Yesterday, I responded to Tim Challies’ review of Leland Ryken’s book defending the “essentially literal” translation methods, and the idea of a “word-for-word” translation. While no one made these comments, I want to make it clear that this isn’t simply a theoretical discussion for me, but that there are pastoral concerns as well:

Brothers and sisters, trust your translations!

Challies says, reflecting (I assume) the shared thoughts of Ryken, that “in the end I hope, I trust, you will have greater confidence in the Bible you read.”

However, when they say it, they mean “those of you who are using (so-called) word-for-word translations should have confidence.”

Here’s my concern: people are throwing out the work of experts for the opinions of hobbyists (at best). What about those who simply cannot read their (Ryken et al.) preferred translations? Let’s face it, the NASB’s grammar is anything but English—with fractured sentences that can actually obscure the point of a passage for anyone not familiar with the original languages—and the ESV is academic at best and archaic at worst. If Seminary professors struggle over their wording sometimes, what chance do those who have reading difficulties have?

So what should we do? If you ask some people, their response seems to be throw out that easy-to-read translation and go with something unnecessarily hard. Sure, the KJV and the ESV might be excellent literary translations, but not everyone is a literary enthusiast. The vast majority of people couldn’t care less about how much meter and rhyme they have.

They want the word of God, and they want it in language they can understand.

Now, at this point, someone will bring up 2 Peter 3:15—even Peter thought Scripture was hard to understand!

True. Not the same point. The argument is not that Paul’s Greek was so literary that it made it hard to understand, but that his concepts were difficult to understand. If the concepts are hard—and they are!—then why should we make it harder for people to wrestle with them?

Translation teams are made up of people who have trained in the technicalities of translation and linguistics. They are also primarily comprised of confessing Christians who hold Scripture very highly.¹ For example, would critics who claim that NLT translators are changing the word of God want to bring that charge up face to face with Tom Schriener? Alan Ross? Paul House? Eugene Merrill? Raymond Ortlund, Jr.? Craig Blomberg? Robert Stein? D.A. Carson? Doug Moo? Moises Silva? That was just a sampling of the conservative scholars who worked on the NLT who all affirm the doctrine of inerrancy. They are hardly the liberals that Ryken and others have charged with tampering with the Word of God.

Are they perfect? Of course not. No translation is. That’s why we should employ several types from across the spectrum of translation method.
Brothers and Sisters, we can trust these experts with not wanting to tamper with the word of God. We may disagree with some of their decisions, but we cannot demonize them, spreading false information to win a theological battle.

Christianity has a weird affinity for not wanting to trust the experts. We trust them in everything else—from the engineers who put our cars together to the pharmacists who mix our medicines. Why such a priori doubt about the qualifications of the experts behind our translations?

Brothers and sisters, trust your translations!

The Holy Bible: Mosaic
(New Living Translation)
Hardcover: 1340 pages
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1414322038
ISBN-13: 978-1414322032
Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
Buy Here: Amazon.com

Thanks to Laura Bartlett, Keith Williams and Tyndale House Publishing for sending me a copy to review!

“On our own we are little more than bits of stone and glass. Together we are the body of Christ” – From “Mosaic User’s Guide,” pg M-9.

I’m not a fan of devotional Bibles. They tend to be extremely kitschy, particular to a specific culture and time, and thus useless to anyone else at any other time. They can prey on the individualism of our culture. And usually, they simply rip a verse (sometimes half of a verse) out of context, and give some morale boosting ditty that may or may not have to do with the already-out-of-context verse.

The Holy Bible: Mosaic (HB:M), put out by Tyndale House Publishers and Credo Communications, shatters each of these concerns and gives us a unique and beautiful product that is sure to make a great addition to any bookshelf.

The HB:M is not your typical devotional Bible. The concept behind it is that it seeks to connect readers to 2,000 years of church history and church expressions from every continent. I’m most excited about these aspects of the HB:M because, if read and used correctly, could help serve as a much needed antidote to the hyper-individualization of cultural Christianity. The HB:M is divided into two major sections, the devotional material and the Bible text. This review will focus on the first section.

Aesthetics
The HB:M is gorgeous. That was my initial reaction upon opening up the mail package I received the Bible in. From the beautiful hard cover (pictured above) to the typography, the artistic imagery on the title page to the cross imagery at the top of the devotional pages, the HB:M is quite possibly one of the most gorgeous Bibles I’ve ever seen. I said this about the NLT Study Bible last year, and that is still true, but in an artistic sense of aesthetics the HB:M are far above other modern Bibles.

