Hey folks, it's moving day here at This Lamp. As I've been saying lately, RapidWeaver just isn't cutting it for me as a blogging platform. My site has simply grown too big for it. So I've moved it to WordPress. If you've kept me linked as http://www.thislamp.com, then you have nothing to change, but if you subscribe by RSS, then you will need to change your settings.

This Lamp address: http://thislamp.com
New RSS feed: http://thislamp.com/?feed=rss2

There are well over 750 posts at this location, and that's too many to move. Don't worry, everything you see here is staying, but it will not be updated here. You must update your links to see new content. Please spread the word. Thanks for everyone's participation, and I look forward to our discussions on the new site. So far I've only been playing and setting up house, but I promise some posts will real substance very soon.

This review has been relocated here:

http://thislamp.com/?p=98

Please continue any further discussion at the new location.

Tags: NET

I don't post as much to This Lamp as I used to. Granted I'm busier these days, but I always have lots of ideas that I wish I could quickly post. Unfortunately, my blogging software (RapidWeaver) evidently doesn't do well with larger websites, such as this one. Simply to upload one post can take up to three hours--and that's if the upload doesn't fail, and I have to start over. Then if I need to make a correction--another two to three hours. I'm strongly considering a move to WordPress (Joel W., I'd still need your help!) and simply leave the nearly 800 posts here as "Classic This Lamp."

Before I do that, however, I have a handful of reviews I need to post. These have stacked up for over a year. Part of that was because of my site file corruption last year. Books in need of review can be easily set aside in the temptation simply to do other things. However, a number of publishers sent me a few books in good faith, and I am feeling the strong conviction that I need to make these a priority.

In the years that I've been writing This Lamp--even going back to the days when it was simply "Rick's Blog"--there's only one book I've received that was so bad, I didn't even feel it warranted a review. Since I had not promised the publisher I would review it (they contacted me asking if they could send me a copy), I still feel free to leave this book as is. No, I won't even tell you it's title. It was simply silly and didn't warrant my time.

But some of these other titles do, and they will be forthcoming. Actually, I read quite a bit, but I tend not to write that many reviews. I suppose that should change because I certainly read reviews on other websites when written by bloggers I respect (and that's a lot of you). As has always been my practice, if a publisher has sent me the book for free, I will readily acknowledge that fact.

And now for the review (a number of) you have been waiting for...

This review has been relocated here:

http://thislamp.com/?p=182

Please continue any further discussion at the new location.

Tags: NLT, Tyndale, Wide-Margin

A little over two years ago, I posted my review of the HCSB Minister's Bible. At the time, while impressed with the idea of the Bible, I was somewhat disappointed in the thinness of its pages which tended to curl after heavy amounts of writing in the margins. Nevertheless, I've found myself coming back to this Bible over and over, using it for teaching as well as its specific purposes such as weddings and funerals. Currently, I'm using the HCSB Minister's Bible for our study on the Psalms I'm teaching in our Sunday morning Bible study at church.


I like the HCSB Minister's Bible because the text is not rushed. There is plenty of room for notes such as can be seen from the page spread from the book of Hebrews above. In texts such as this one, there's a nice amount of space for writing notes in the margins. Poetic passages, such as in the Psalms where I am currently teaching, offer ample space for notes. Another thing I've learned after using this Bible off and on for three years is that although the pages often do initially curl after writing on them, they flatten out in a short of amount of time. So my initial criticism turns out to not be that big of a deal in the long run. Nevertheless, I would certainly not object to slightly thicker paper in the next edition.

Speaking of next editions, a couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about upcoming editions of HCSB Bibles that will receive the updated (2009 copyright) text (see "'Revised' HCSB Printed Texts Slated for 2010"). Missing from the list of upcoming 2009 text Bibles was the HCSB Minister's Bible. Well, I'm very excited to report that this Bible is currently being updated to the new 2009 text. In fact, the new HCSB Minister's Bible should appear shortly after the release of the Apologetics Study Bible for Students which is set to be released in February, 2010. So, we can probably start looking for an updated HCSB Minister's Bible in Spring, 2010.

Moreover, I've been told than unlike the previous edition which only came in one genuine leather binding, the new HCSB Minister's Bible will arrive in two different bindings. At the ETS meetings last year, Lifeway showed off a "Limited Edition" of the HCSB Minister's Bible with a handcrafted cowhide cover prepared by the nonprofit Biblias Abba ministry of the Generation 3:16 church in Mexico City. I've been told that the high end genuine leather edition of the new HCSB Minister's Bible will be "much the same or possibly identical" to the Limited Edition shown last year.

