James White is the director of Alpha and Omega Ministries, a Christian apologetics organization based in Phoenix, Arizona. He is a professor and has authored or contributed to more than twenty-four books. He is also an accomplished debater. He is an elder of the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church, has been married to his wife Kelli for more than thirty-two years, and has two children and two grandchildren. White’s work is a very profound book that talks about the controversy in some churches about the best translation to use: modern translations or the King James translation. He fought against the idea of some that the King James Version is the only true Bible. He did an excellent job defending his own views while pointing out the errors of these groups.
Summary of the Book
The first chapter puts the King James Version-Only groups on a spectrum. The least troublesome just prefer the sound of the language of the KJV to other translations. Next are the groups who think that the Greek and Hebrew used by the translators of the KJV is better than that of the other translations; even more
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In most of the charts he presented, White put the KJV up next to either the NIV or the NASB (186, 266). It is understandable that everyone favors certain translations over others, his preference for these two translations is quiet obvious throughout the book. However, for the purpose of this book, this preference made him fail to provide a more neutral understanding of the principles he wrote about. Actually, his favoritism towards these translations went against his own words, “But we must be careful to avoid making the basic error of setting up one translation as the standard over all others” (169). The author would have better demonstrated this principle by using more than just two translations in a comparison against the KJV
This is a very interesting book because of the unique style in which William chose to present his secondary hand of information. Features of this book that fascinates me extremely, is the excessive use of biblical terms and the
As Bart Ehrman states in Misquoting Jesus, “Not only do we not have the originals, we don’t have the first copies of the originals.” In fact, Ehrman’s book and his standpoint on the validity of the Bible translations we do possess caused tens of thousands of Christians to abandon their faith altogether. Wallace uses Bart Ehrman’s book to segue into a discussion concerning the two main attitudes concerning Bible translations that should be avoided: radical skepticism in the case of atheists or agnostics, and absolute certainty in the case of Christians. The reason absolute certainty must be avoided is because there is no translation today that claims to have it all solved. There are thousands of textual variants among manuscripts because there are so many manuscripts. To close, Wallace asks the audience if they are ready to abandon their faith simply because they aren’t sure, and finishes with this statement: “No
3.) We have all known people though out our lives or maybe family or friends who did not agree with our biblical belief and have raised questions to challenge our faith. Why does the Bible have so many translations is always one that comes up
N.T. Wright releases “How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels” with the affirmation that the church has come to emphasis almost exclusively on Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection. Although, the gospels devote the majority of their time on Jesus’ life. Jesus’s life, death, resurrection and rise did not hint the end of the old Israel story, but redirected it further to a worldwide effort of adaptation. Wright addresses several New Testament documented interpreters who present the gospels as simply “the prognosis of early Christian faith, reflecting the disputes and predicaments of the early church,” something Wright calls a “half-truth”. Wright argues that notwithstanding the gospels countless differences, none of
The disputes Erhman examines involved rejecting the adoptionist theory of Jesus. The adoptionist view of Jesus holds that he was the Son of God by adoption only. There was no agreed upon view between Christian groups on whether Jesus was a divine or a human being which caused variations within copies of the bible. Erhman states how many scribes who opposed the adoptionist view of Jesus wanted to change their texts in places to emphasize their view that Jesus was human, but at the same time a divine being on earth. These types of textual changes heavily impacted the Gospels by altering the symbolic meanings of Jesus’s teachings and parables so much that they have become doubtful. This caused major concerns because once texts are altered from the original, the words of the texts become different words with different value which affected the grasps of the words by later readers. Bart Erhman’s redaction criticism in his, Misquoting Jesus, offers a significant new idea that contemporary Christian churches can both benefit and learn from. Redaction criticism has revealed that not all books included in the bible have stayed in their original form. From this, knowledge of the unoriginal text can serve as a basis for more thoughtful study into the bible and its history. Debates surrounding
For many years Hickory Christian Academy (HCA) has used the New American Standard Bible (NASB), but I believe that needs to change. The NASB is certainly a praiseworthy translation, no one is suggesting otherwise, but the ESV is nonetheless better. The NASB is like getting a cake with no icing. The cake bread tastes wonderful; in fact, some might prefer just the cake bread, but I think I speak for the majority when I say cake tastes better with icing. The ESV is the icing on the cake. The ESV is not only the same as the NASB fundamentally- the cake bread- t it is, over all, better than the NASB- the icing on the
King James the I was born June 19, 1566, he was the King Of Scotland from 1567-1625 and the King of England 1603-1625. King james was born in Edinburgh Castle to Mary Queen of Scots and her second husband henry Stewart. King James become a great ruler of Scotland and later “styled himself King of Great Britain” . King James was a “strong advocate of royal absolutism”. At the age of one Year old after the death of his father and the advocation of his mother James became King. “During his minority James was surrounded by a great band of Scottish lords”, in which helped run his kingdom for he was too young. The Stewarts had ruled nine generations of scotland and there nobility and a king were not for from each other.
This first volume contains 39 books, and 929 chapters: almost identical to the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible. Interpretation of the scriptures are more about God ‘The Father’, himself, but lays the foundation for the second volume the New Testament. Originally written in Greek about 45 AD, this volume contains 27 books and 260 chapters. Its scriptures tell the story of the life of Jesus, believed by Christians to be the Messiah, Son of God in human form, and sent by God to fulfill the promises and prophesies of the Old Testament.
How might the divine right of kings have led to the widespread acceptance of the King James Bible? In your response provide a reason for whether or not the translation could have been accepted without it.
Throughout the history of the Bible, few words have had more controversy than the words, faith, works, and justification. James’ uses a powerful
Thus, compared to older Bible versions, the King James version is more coherent. The presentation of metaphors helped achieve this.. In the King James translation, metaphors provided a coherent examples of the Lord’s work, helped the readers understand better, and inspired many life
Elwell, Walter A., and Barry J. Beitzel. Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988. Print.
Jennifer Beatson, in the journal titled, “Christian Scholar's Review” Issue 34.1 of fall 2004, She reviews “The Word of God in English: Criteria for Excellence in Bible Translation” by Leland Ryken. Ryken cites the trends leading to a large growing of English Bible translations, and the need to evaluate their merits. One of his main criticisms is the dynamic equivalence used in practically all modern translations. He claims that these works, “(1) they lack literary excellence, and (2) they do not faithfully translate the original biblical texts (Beatson 134). He holds that only formal or word-for-word translations should be used because they hold true to the original text and author.
The process by which the English Bible, as it is known to the English culture today, was compiled is an extraordinary thing to see. The Bible consists of two parts: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The process by which both Testaments were written and then canonized into one book transpired over a period of many years. Once the canonization of the Bible officially came to an end, it was translated into English. Since then, many versions of the modern Bible have been made. Since the individual books of the Bible became scattered as they were written, people set forth to preserve God’s Word by compiling them into one
It is important that we understand and preserve the many different languages the Bible is translated into because they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Through these translations we may find a deeper meaning and understanding. Jost Zetzsche stated it best when he said, “I believe that translations of Scripture are not secondary fill-ins but as integral part of the ongoing and primary expression of God’s message in written form.”