Thursday, December 15, 2011

Bible Translation


I haven't found the time to read the New Testament in Greek as much as I would like to lately. So, I thought it would be a good idea to get back into translating. I plan to start with the Gospel of Matthew and post sections as I complete them for critique. Some of you may be familiar with translation work I have done in the past but I plan to completely start over.

The Greek text I will be using is the 1904/1912 Antoniades edition. I believe the Antoniades edition to be the best example of what could be called a "Received Text" or "Textus Receptus" or "Eccleasiastical Text." The text is the result of the Greek Orthodox Church's desire to create a standard Greek lectionary. It's very similar to the Greek text behind the KJV and NKJV but free from the poorly attested readings. I plan to also make note of those places where Robinson/Pierpont deviates from the Antoniades edition. The Robinson/Pierpont text is very similar to Antoniades but based on continuous text manuscripts rather than lectionaries. There are a couple of translations of the Antoniades text already including this one but I'm not completely satisfied with the translation.

My goal is to create a translation that brings out more of the nuances in the Greek text without overtranslating and without a creating a translation that sounds ridiculous. Most of the major translations do a good job of providing the reader with a good translation of the text but many of them tend to have an evangelical bias to them which can be seen especially in passages dealing with the sacraments and eschatology. Translations produced by more liberal scholars tend not to have the same problems with eschatology and the sacraments but have Christological problems instead. I'm sure I'll fail often in my quest and will make some of the same mistakes found in other translations but plan to revise and revise.

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