On the less expensive end, an edition with a "leather-like" cover made of polyurethane will be offered. This will be good news to those who didn't want to buy the current edition at $75 as this imitation leather edition will presumably be at a lower price. No pricing has been announced for either edition, although the "Limited Edition" shown last year had a price of $149.99. Of course, the Limited Edition was never actually sold in stores.

Regardless, the HCSB Minister's Bible is my primary HCSB, and I look forward to obtaining the new edition with the 2009 copyright text next year.

---

BONUS TO THIS POST: UNBOXING PHOTOS OF THE "LIMITED EDITION" HCSB MINISTER'S BIBLE

As mentioned above, the Limited Edition HCSB Minister's Bible was never sold in stores although a price of $149.99 was placed on the side of the box. A very limited number were created primarily as a "marketing piece" and given to authors and a few other folks. There is not a separate ISBN designated to this Bible, but according to the copyright page, it shares its ISBN with the regular edition selling currently.

I was very fortunate a few days ago to receive one of the very last of these Bibles that had not yet been distributed. This is such a beautiful Bible, with a gorgeous, handcrafted cowhide cover that so far I've been afraid to take it from the house, and I certainly haven't written in it (yet). It may very well be the nicest Bibles I've ever held (and I've held LOTS of Bibles).


The front of the box.



The back of the box.



A very nice note from the person who sent me the Bible.



A note about the Biblias Abba ministry and the women who prepared the cover of the Bible. Also note that the Bible itself was wrapped in two separate sheets of black paper.




The above picture does not do the cover of the Bible justice. It is so incredible soft, and dare I say--it smells good, too!



Like the regular edition, the sewn binding allows this Bible to lay open flat.



The spine of this edition simply says "Holy Bible." Note the wheat symbol, presumably representing John 4:35b as quoted on the back of the box: "Open your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready for harvest."



The picture above is a bit out of focus, but shows the regulard edition next to the Limited Edition. The Limited Edition is slightly taller due to a greater overlap of the leather at the edges.









The four pictures above show how very flexible this cover is. It feels good in the hand and holds a solid balance which is important for public proclamation.


The Limited Edition HCSB Minister's Bible stands as a monument to high end quality Bibles characterized by master craftsmanship. Since the forthcoming new editon of the Bible has been said to be like this Bible or very similar, I look forward to obtaining one next Spring. In the meantime, I have this one for use, or if I can't bring myself to take it with me, I can continue to use my copy of the regular edition.

Tags: HCSB, Wide-Margin

When I was in college, I worked in a Christian bookstore where we had the audacity to demonstrate the quality of Cambridge Bibles by suspending them in the air holding onto a single page. When it comes to quality and craftsmanship, Cambridge beats all other publishers, hands down. Therefore, I was very pleased to receive in the mail today a dark brown goatskin ("real Morocco") Pitt Minion Bible in the New Living Translation.

Cambridge has been publishing Bibles since 1591, and Pitt Minion Bibles were introduced in the 1930s. Cambridge publishes a number of Bibles in the Pitt Minion style: KJV, NKJV, NASB, NIV, ESV, and now the NLT.

For those who keep up with such things, this Bible has the 2007 second edition text of the NLT.



If you're looking for a high-quality, sewn-binding NLT, you won't find anything better than the Cambridge Pitt Minion NLT.




The back of the box claims that "The NLT Pitt Minion Reference Edition Bible continues the Cambridge tradition, now using a stylish modern font which combines utility and elegance. The result is a classic Bible for the twenty-first century produced in a remarkably comapct yet readable form." Yet any hint of modern characteristics is only subtle at best.

At first glance, this Bible looks and feels like something you'd find in the bureau drawer of an old time preacher from a previous generation. That's the beauty of the Pitt Minion style. It has a classical air to it. Even upon opening its pages, it seems to have more in common with the kind of Bibles that my grandparents would have carried than one I would find on store shelves today.



The cover is made from goatskin. It is flexible, but still more firm than the cowhide cover of the Renaissance Leather TNIV Reference Bible. It feels good in the hand and would make a good Bible to preach from, assuming the type is not too small for the preacher's eyes.



To get an idea for the size of the Pitt Minion NLT, see the picture below where it sits on top of the NLT Study Bible. This Bible is only 7.8 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches. It hearkens back to a day when books were often "hand-sized." Compare for instance any volume in the Loeb Classical Library or even the International Critical Commentary (not counting recent editions such as the volume on the Pastorals). The Pitt Minion's dimensions fits in with these books in size and in the way they fit in one's hand. It can easily be carried with a few other books or placed in a bag or even a purse.

