of the passage in the sermon notes? How embarrassing! I am so glad I have slowly come to know just how much I don't know. I'm staying with NIV (already ordered my 2011 version pew bibles).

cawoodm said...

Apparently so controversial that the publisher has removed the link!