"but then how many of you know anything about the translators of the versions you use? lol this is just another case of measuring the world of JW by a measure you do not use on anyone else. A typical tactic I find."
I when was shopping for a bible and quite a few of them had the story of how that particular translation came to be and I'll bet the information is easily obtained online also...not a big mystery and quite the norm. Example:
The NIV Committee on Bible Translation
The NIV Committee on Bible Translation (CBT) is a "continuing committee of fifteen" formed in 1965 for the purpose of creating and revising the NIV. From 1965 to 1983 the members of the CBT [1] were:
- E. Leslie Carlson, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Carlson died in 1967 and was replaced by Larry Walker. - Edmund P. Clowney, Westminster Theological Seminary.
Clowney resigned in 1968 and was replaced by Robert Preus. - Ralph Earle, Nazarene Theological Seminary
- Burton L. Goddard, Gordon Divinity School
- R. Laird Harris, Covenant Theological Seminary
- Earl S. Kalland, Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary (Denver)
- Kenneth S. Kantzer, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.
Kantzer resigned in 1969 and was replaced by Richard Longenecker. - Robert Mounce, Bethel College (St. Paul).
Mounce resigned in 1967 and was replaced by Youngve Kindberg.
Kindberg resigned in 1983 and was replaced by Donald Wiseman. - Stephen W. Paine, Houghton College
- Charles F. Pfeiffer, Central Michigan University
In 1974 the "long-inactive" Pfeiffer was replaced by Kenneth L. Barker - Charles C. Ryrie, Dallas Theological Seminary.
Ryrie resigned in 1977 and was replaced by Ronald Youngblood (appointed 1979). - Francis R. Steele, North Africa Mission.
Steele resigned in 1969 and was replaced by William J. Martin.
Martin died in 1980 and was replaced by Bruce Waltke. - John H. Stek, Calvin Theological Seminary
- John C. Wenger, Goshen Biblical Seminary
- Marten H. Woudstra, Calvin Theological Seminary
During 1976-1978 there was "an expansion of the CBT for editing purp
http://www.bible-researcher.com/niv-translators.html
The New American Standard Bible
New Testament, 1963. Reuben A. Olson et al., New American Standard Bible: New Testament. Pilot ed. La Habra, California: [Foundation Press] Produced and published by the Lockman Foundation, 1963.
Bible, 1971. Reuben A. Olson et al., New American Standard Bible. La Habra, California: Foundation Press Publications, publisher for the Lockman Foundation, 1971.
Updated edition, 1995. New American Standard Bible. Anaheim, California: Foundation Publications, 1995.
As its name implies, the New American Standard Bible is a revision of the American Standard Version (1901). It was produced by a company of conservative scholars who wished to provide a literal and conservative revision of the ASV, as an alternative to the Revised Standard Version (1952), which had proven to be unacceptable to conservative churches. Although the NASB revisers were influenced by the RSV's interpretation in many places, (1) overall the NASB is a good deal more literal than the RSV, and thus it preserves the highly literal character that had made the American Standard Version so useful as a translation for close study. Also unlike the RSV, the NASB deliberately interprets the Old Testament from a Christian standpoint, in harmony with the New Testament.
The publication of the New American Standard Bible began with the Gospel of John in 1960, followed by the four Gospels in 1962, the New Testament in 1963, and the entire Bible in 1971. The Greek edition used by the NASB revisers was the 23rd edition of the Nestle text.
The NASB was gidely accepted by conservative churches in the years following its publication, but it was often criticized for its awkward and unnatural English. This was mostly a consequence of the version's strict adherence to the idioms of the original languages, whether or not they were natural in English. But in many cases the awkwardness serves no good purpose and is hard to tolerate.
In general, the words of Charles Spurgeon regarding the English Revised Version (the British counterpart of the ASV) might also be said of the NASB — "Strong in Greek, but weak in English." For this reason, many people used the NASB only for reference when doing close study, while using other more "readable" versions for other purposes. The version became a byword for conservative literalism among liberal critics, who often compared the NASB unfavorably with the RSV. (2)
For many years the names of the NASB translators and editors were withheld by the publisher. But in 1995 this information was finally disclosed. Below is the list of names posted on the publisher's website in 2002.
Original NASB translators
Peter Ahn
Warren Allen
Gleason Archer
Herman Austel
Kenneth Lee Barker
Fred Bush
David L. Cooper
Richard W. Cramer
Edward R. Dalglish
Charles Lee Feinberg
Harvey Finley
Paul Gray
Edward F. Harrison | John Hartley
F. B Huey, Jr.
Charles Isbell
David W. Kerr
William L. Lane
Timothy Lin
Oscar Lowry
Elmer Martens
Henry R. Moeller
Reuben A. Olson
J. Barton Payne
Walter Penner
John Rea | W.L. Reed
Robert N. Schaper
Moisés Silva
Ralph L. Smith
Merrill C. Tenney
Robert L. Thomas
George Townsend
Bruce Waltke
Lowell C. Wendt
William C. Williams
Herbert M. Wolf
Kenneth Wuest
Fred Young http://www.bible-researcher.com/nasb.html |
