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Quick to Listen

Why Crossway Stopped Translating the ESV

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3622 Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2016

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Last week, the Crossway board of directors and English Standard Version (ESV) Translation Oversight Committee announced that, after 17 years, it would be making no further revisions to the ESV translation. “The decision now to create the permanent text of the ESV was made with equally great care—so that people who love the ESV Bible can have full confidence in the ESV, knowing that it will continue to be published as is, without being changed, for the rest of their lives, and for generations to come,” the publishers wrote in a statement. (Read CT’s story.) What’s behind Crossway’s decision? Craig Blomberg, who has advised the translation teams of the ESV, New International Version, Holman Christian Study Bible, and New Living Translation in various capacities in his professional career, shared his insights on Quick to Listen this week. “The ESV is produced by a publisher, and men on the committee, many of whom I know, are of the mindset that they want to foster confidence in the Bible as God’s Word,” said Blomberg, who is also New Testament professor at Denver Seminary. “I don’t know to what extent the word has gotten around to media, publishers, general public, but when the ESV was first created, the committee continued to meet on a regular basis, as do other Bible translation committees, and made a number of comparatively minor changes and updates to what they believed were improved translations to various passages and then simply introduced them in the new printing without any publicity or any fanfare.” Here’s Craig Blomberg, a New Testament professor at Denver Seminary, offering Morgan and Katelyn an inside scoop into the translation process, whether the number of translations serves or hinders the church, and what’s up with the dozens of Bibles tailored to moms, athletes, and small children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.

0:11.0

Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.

0:14.5

Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at apologeticsky.com.

0:20.6

Thank you. Michael Del Rosario at Apologeticsguy.com.

0:32.0

You're listening to Quick to Listen, the Christianity Today podcast where we go beyond hashtags and hot takes and set aside time to explore the reality behind a major cultural

0:36.9

event.

0:43.7

I'm Caitlin Beatty, the print managing editor here at CT, and I'm joined by Morgan Lee, assistant editor.

0:44.8

Hey, Morgan, what's up?

0:45.7

How's it going, Caitlin?

0:46.8

It's going well.

0:53.5

I just came back from lunch with a board member of our Sam Rodriguez, who was addressing in our office earlier today. And then I'm a member of

0:56.6

the Culture, Diversity, and Innovation Task Force here at CT. And we had a very dynamic lunch with him

1:02.8

after the dynamic Q&A this morning. Yes. I can only imagine that it was dynamic. We, before

1:09.2

Sam Rodriguez got here, we actually wondered if our room that we

1:13.2

were meeting and would be able to contain his energy and charisma, and it barely did. So we were

1:19.1

super grateful for his comments about the Latino church and the political agenda set before Christians

1:25.6

and the political vision that he set forth. So what did you all

1:28.7

talk about at lunch? So one of Sam's things that he addressed today was he called himself a

1:34.3

baptocastal. And I think that kind of speaks to his vision in the world, which is about unity,

1:40.5

bringing things together, reconciling things. And he talked a lot about how unity is very important

1:45.4

for him and how there's been times in his life where he's felt God has convicted him of being

1:50.4

overly aligned with one faction or another, but he really wants to do the job of bringing the church

...

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