One of the features for each weekly devotional is some sort of artwork that goes with the theme for each week (see Features below). These range from photographs by NT Scholar Doug Moo (the current featured artwork at the time of writing this, Pentecost Week 20) to the familiar bread and fish mosaic from 380 AD to lesser known works from China, Mexico and other areas. These might just be my favorite part of the Bible, as I have lamented elsewhere about the loss of artistic vision in the Church today.

Another aesthetic feature is the use of different paper for the devotional material from the Biblical text. This has a very important reasoning behind it: it maintains the designation of the Bible text as God’s word, and the devotional as man’s (as mentioned in Rick’s review and in Keith William’s video).

Features
As mentioned, the Bible is in two parts: devotional material and bible text. The devotional material is in the form of weekly reflections, all based around the liturgical church year. There are several elements to each weekly devotional:
Artwork – as I mentioned in the previous sections, this just might be one of my favorite features of this Bible. These come in different forms, including painting, actual mosaics, and photography. Some are bold with color (see the Mosaic from Church of the Resurrection of Christ on page M-26), while others are dark and muted (see Tianigi by Somoan contemporary, Michel Tuffery, pg M-267). All are beautiful expressions of faith captured in ways that mere words might fail us.

Scripture – this would be obvious, but as a highlight, the Scriptures used weekly are not like most devotionals, with a verse or part of a verse with no contexts. The suggested readings come from various liturgical readings for that week, and are centered around a theme. This week’s theme (i.e. as I’m writing this) is “Creativity,” and has Mark 7:31-8:10, a text which shows Jesus’ sovereignty over his own creation, a creation which expresses the creativity of God, present in us in the Imago Dei.

Meditations – Each week has an original devotional thought, written specifically for the HB:M by a contributor. These serve to connect “the weekly theme to the modern world.”

Historical and Global Contributions – These include quotes, hymns, prayers, and poetry from Christian thinkers throughout church history. The purpose of these contributions is for further meditation, but also to place the reader squarely within the historical story of God, to join our story with the story of those who came before us.

Space for your own reflection- Some blank lines are given for the reader to contribute their own reflection or meditation to that week.

After these devotionals are the two Tesserae, which are a mosaic-themed concordance to all the devotional material. Tesserae are the “small pieces of marble, glass, or tile” which make up a mosaic, and that is how the tesserae sections work as well. The first gives us a list of each week in the previous section, its theme, and the bibliography, artist/person, and title of every work that appears for that week. The second is a “Chronological Tesserae,” and lists each of the pieces that comprise the devotional material according to century. For example, from the 1st Century, we have a qoute from Clement 1, Ovid, and Philo Judeus.

Using the Bible
I have been using the HB:M as a devotional resource with my wife. Each night, we take one of the Scripture readings for the week, and one of the pages of reflection materials. I absolutely recommend this usage for everyone.

The HB:M lists several other possible usages as well. Of course, it could be used liturgically , but it can also be used thematically, organically (e.g., along with whatever regular Bible reading plan the reader may be using), or just however the reader can imagine. Here’s what is said about reading it “organically:”

“Many readers will still want to follow their regular plan for Bible reading, and Holy Bible: Mosaic can also be used along with it. As you read through the Bible, icons with page numbers will point you to devotional material where the passages you’re reading are referenced. Follow those references and allow the meditations to contribute depth and color to your regular reading plan.” Pg. M-12

This is a excellent idea and a creative link between the devotional material and the Biblical text.

Analysis
As I said, the HB:M is absolutely gorgeous. The artwork, photography, and non-devotional imagery all work together really well to be a beautiful whole.

The mosaic name and theme is excellent. It gives a nice unity to the whole project, and I can’t think of a better expression of the Church that Jesus died for. Reading through the various pieces in the devotionals, I can’t help but think of Revelation 7:9, “After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb.”

The devotionals themselves are excellent, with themes such as “Active Anticipation,” “The Kingdom of God,” “Sin and Death,” and “Possessions” (which happens to be next week, the artwork Resisting the Empire by Jeremy Collins is fantastic!). The only complaint I have is with the size of the space for personal reflection. The number of lines differ each week, and almost seem to be a space-filler, which makes me think “after-thought.” Even the more generous weeks, offering the most space, don’t really have the space I would need to put down my reflections. At the same time, I tend to be much more long-winded than others, so this might also be a personal issue that others wouldn’t think twice about.