In every sense, this is a compact, ultra-thin Bible. Yet unlike most Bibles of this sort, the NLT Pitt Minion is sturdy and made from high quality materials. One won't have to worry about pages becoming unglued five years down the road.



As seen below, the NLT Pitt Minion has smyth-sewn India paper pages. The sewn binding allows the Bible to lay flat, in spite of its small size. Although the pages have a golden gilded edge, one can easily see a shade of red when the pages fan out. Note also two ribbons for easily marking one's spot for either personal reading or public proclamation.



Generally, I don't care for red lettering in Bibles. However, it somehow seems appropriate in this particular Bible. I do notice however, that the red is a darker color than the bright red used in similar Bibles a generation ago.

A center-column reference runs through the middle of a two column text. NLT textual notes are presented at the bottom of the second column.

There is a mild level of bleed through of text from the underlying page, but it's at a minimum as with other Pitt Minion Bibles. The underlying type is not distinct enough to be a distraction as is often found in some thinline Bibles.



Also included is an NLT Dictionary/Concordance following the book of Revelation. This is more detailed than one might imagine at over 115 pages in length. A set of maps as well as a detailed index to the maps follows the concordance. In keeping with the traditional style of the Pitt Minion Bible, these maps, although up-to-date, reflect a look that also reminds one of Bibles from an earlier era. This is not meant as a criticism, but rather I appreciate the consistent style of this Bible from beginning to end.



As with most things in life, one gets what one pays for. Thus, this is not an inexpensive Bible. The suggested retail price on the edition I received (ISBN: 978-0-521-75921-2) is $129, although it is available at well under $100 from most discount book outlets on the internet. Yet, in an age in which even Bibles have seemingly become disposable consumer items, the NLT Pitt Minion is made to withstand the test of time. Odds are, it will outlast its user because of its quality binding and materials. Therefore, when seen from the perspective of a Bible designed to last throughout one's entire life, the price tag should not be seen as a negating factor.

From my perspective, the only reason this Bible won't be suitable for some readers is due to its small 7 pt. print size. All Pitt Minion Bibles use this smaller type. And although the particular typeface in this edition is more readable than the type used in some previous Pitt Minion Bibles, some may decide to go with a different Bible containing larger print for regular use.

Overall, though, I commend this NLT Pitt Minion Reference Edition Bible to you for use in both personal reading and proclamation. In one binding a 21st century translation is combined with the style and quality of previous generations. Don't be surprised if someone seeing you with this Bible assumes you're carrying the KJV. If this happens, simply read a few verses out loud to demonstrate the contemporary and conversational quality of the New Living Translation text, but don't be surprised if your Bible doesn't get a few second glances.

Tags: NLT, Cambridge, Pitt Minion

You realize, of course, that with the advent of Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6), the Mac is dead.

Bear with me.

I left Windows for good in 1998. I was promised by other Mac users that I was entering a computing nirvana. I was told that Macs never crashed and life would be so much more productive once I made the switch. Well, there was mixed truth in that. I do believe I was more productive--not because Macs never crashed, though. Rather they simply crashed less than Windows machines did.

But Macs had problems of their own. Memory management on the Mac was a mess, in my opinion, in 1998. The Mac OS at that time still used cooperative multitasking, something that Windows had already graduated from by then. And programs on the old Mac OS had set limits from RAM. So, if a program regularly crashed or ran out of memory, you could go into the properties for that program and set the memory to a higher limit. The problem, however, was that once that higher limit was set, the program would use that much memory even when it didn't need it. I heard longtime Mac users talk about this ability to control a program's upper limit of memory as a feature of the Mac OS. You couldn't do that in Windows, after all! But really, in Windows, you didn't need to. I wondered why the Mac OS wasn't smart enough to adjust its own memory.

Nevertheless, I stuck with the Mac, and I've never looked back. I don't stay simply because I'm heavily invested in Mac software (and hardware) at this point. I was heavily invested in Windows software (and hardware) in 1998. I really do believe I'm more productive on a Mac. In fact, I have this little daydream that if I could go back in time, knowing what I know now, and do things over with, I'd have simply used Macs from the beginning. At what point could this have become a reality?

During my freshman year in college, I had a professor warn us during orientation not to use computers for our papers. He said that he and a number of other instructors simply would not accept computer typed papers because they were too hard to read. Those nine-pin dot matrix printers really were too light, you know. So in spite of the fact that I'd been using a computer (a TRS-80 Color Computer) at home since I was 14, and in spite of the fact that I had taken the first computer class my high school ever offered, when I had completed my first quarter in college, I asked my folks to get me a typewriter for Christmas. Sounds pretty lame now.

