Methodist take on Bible Translations

[Haruo]

At least I gather he's a Methodist, since the only place I find him featured is on UMC Facebook forums.

[KeithE]

Cute.

And various people claim their’s (or a subset) are inerrant.

[Mrs Haruo]

I have a couple editions of the NIV dating back to when they were considered the state of the art. The covers are falling off the one with all the colored photos and historical references that I used to entertain myself and the kids when they (or I) was bored with the sermon. Now the toddler who left tooth marks on a corner of one cover has 10 and 12 year olds of his own. I think it's time for a replacement. The other is a student version with a beautiful fake leather cover in my favorite color (a deep teal green!) but the pages are so thin I have a hard time turning them. Carpal tunnel is a nuisance! I haven't been seriously Bible shopping for awhile, but there are some newer translations that are intriguing.

[James]

I like the Message for Paul's epistles. I like the RSV for everything else. I bought the New Interpreter's Study Bible (RSV) a couple of years ago. I think it will be my last Bible unless someone comes up with some really significant manuscripts which changes things radically.

[Tim Bonney]

[Tim Bonney]

I mostly use the NRSV but I also have been using the new Common English Bible that is sponsored by several denominations including the UMC.

[Sandy]

Chuck does a good job, and that's the kind of thing that helps people remember stuff. I think it also gets the message across that there is a lot of careful, scholarly work being done in the area of Bible translation.

There is always a bit of commercially motivated temptation that prompts statements from individuals involved with a particular translation to help create a niche to generate sales, such as the notation that the ESV was a good, "conservative" translation, implying that others might not be, or the statement from a Southern Baptist leader about the HCSB being a "Bible translation we can control." In reality, the work done on both of those translations was consistent with the pattern of other English translations. I know students at places as widely divergent as Moody Bible Institute and Princeton who have professors that have endorsed, and use, the HCSB, and the ESV is slowly gaining ground on the NIV and the good ole King Jimmie in popular and church usage. Most Greek professors and theological profs have their own preferences, and their own opinions about word usage, but for the most part, there is wide acceptance of English Bible translations these days.

[Ed Pettibone]

Ed: Chuck presents some good points but he drives me nuts with his "cute" little quips.

He is not near as entertaing as some other christian comedians. Currently I am thinking of Mark Lowery and In the distant past Bob Harrington the Chaplin of Bourbon St. and Grady Nutt who is better known for his role on Hee Haw than as director of alumni affairs and assistant to the president at Southern Seminary.

But Tim, when you say "Chuck is an actor who plays a Methodist for us..." are you saying he isn't a Methodist and that your paying him for his patter?

[Mrs Haruo]

Ed; Say it ain't so! The Chaplain of Bourbon Street in the DISTANT PAST? I bought an album from him at Explo 72 in Dallas. I loved his bit on the little old penticostal lady showing up at" Dooooown Tooooown Presbyterian, where the only thing that looked alive was the ivy growing up the wall!" That struck home with me, because my high school years were spent in a very lively and thriving suburban Presbyterian church with a large youth program. Our youth choir, the "Rose Hill Power & Light Company" performed a folk/gospel musical called "Tell It Like It Is" at many locations around the Seattle area for a few years, and we were warned by our youth pastor that 1st Presbyterian in Downtown Seattle was ...uh...very quiet compared to Rose Hill Presb. out in the burbs. He was right, it was a congregation of grey haired folks who barely filled up a quarter of that huge sanctuary

[Tim Bonney]

[Ed Pettibone]

Mrs. H. wrote "Ed; Say it ain't so! The Chaplain of Bourbon Street in the DISTANT PAST? I bought an album from him at Explo 72 in Dallas. I loved his bit on the little old penticostal lady showing up at" Dooooown Tooooown Presbyterian, where the only thing that looked alive was the ivy growing up the wall!"

Ed: What is it you want me to say "ain't so". I also had an album of Harrington's patter. It was titled the Truth makes Music and Laughter. He has one on there about preachers who drive like daemons and excusing them selves with "I have to rush to so God's work", he says "I used to use that line until I was barreling down an interstate in Ky and came up behind a truck from the AURUORA CASKET COMPANY as I was about to pass him I noted a small sign on the left rear door that read Drive Carefully yours may be on this load ".

I see Bob has a website that was last updated in 2012. I haven't explored it very far but he seems to tell about the ups and downs and back up, in his following of GOD's call.

By the way, for those who do not know, he is the Father-in-law of Church Kelley President of N.O., Baptist Seminary

My reference to the distant past was also some time in the early 70's which was the only time I heard him live.

[Mrs Haruo]

My "Say it Ain't so!" was more of a lament that Leland and I are more and more realizing that WE are relics of a distant pass to my grandkids, and young folks we meet waiting for the bus. Neil Armstrong walking on the moon seems like just yesterday to me. Time flies when you are having fun, and even when you aren't.

[Dave Roberts]

[Shawn Koester]

I've been a big fan of Chuck Knows Church and his related show the Committee. My favorite translations are the NIV, the King James, the New Living Translation, the RSV/NRSV, the Cotton Patch Gospels, Young's Literal Translation for the Greek and the Brick Bible (rendered in Legos)