The material comes from a very broad perspective of Evangelicalism, which some might object to (Brian McLaren has a quote in the same week as the Book of Common Prayer). I, however, find it to be very refreshing, because it introduces me to other traditions that I am unfamiliar with, and perspectives on the Scripture that is foreign to my world-view. This isn’t to say that I think there are several interpretations to Scripture (far from it!) but that others may see the same meaning from a different perspective than I (most obviously, an eastern, communal view instead of a western individualistic view).

I whole-heartedly recommend the Holy Bible:Mosaic, and celebrate it’s commitment to the historical and world-wide body of Christ. I also celebrate it’s use of art and aesthetics. Hopefully, the Bible will serve as a starting point of getting others interested into a study of Church history and historical theology, as well as a renewed interest in the arts. Either way, the Holy Bible:Mosaic is an excellent resource, and a welcomed addition to my bookshelf.

You can purchase the Holy Bible:Mosaic at Amazon.com

(Note: The following does not use words in their technical linguistic sense. If you see anything that is used in a way other than their technical sense, feel free to let me know and I’ll make the necessary substitution.)

Let me start out that I enjoy reading the so-called “essentially literal” translations, though the title itself is a misnomer. I think that every translation type has it’s place and use. I probably own more ESVs than any other translation with the KJV and NLT coming up close behind. I am not anti-ESV. I am, however, anti- the new notion of KJV- ESV-onlyism “literalism” that has crept onto the scene.

I also admire the desire and presuppositions that most of these advocates hold. I held them myself. I still hold them, just with more nuance having dealt with translation issues, and even just the bare basic (and I do mean BASIC) understanding of linguistics, primarily remedial ideas of how words and meanings collide. Their desire is to have access to God’s very Word (inscripturate) in the english language. As someone who has benefited from having the Scriptures in english (most notably eternally benefited), I have this same desire. Their presupposition is that there is a very specific way that we get to have God’s very Word in English—1 to 1 correspondence between the original language and the receptor language. This is where we differ.

In his recent review of Leland Ryken’s new book, Tim Challies shows his lack of knowledge in how translation works. He says:

“[Ryken] wants Christians to have before them a Bible that accurately conveys the words that God has spoken—not a paraphrase of those words, not an interpretation of them, but simply a translation that, as much as possible, takes the exact words of the original and carries them over to English. One would think that this would not be difficult to come by, but the modern history of English Bible translation shows few versions that adhere to this philosophy.”

Italics and bold text are mine. Listen to what Challies is saying—it shouldn’t be difficult? It is, in fact, impossible. No translation can live up to these standards. That just simply isn’t how words, and therefore translation, works.

Words live their lives inbetween modernism and postmodernism it seems. For example, you can’t say that a word means (A). Just given a simple word, it is, in a sense, meaningless without a referent. However, we can’t go full out deconstructionism and say that a word means whatever we want either. While a word has no one definition (A), it has a range of possible meanings (A) to n. As an example, take the english word “board.” What does it mean? A plank of wood? A group of people who supervise something? The side of a ship? A circuit board? What if I said I served on a board of directors? Or that a I stepped on the nail that was sticking out of a board? Here, we know what each use of the word “board” refers too, because we have a given context for each word. But notice that this is true of every word in the sentence; they each have a range of meaning that we derive from the context of the other words with their own ranges of meaning.

The situation is complicated enough already. Now, throw in the whole aspect of translation, which includes all of the above for each word in the Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic originals, then determining which english words best convey the sense of the context of the original with the same shared referents in meanings. Then, we must factor in the organic nature of languages. The English language is always changing.

Challies shows his lack of understanding of how translation works in two ways. First, when he says “takes the exact words of the original and carries them over to English” he shows that he is ignorant of the fact that this is impossible. We cannot take the “exact words of the original” because that would simply leave us with the originals themselves. Greek cannot be “carried over into English,” because it is not English. Translation is necessarily much more than “carrying over.” As Mike Aubrey has said aner means aner. Aner doesn’t mean “man,” they just happen to have the same referent. A perfect example is the Hebrew word hesed. We have no English word that conveys the concept of hesed, which is why we have some translations that say loving-kindness, or longsuffering, or steadfast love, or covenant loyalty. We just don’t have an exact word for this, or many other words. Another example is shalom. Quite frankly, our word “peace” doesn’t cut it.

Second, he shows his misunderstanding when he says, “one would think that this would not be difficult to come by,” but that was the gist of what I mentioned previously, after the quote, so I’ll just refer back to it.

