NWT bible is wonderful (quotes)

by RayPublisher 8 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • RayPublisher
    RayPublisher

    Someone on the JW lovers kool aid site JW Talk. net posted how wonderful the NWT Bible is and put this list of all the scholars that love it. My recollection is that many of these were taken out of context anyone here up on this one?

    Here's the "esteemed list":

    -------------

    Jason BeDuhn: "While it is difficult to quantify this sort of analysis, it can be said the NW[T] emerges as the most accurate of the translations compared."
    -Greek Scholar in his book: "Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament"

    Steven T. Byington: Of the NWT, "If you are digging for excellent or suggestive renderings, this is among the richer mines."
    -Christian Century, "Review of the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures"

    Frederick Danker: "Not to be snubbed is the New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, Rendered from the Original by the New World Bible Translation Committee."
    -"Multipurpose Tools for Bible Study"

    Alan S. Duthie: The "Jehovah's Witnesses' NWT,...is certainly not 'filled with the heretical doctrines'...even though a few aberrations can be found...but the percentage of the whole Bible thus affected... does not reach even 0.1% of the whole, which is very far from 'full'.
    -"How To Choose Your Bible Wisely"

    Rolf Furuli: "I read the English text of the NWT against the Hebrew text, word for word...the translators of the NWT have been extremely faithful both to their own translation principles and to the Hebrew text."
    -Lecturer in Semitic Languages at Oslo University

    S. Maclean Gilmore: "The New Testament edition was made by a committee...that possessed an unusual competence in Greek."
    -Andover Newton Quarterly

    Edgar Goodspeed: "I am...much pleased with the free, frank, and vigorous translation. It exhibits a vast array of sound serious learning, as I can testify."
    -Scholar and Bible Translator

    Samuel Haas: "This work indicates a great deal of effort and thought as well as considerable scholarship."
    -Bible Scholar in "Journal of Biblical Literature"

    C. Houtman: "The New World Translation of the Jehovah's Witnesses can survive the scrutiny of criticism."
    -"Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift", [Dutch Theological Magazines]

    Benjamin Kedar: "I find my feeling repeatedly confirmed that [the OT] reflects an honest endeavor to achieve an understanding of the text that is as accurate as possible....Giving evidence of a broad command of the original language...I have never discovered in the New World Translation any biased intent to read something into the text that it does not contain."
    -Professor of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has a Ph'd from Yale

    Robert M. McCoy: "The translation of the New Testament is evidence of the presence in the movement of scholars qualified to deal intelligently with the many problems of Biblical translation."
    -"Andover Newton Quarterly"

    Dr. Bruce Metzger: "On the whole, one gains a tolerably good impression of the scholarly equipment of the translators."
    -Professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Scholar in Greek, OT Studies and NT Studies in "The Bible Translator"

    James Parkinson: "The Jehovah's Witnesses' New World Translation offers a relatively accurate translation from a different theological perspective."
    -Author of "How To Choose a Bible Translation"

    J. D Phillips: "Last week I purchased a copy of your New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures of which I take pride in being an owner. You have done a marvelous work...but you have made a marvelous step in the right direction, and I pray God that your Version will be used to His glory. What you have done for the Name alone is worth all the effort and cost!"
    -J.D. Phillips was a Church of Christ Minister who knew Hebrew and Koine Greek

    Charles Francis Potter: In "the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures...the anonymous translators have certainly rendered the best manuscript texts...with scholarly ability and acumen."
    -The Faith Men Live By

    William Carey Taylor: The NT of the NWT contains "considerable scholarship."
    -"The New Bible Pro and Con"

    Alexander Thomson: "The translation is evidently the work of skilled and clever scholars, who have sought to bring out as much of the true sense of the Greek text as the English language is capable of expressing."
    -in "The Differentiator" (a private, published journal)

    Allen Wikgren: It is "independent reading of merit."
    -Scholar on the NRSV committee, as well as on the committee which produced the UBS Greek text

    Thomas N. Winter: "The translation by the anonymous committee is thoroughly up to date and consistently accurate...In sum, when a witness comes to the door, the classicist, Greek student, or Bible student alike would do well to place an order."
    -Professor of Koine Greek at the University of Nebraska

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  • wannabefree
  • AnnOMaly
    AnnOMaly

    Some of the quotes are discussed on http://www.forananswer.org/Top_JW/Scholars%20and%20NWT.htm

    Ha - didn't see you'd already posted, wanna.

    Of course, we all know Rolf Furuli is a JW of long-standing.

  • AndDontCallMeShirley
    AndDontCallMeShirley

    Dr. Bruce Metzger: "On the whole, one gains a tolerably good impression of the scholarly equipment of the translators."
    -Professor at Princeton Theological Seminary and Scholar in Greek, OT Studies and NT Studies in "The Bible Translator"

    I did a little research on this one last year since WT has quoted Metzger in their literature.

    WT quotes only the favorable comments made by Metzger while ignoring the negatives (no big suprise).

    In the final analysis Metzger concludes the NWT is pretty much like any other Bible translation- it has it's good points and its bad points. He did not conclude that the NWT was in any way a superior translation.

    Classic WT cherry-picking.

    Numerous qualified Greek scholars of international renown have voiced serious reservations about the New World Translation. Dr. Bruce Metzger of Princeton University (arguably the world’s foremost living Greek scholar) calls many of the New World Translation’s renderings "erroneous" (5). Dr. Julius R. Mantey (co-author of A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament and A Hellenistic Greek Reader) called it "a shocking mistranslation"(6). Dr Robert Countess concluded, in his PhD dissertation on the New World Translation, "it [the New World Translation] must be viewed as a radically biased piece of work. At some points it is actually dishonest" (7).

  • RayPublisher
    RayPublisher

    Thanks folks gonna check those out!

  • sd-7
    sd-7

    Jason BeDuhn: "While it is difficult to quantify this sort of analysis, it can be said the NW[T] emerges as the most accurate of the translations compared."
    -Greek Scholar in his book: "Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament"

    BeDuhn does praise the NWT, but he also devotes an Appendix to trashing it for its use of "Jehovah" in the New Testament. I did a thread on this after I bought his book years ago:

    http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/183868/1/Bearing-Thorough-Witness-book-and-Jason-David-BeDuhn-quotes

    --sd-7

  • wannabefree
    wannabefree

    BeDuhn also acknowledged in his book that he used a very small cross section to base his comparison on and that it could very well show a different result with other verses.

    Here was a post I found interesting 6 months ago.

    http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/239403/1/Jason-BeDuhn-regarding-Revelation-7-and-the-Great-Crowd

  • Mum
    Mum

    There is a logical fallacy called "appeal to authority." I think we've just been given an example of it.

  • itsibitsybrainbutbigenoughtosmellarat
    itsibitsybrainbutbigenoughtosmellarat

    Rolf Furuli: "I read the English text of the NWT against the Hebrew text, word for word...the translators of the NWT have been extremely faithful both to their own translation principles and to the Hebrew text."
    -Lecturer in Semitic Languages at Oslo University

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