New English Bible

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Not to be confused with New English Translation.
The New English Bible
Dynamic equivalence
PublisherOxford University Press, Cambridge University Press
CopyrightOxford University Press and Cambridge University Press 1961, 1970
Genesis 1:1–3
In the beginning of creation, when God made heaven and earth, the earth was without form and void, with darkness over the face of the abyss, and a mighty wind that swept over the surface of the waters. God said "Let there be light", and there was light;
John 3:16
God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, that everyone who has faith in him may not die but have eternal life.
The Bible in English
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The New English Bible (NEB) is an English translation of the Bible. The New Testament was published in 1961 and the Old Testament (with the Apocrypha) was published on 16 March 1970.[1] In 1989, it was significantly revised and republished as the Revised English Bible.

Background

Near the time when the

English Revised Version text was necessary. In May 1946 G. S. Hendry, along with the Presbytery of Stirling and Dunblane produced a notice, which was presented to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
, indicating that the work of translating should be undertaken in order to produce a Bible with thoroughly "modern English." After the work of delegation was finished, a general conference was held in October 1946 where it was determined that a completely fresh translation should be undertaken rather than a revision as originally suggested by the University Presses of Oxford and Cambridge.

Translation

In due time, three committees of translators and one committee of literary advisers were enlisted to produce the New English Bible. Each of the translation committees was responsible for a different section of the Bible: the Old Testament, the Apocrypha, and the New Testament.

The work of translating was typically undertaken in this fashion: A member, or members, of one of the committees would produce a draft of a book, or books, of the Bible (typically from the section in which they were assigned) and submit the draft to the section committee. Occasionally a scholar outside the committee would be invited to participate in this phase of the translation process and was asked to submit a draft of the book or books with which he or she had renowned experience. This draft was then distributed among the members of the appropriate committee. Members of the committee would then meet and discuss the translation choices made in the draft. The draft that resulted from this meeting of the concerned committee was then sent to the committee of literary advisers, who would revise the draft in co-operation with the translators. When a consensus on the draft was reached, the final draft would be sent on to the Joint Committee, which was head over the four sub-committees.

For the

Aramaic Targums, and the Syriac Peshitta
.

For the

Sirach), Codex 248 (also for Sirach), and Robert Lubbock Bensly's Latin
text The Fourth Book of Ezra for 2 Esdras.

For the New Testament the New English Bible translators relied on a large body of texts including early Greek New Testament manuscripts, early translations rendered in other languages (those aside from Greek), and the quotations of early Christian writers and speakers. The main source text of the New English Bible's New Testament can be found in

The Greek New Testament
, edited by R.V.G. Tasker and published by the University Presses of Oxford and Cambridge (1964).

Form

The translators of the New English Bible chose to render their translation using a principle of translation called

dynamic equivalence (also referred to as functional equivalence or thought-for-thought translation). C. H. Dodd
, Vice-chairman and Director of the Joint Committee, commented that the translators "...conceived our task to be that of understanding the original as precisely as we could... and then saying again in our own native idiom what we believed the author to be saying in his."

This method of translation is in contrast to the traditional translations of the Authorized Version (

English Revised Version, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version
, and others, which place an emphasis on word-for-word correspondence between the source and target language. Dodd goes on to summarize the translation of the New English Bible as "...free, it may be, rather than literal, but a faithful translation nevertheless, so far as we could compass it."

As a result, the New English Bible is necessarily more paraphrastic at times in order to render the thoughts of the original author into modern English.

Reception

Because of its scholarly translators, the New English Bible has been considered one of the more important translations of the Bible to be produced following the

King James Bible, criticized the newer translation for its 'anxiety not to bore or intimidate'.[5]

The New English Bible was produced primarily by British and European scholarship (for example, Whitsuntide is rendered in 1 Corinthians 16:8 rather than Pentecost).

The New English Bible was produced before

parts of speech) using traditional English grammatical construction, translating "he" from the original manuscripts to refer either to a male human being or to a sexually undistinguished human being. This traditional construction has now become controversial in some Christian circles (as in other parts of English-speaking societies), and a recent revision of the New English Bible entitled "The Revised English Bible
" incorporates gender-inclusive language.

The NEB with the Apocrypha is one of the versions authorized to be used in services of the

Episcopal Church.[6]

Contributors and sponsors

Members of the committees

Chairman of the Joint Committee responsible for translation

The Most Rev Donald Coggan, Archbishop of York (1961–1974).[7]

Old Testament committee

Godfrey Driver (convener), L. H. Brockington, N. H. Snaith, N. W. Porteous, H. H. Rowley, C. H. Dodd
(ex officio), P. P. Allen (secretary).

Apocrypha committee

Prof

W.D. McHardy (Convener), Prof W. Barclay, Prof W.H. Cadman, Dr G.D. Caird, Prof C.F.D. Moule
, Prof J.R. Porter, G.M. Styler.

New Testament Committee

Prof

J.A.T. Robinson
, G.M. Styler, Prof R.V.G. Tasker.

Literary Committee

Sir Arthur Norrington
, Anne Ridler, Canon Adam Fox, Dr John Carey, and the Conveners of the Translation Panels.

Scholarly Associates

Prof G.W. Anderson, Rev Matthew Black, Prof J.Y. Campbell, J.A.F. Gregg, H. St J. Hart, Prof F.S. Marsh, Prof John Mauchline, Dr H.G. Meecham, Prof C.R. North, Prof O.S. Rankin, Dr Nigel Turner.

Publications

  • New English Bible. Bible Society. 1 January 1990.
    ISBN 978-0564002016
    .
  • New English Bible, with Apocrypha. OUP. 1 January 1970.
    ISBN 978-1117062006
    .

References

  1. ^ "Britons Labored Long: New Bible Version Aims at the Young". Pittsburgh, PA, USA: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (published 16 March 1970). Associated Press (NYC, NY, USA). 15 March 1970. p. 2. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  2. ISBN 978-0007108947
    .
  3. ^ Eliot, T.S. (16 December 1962). "Letter of T.S. Eliot on the style of the New English Bible".
    Sunday Telegraph
    : 7. Retrieved 22 August 2019 – via Bible Research.
  4. ^ Gifford, Henry (October 1961). "English ought to be kept down: The New English Bible: New Testament. By Oxford University Press; Cambridge University Press, 1961, 8s. 6d". Essays in Criticism. XI (4) (published 1 October 1961): 466–470.
    ISSN 0014-0856
    .
  5. ^ Nicolson, Adam (2 August 2005). God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible. NYC: HarperCollins Publishers. p. 154.
    ISBN 978-0060838737
    .
  6. ^ "Constitution of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church" (PDF). Canons of the General Convention: Title II Worship: Canon 2: Of Translations of the Bible. p. 55. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2015. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  7. ^ Haynes, Kenneth (29 May 2008). Hill, Geoffrey (ed.). Collected Critical Writings (1st ed.).
    ISBN 978-0199208470
    .

Further reading

External links
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