The problem is that many of the advocates of a so-called “essentially literal” translation have the same set of presuppositions. Tim is obviously not the only one making these arguments. In fact, I hear them pretty often. They don’t get it, but then again, neither did I not too long ago.

See Mike Aubrey’s review of Leland Ryken’s first book, The Word of God in English, and his other review on amazon with different content here.

Today marks the official release of the Holy Bible: Mosaic. To celebrate the release of this bible (see yesterday’s post for more information), Tyndale is sponsoring a contest where you could win a deluxe edition of the Mosaic Bible, as well as a chance to win up to $500 to spend at Amazon.com. On top of that, the blog tour in support of the Mosaic also started today with a stop at Polycarp’s blog.

You can purchase the Mosaic at Amazon: Holy Bible: Mosaic NLT

This leads to a few announcements for this blog.

1. I will be reviewing the new Mosaic Bible. I’m hoping to get this up soon, but I have been taking time to get familiar with it, starting with jumping into using the liturgical devotional for this week last night.

2. The blog tour will be making a stop here. The blog tour started today as I mentioned above, and this blog will be featured as a stop on the tour. On October 5th, I will be featuring a guest post from one of the contributors to the Mosaic. I’m really excited about this, as I’m a big fan of the contributor—whom I’m not going to announce just yet. Just make sure to tune in October 5th for a guest post!

3. I am going to be giving away a free copy of the Mosaic! That’s right… Tyndale has given me (along with 49 other bloggers) the ability to give away a free copy of the Mosaic Bible! I will be posting a contest in the next few days with the rules, and will be announcing the winner sometime after that.
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Tomorrow marks the release of a brand new Bible from the folks at Tyndale House Publishers: The Holy Bible: Mosaic.

I’m extremely excited about this Bible, and was able to secure a copy for a forthcoming review. Here’s the “about the book” from the new Mosaic website:

“On our own we are little more than bits of stone and glass. Together we are the Body of Christ. Holy Bible: Mosaic is an invitation to experience Christ in His Word and in the responses of his people. Each week, as you reflect on guided Scripture readings aligned with the church seasons, you will receive a wealth of insight from historical and contemporary writings. Full-color artwork, quotes, hymns, prayers, and poems enhance the rich devotional experience. Also includes a Dictionary/Concordance, NLT word study system with Hebrew/Greek dictionary.”

Essentially, it is a devotional Bible that connects the reader with church community throughout the centuries and around the world. Some of the key features include: writings from every continent and century of the Christian Church, full-color art, and liturgical readings and meditations for each week of the Church year.

If done well, this Bible could become very important to an individualistic society, reminding us of the depth and breadth of what Jesus’ Church really is. Will it be a glimpse into John’s vision?

“I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a mighty shout,
‘Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne
and from the Lamb!’”
(Revelation 7.9–10 NLT)

Tune in tomorrow for a few Mosaic related announcements!

You can purchase the new NLT Holy Bible: Mosaic at amazon.com: Holy Bible: Mosaic

I just spent time writing two blog posts, and ended up deleting both of them. I really don’t want this to become “Bryan’s Book Reviews,” as it seems to be at the moment, but it seems like I have the worst case of writer’s block that I’ve had in awhile. I haven’t even had the desire to write for the last week or so until today. Now, I really want to write but can’t get anything out.

The first post was going to be a look at Derek Webb’s song, “The Spirit vs. The Kick Drum.” I wanted to take a look at Derek’s use of the trinity in structuring the song (“Spirit… Son… Father”) and how he prophetically critiques our (particularly American) way of constructing the Trinity into an idol of our own making, reflecting our sinfully consumerist mindset. It’s not the Spirit we yearn for, but “the kick-drum,” e.g. the sense of emotive experience that music can drive us too. We take that as a sign of God’s presence over the reality of the Spirit’s indwelling us. We also want “a jury of peers” instead of the Son, because a sinner being judged by other sinners makes us comfortable, while being a sinner judged by a Holy, Just, Perfect God does not. At all. So, instead, we make Jesus to be like one of our good friends “who will understand,” or who “would never judge me for being who I am.” Finally, we come to the Father, “want[ing] a vending machine.” A brilliant critique of our hearts, where we think that if we come to God with the right formula, push the right buttons corresponding to what we want, and out comes our desire. A divine C-5 if you will.

