A while back I had a (sadly habitually necessary) renewed interest in reading the Bible more regularly. Realizing that my own copy of the Bible was whatever had been given to me as a teen, I thought that perhaps a sexy new format would engage me better. Having never actually bought a Bible for myself, I quickly found I had never given much consideration to translation options. After much fruitless time on Amazon, instead of a Bible, I ended up with The Complete Guide to Bible Translations by Ron Rhodes.
The Amazon rating does not lie, this a great book. Rhodes has given the work perfect proportions in breadth and depth alongside a nice balance of cover-to-cover readabilty and reference book formatting. I enjoyed the wisdom displayed in exploring deeply theological ramifications of translational nuances given right alongside the practicality of a discussion on binding quality. I personally appreciated that, while Rhodes gave a generally even-handed presentation of the debatable issues, he avoided staunch objectivity and let his opinions and preferences show through. I can often find purely impartial books (and conversations for that matter) wearisome when they leave you begging for something more than just cold hard facts to ruminate on.
In the end I have actually been interest-piqued by several translations that I now want to incorporate into my reading times. Cheesy as it is, I must also admit that I welcomed a renewed awe for the saga of how God's word has made its way to me and then all to often to just be taken for granted.
5
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave your name if you comment anonymously. Comments may take a bit to show up.