Goodbye TNIV, Hello 2011
So it seems that the TNIV Bible translation is to be no more : Correcting the ‘Mistakes’ of TNIV and Inclusive NIV, Translators Will Revise NIV in 2011
It’s a bit of a shame. Looks like the failure of the TNIV was a failure of marketing more than anything else, and conservative/fundamentalist elements ended up being quite opposed to it. I never used it as my primary Bible but whenever I did refer to it I usually found it preferable to the old NIV. And not just because it is “gender-inclusive” I just found it had better readability and clarity. I hope they don’t sacrifice any of these 3 things in the NIV 2011. I’m actually in favour of the gender-inclusive approach to passages which are not addressed to a specific gender. It’s not standard english practice to address a group of men and women as “brothers” so why should a modern translation retain such culturally bound language? Maybe it’s just my non-conservative bias coming through 
I don’t actually own a proper TNIV (only a parallel version with The Message – something the fundamentalists would hate even more!) so now might be a good time to invest in one before they disappear. Who knows, it might be a collectors item in future years…
Presently I mainly switch between the NLT-SE (very readable although at a cost of some depth of meaning I think) and NRSV (which seems to combine some of the best of the features of readability, clarity and depth, gender-inclusiveness, and still some of that classic English traditional feel) – sometimes I’ll look in the ESV which is a quite literal version but a bit heavy going.
[please note if you are searching for the NRSV online don't go to NRSV.com - you'll be in for a bit of a nasty surprise... lol]
For more discussion of the NIV issue take a look at Scot McKnight’s blog and the Better Bibles Blog.
In related news, my favourite Bible software company Laridian is close to releasing their PocketBible software for the iPhone. This will be far superior to any of the existing iPhone Bible software and since I already own all their Bibles/commentaries etc etc I will be able to get them all on my iPhone without having to pay again (including the TNIV and many more). The app is awaiting approval by Apple at the moment – keep an eye on their blog for updates or I’ll be sure to mention it here once it finally gets released
Tags : Bible, iphone, laridian, nlt, nrsv, tniv
Categories : Bible | 0 Comments