The second post I tried to write was on my identity crisis of late. I’ve been getting more and more frustrated with two overlapping groups that I am firmly a part of: evangelicalism and the “young, restless, reformed” crowd. My frustrations come from the fact that over the last few months I’ve realized that I don’t quite fit the molds of either of the two. I’m worried by some of the stuff I read coming out of the cross-section of both, which sound more and more like a form of neo-fundamentalism (complete with our own translation onlyism). Only this time, the rhetoric is coming from people would would decry the fundamentalism of the 40s and 50s.

As I stated, I’m a text-book evangelical, and certainly reformed theologically, but I just don’t feel comfortable within those conversations anymore. Not primarily because of theology, but because of how it plays out practically.

So there are the two blog posts I couldn’t get out separately.

One of the good things that has come out of the last few months—working through issues of “identity,” fighting off gout, and trying to sever the root of my own idolatry—is that I am ever more aware for my need of the Gospel. The gout and issues of identity and defintion has shattered my independence, and my idol factory of the heart reminds me that my righteousness is not my own. In the end, it is the gospel which works in all these areas. It points me to the reality of the new creation where all things are made right and there will be no gout. It reminds me of just how great a sinner I am, and how great a savior Jesus is. And lastly, it reminds me that the only identity which truly matters is our Galatians 2:20 identity:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

In the Beginning God: Creation, Culture, and the Spiritual Life
Marva J. Dawn
Paperback: 124 pages
Publisher: IVP Books
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0830837078
ISBN-13: 978-0830837076
Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
Buy Here: Amazon.com
Thanks to Adrianna Wright and IVP Press for sending me a copy to review!

Marva J. Dawn, whether you tend to agree with her or not, is always a refreshing read for me. She never fails to point the reader back to worship. Her newest book, In the Beginning, God is no different.
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Last night, I led a small group on (essentially) the last 6 chapters of Job. Inevitably, the discussion took a hard turn toward discussing evil and suffering.

Job is quite a paradoxical book. It is a simple book, with a simple narrative. It certainly is easy to read, and one can follow the story-line without much trouble. At the same time, there is hardly a book that is harder to comprehend than Job. The opening scene, where it is God who brings Job to Satan’s attention, knowing what would happens, is particularly hard for us to grasp, as is God’s answer to Job in chapters 38 through 41. If the narrative is simple, the details are extremely difficult.

So what do we do with the book of Job? I can’t offer answers that will satisfy everyone, but I do want to offer a few things for consideration when reading Job.
Read the rest of this entry

The past two weeks have been a frustrating battle with gout. Previous to this attack, I haven’t had a bad attack in almost two years. I have it in both ankles, and it has made walking and standing extremely painful— excruciating at first, but now I can walk, run, and jump with only a dull ache. At least I can function normally now.

A 25 year old shouldn’t be able to write that paragraph. Unfortunately, that’s the reality I’ve been dealing with these past two weeks. I’ve had gout for about 6 years now, and as I said, this is the worst its been in almost two-years. So how do I move from that to the title of this post? No, I’m not super-spiritual, and I don’t thank God for my gout when I pray. Truth be told, I have some pretty frank discussions with God about it. Well… I run my mouth off like Job, and He continues His patience with me. But, I have had time these last two weeks to reflect on gout, and I do believe, deep down, that it is a blessing. In a recent e-mail to my community group (which I’m extremely blessed to be able to lead), I gave a list of three reasons that I’m blessed with gout:

1. I’m an incredibly prideful person. Not being able to walk forces me to rely on others for simple things, and shatters any sense of pride I have.
2. It causes me focus on the promises of God. One day there will be a new creation—a new heavens and new earth—where we celebrate abundant life in the presence of Jesus himself. There will be no more sin, pain, death, tears, disabilities, etc for eternity. Gout sends me to Revelation 21.
3. It drives me to the cross. Gout is merely a symptom of a bigger issue: our sinfulness. It is for this very sinfulness that Jesus died on the cross. Each flare-up reminds me of the reality of sin and its effects on us and our world.

I wouldn’t be upset if God decided to heal me, but as long as I continue to have gout, I pray that my thinking about it would be redeemed and that I could keep this mental list in front of me.

(Astute readers will notice the irony of one of the categories I placed this post under.)

Brent Thomas (Holiday at the Sea) shares his thoughts.

Brent says:

“While I am glad that people are studying Scripture and prophecy in particular, and I am glad that people are looking for Jesus to come again, I worry that what many people are looking for is actually unbiblical…”