Naboth has been stoned to death. Eats all my communion wafers.

[schild]

Rewritten Bible banishes saints

One of the world's most widely read Bibles, the New International Version, has been modernised by a team of 15 American and British scholars and is published today.

Gone is the word "aliens", which the academics thought was invariably associated in the minds of the younger generation with extra-terrestrials. It is replaced with "foreigners".

Even the term "saints" is deemed to be too "ecclesiastical" and has been banished, to be replaced with "God's chosen people". The Virgin Mary is no longer "with child"; she is "pregnant".

And, to the dismay of traditionalists, who will suspect a feminist agenda, "inclusive" language has been introduced throughout.

Where the original read: "When God created Man, he made him in the likeness of God"; the new version says: "When God created human beings, he made them in the likeness of God."

For those unfamiliar with the punishments meted out in Biblical times to blasphemers and adulterers, the new version is also helpful, changing "Naboth has been stoned and is dead" to "Naboth has been stoned to death".

More than 45,000 changes - about seven per cent of the text - have been made. Even the title has been changed to Today's New International Version.

The new version has already caused a stir in the United States, however. Paige Patterson, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said that the translators had gone beyond trying to clarify meaning.

"They have an agenda - to attempt to force egalitarian and even feminist perspectives on readers in the name of translation," he said.

But the scholars who worked on the book rejected the charges, saying that their changes were a fair reflection of the original Greek or Hebrew texts or updated colloquial English words.

[Murgos]

The new version has already caused a stir in the United States, however. Paige Patterson, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, said that the translators had gone beyond trying to clarify meaning.

"They have an agenda - to attempt to force egalitarian and even feminist perspectives on readers in the name of translation," he said.

Is the fact that his name is Paige only humorous to me?

[Paelos]

The former leader of the freaking SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION decrying anybody for having an agenda is an exercise in the most blatant form of hypocrisy I know.

"Don't change the Bibles! Them womens will get idears and leave the kitchens!"

I really really dislike Baptists.

[stray]

This isn't anything new really. A dozen bibles translations have followed the same methods over the past 20 years. The only interesting thing may be that the NIV was close to becoming a standard for many evangelical denominations. But it isn't like they don't have other alternatives.

Most of these modern translation choices are spot on really. Ecclesiatical terms (like "saints") are not so much titles in Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic as they are just common words. It's not necessarily incorrect to reflect that.

Other phrases and terms like "with child" and "aliens" are simply archaic. If someone gets their panties in a bunch over stuff like that, well...Hmm, I don't know. "That's really stupid" is all I can say. Old Fashioned!=Devout

Inclusive language -- I have to admit here, I think inclusive language can be a bit of a mouthful (in any text, I'm not just speaking of the Bible), and it isn't quite as poetic. But making this into some "moral" issue or whatnot, and accusing the translators of having a "liberal agenda"? More stupidity imo.

[HaemishM]

The former leader of the freaking SOUTHERN BAPTIST CONVENTION decrying anybody for having an agenda is an exercise in the most blatant form of hypocrisy I know.

"Don't change the Bibles! Them womens will get idears and leave the kitchens!"

I really really dislike Baptists.

Yeah, Pot, Kettle, Black.