But hey, it was a great typewriter. A Smith-Corona with spellcheck. Whenever I misspelled a word, the computer beeped alerting me to my error. Then I was able to back up, slip a piece of white correction film between the keys and the paper, retype the misspelled word and then type the correct one. How convenient! Not really.

So, what if for Christmas, 1986, instead of asking for a typewriter, I had simply asked for a Mac Plus? Our campus bookstore carried them at the time. And back then Apple gave significant student discounts. That would have definitely been a game changer.

Or what about 1991? I was about to go off to seminary, and my stepfather informed me that a friend of his said every seminary student needed a good computer. He asked me what kind of computer I wanted. I settled on a 20 MHz CompuAdd 386sx running DOS and Windows 3.0. We bought a copy of WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS so that I'd be ready for school.

But what if I'd asked for a Macintosh II or a Macintosh LC? Again, it would have been a game changer. To this day, I still have files nearly two decades old that I have to go through all kinds of hoops if I need to open them. Most of them, I don't really need to open, but I'd like to be able just in case. Or occasionally, I become determined to try to update them, but really, who has the time?

Yet, as I entertain my little daydream now and then, I realized one day that there's very little continuity between the Macs of the eighties and nineties and the computers called Macs today. You see, none of use running current computers called MacBooks, MacBook Pros, iMacs and Mac Pros are really using Macs in the original sense of the word. Actually, we using NeXT machines with the label "Mac" on them.

Consider the following quick timeline:

1984: Apple releases the first Macintosh computer using the Motorola 68000 microprocessor.

1985: John Sculley removes Steve Jobs from the Macintosh division which prompts Jobs to leave Apple and form NeXT, Inc.

1989: NeXT releases its first workstation using the NeXTSTEP operating system and a Motorola 68030 processor.

1993: NeXT gets out of the hardware business and NeXTSTEP is ported to Intel's 486 processor as well as RISC and SPARC platforms.

1994: Apple transitions to the RISC PowerPC architecture.

1996: Apple buys NeXT and with it the NeXT OS, now called OpenSTEP.

1997: Steve Jobs regains control of Apple.

2000: OpenSTEP, now renamed "Mac OS X" is released to Mac users as a public beta.

2001: Mac OS X 1.0 is released. Older "Classic" Mac applications can be converted to run on OS X's Carbon layer.

2002: Apple official declares end of development for Mac OS 9 ("Classic").

2006: Apple discontinues use of PowerPC architecture in favor of Intel processors.

2007: Apple releases Mac OS X 10.5 ("Leopard") which does not allow any older Mac software to run in "Classic" mode, even on computers on which it previously ran.

2009: Apple releases Mac OS X 10.6 ("Snow Leopard"), the first version of OS X which will only run on Intel architecture, thus ending any upgrade path for PowerPC architecture.


What this means, my friends, is that none of us using current "Mac" (quotation marks on purpose) computers and software are actually using Macs at all. Actually, we're running NeXTSTEP machines that have simply been labeled as Macs. The transition didn't come all at once. It started with the move from OS 9 to OS X. Then we saw a transition away from PowerPC processors (which Apple claimed for years were superior to Intel processors). And now we see NeXTSTEP, I mean OS X, running only on Intel processors.

So, let's go back to my little daydream. If I had it to do over, what is actually the actual straight path to current Macs? Is it the actual Macintosh line beginning in 1984 or is it actually the NeXT platform launched in 1989? From the perspective of the current OS and perhaps even the processor architecture, and if one considers the evolution of NeXT itself, it's the latter.

This isn't a recent revelation for me. Rather, I first pondered it while watching the documentary Macheads. As I watched people obsess over "Mac culture" and old Mac computers, I thought to myself, that entire platform exists no longer. We're all running NeXT machines.

However, I don't really wish I'd bought a NeXT machine back in the late eighties or early nineties (not that I could have afforded it!). If you look at something as basic as a word processing application, I don't know of any word processors written for NeXT that are still around. There was a version of WordPerfect available for NeXT, but WordPerfect doesn't even exist on the Mac anymore as it once did. No, in my daydream, If I had it to do over with, I'd still get a Mac instead of the Windows machine that I actually began with. Ultimately because Apple (under Jobs' guidance) transitioned Mac users so efficiently from the classic Mac platform to what was once called NeXT OpenSTEP and now OS X, most of us were never even overly aware it was happening.

