‘Even when I want to argue with particular translations, I’m grateful for the enormous labour of love they represent.’ Photo: Aaron Burden / Unsplash.
Version control
Theologian Rachel Muers chooses a Bible
by Rachel Muers
15th February 2019
When I’m marking essays that quote the Bible, I have a standard comment that I use a lot: ‘NRSV Please.’ I’m asking students to use the New Revised Standard Version. It’s the preferred English translation for academic purposes, a precise translation that sticks close to the original wording, even where that doesn’t seem to make much sense or doesn’t suit the theological preferences of the translators. Importantly for me, it uses gender-neutral language when the original is gender-neutral; it keeps ‘man’ for the points when the biblical writers were actually using the words for males.