Ultimately, I don't care if it's a Mac or a NeXT machine that's being called a Mac. I'd rather be here than stuck in Windows (no offense to those of you still there).

And there's some irony here as well. In the end Jobs got the ultimate revenge. He got ousted from his company, so he started a new one. His old company buys the new one and then his new one takes over, ridding itself of all vestiges of the original buyer. And with the release of Snow Leopard, all of what was once the original Mac is now gone--Classic OS, PowerPC architecture and the rest.

Thus, it's the end of the Mac as we know it.

...and I feel fine.

Tags: Macintosh, Apple

The information below is the sum of an email exchange I had this afternoon with Jeremy Howard at B&H Publishing. He unexpectedly (from my perspective) contacted me in regard to the post I wrote a year ago about the Disciples Study Bible revision in the works. Howard gave me permission to present the material below to readers of This Lamp.

First the bad news...

Evidently, we will not see the 2009 copyright Holman Christian Standard Bible in print this year as originally planned. It will be available beginning in 2010.

And the good news? I have a list of upcoming "2009 text" HCSB releases.

February, 2010: The Apologetics Study Bible for Students. This will mark the first "2009 text" HCSB in printed form. This Bible is edited by Sean McDowell, son of Josh McDowell.

October, 2010: The HCSB Study Bible.

2013: The Disciples Study Bible will be published completely revised from the former edition with many new features and with numerous new contributors. It will probably be released under a different name.

Undoubtedly, other editions may fall in between those dates--especially before the 2013 release--as B&H Publishing transitions between the old and new texts.


A few notes:
(1) At this point, there are no plans by B&H Publishing to refer to the new edition of the HCSB as either "revised" or as a "second edition." I've used "2009 text" above for clarity, but that's merely my designation. Once the new editions are in print, the copyright page will be the primary way of determining the newer text.

(2) If you want to get a copy of the 2009 text HCSB right now, you may want to consider purchasing the text in WORDsearch where it is already availble:



I do not know of any other way to obtain the 2009 text HCSB as of this writing.

(3) On a personal note: in recent years, I’ve said that I recommended three different translations for primary Bibles: the HCSB, TNIV, and NLT. I felt those three translations provided a broad spectrum for Bible readers on numerous levels. With the events of this past week, I’m no longer recommending the TNIV, and I certainly don’t recommend the NIV as a primary Bible either as it is too dated.

I am still enthusiastic about the HCSB and NLT, however. The HCSB is, in my estimation, unsurpassed in technical accuracy above and beyond any translation on the market. And the NLT contains the most conversational English of any contemporary translation.

For anyone considering an alternative to the TNIV, I’d recommend looking at both the NET Bible and the NRSV as the TNIV fell somewhere in between these two.

Tags: HCSB

I'll admit... I gave up on the TNIV a while back. Yet, in spite of that, I still used it. A few months ago, I'd begun teaching from the NLT on Sundays. This class I teach on Sunday mornings has on average 40 or so in attendance each week. I believe the NLT is a great translation, but honestly, unless everyone has the NLT with them, it takes more work to use it in an interactive forum. So, in the last two or three weeks, I went back to using the TNIV more. There really is great value in a median translation.

Today's announcement of the 2011 NIV honestly didn't surprise me; but it did sadden me a bit. I feel like the TNIV never really got a fighting chance. I realize some people sincerely opposed some of the changes in the TNIV, but at the same time, some took this to the zealot level and created a disinformation campaign. Charges that it removed masculinity with numbers counting the fewer times that man occurred is one example. Really, let's compare the ESV and the RSV and see, if on that standard, the ESV has created a less masculine Bible (by that standard, it has: man or men in the RSV--4028 hits; only 3354 hits in the ESV).

And I can still remember a friend of mine, whom after hearing my suggestion to buy a TNIV said, "I don't want any Bible that refers to God as mother." An anti-TNIV zealot had told him as much.

Such charges were nonsense. Nevertheless, they kept people from buying the TNIV. A few years back, I wrote about the owner of a Christian bookstore who told me that she couldn't carry the TNIV because a prominent pastor in town told her that if she carried it, he'd tell all of his congregation to boycott her store. Major chains and up to 50% of CBA stores refused to carry the TNIV. Yet, at the same time, they'd carry the NLT, the Message, the NCV and others that also had gender accurate/inclusive language. It was clearly a double standard.

Further, neither the International Bible society (now Biblica) nor Zondervan could make themselves part with the NIV. The NIV has continued to be promoted by both entities to the neglect of the TNIV. And perhaps this is the real reason the TNIV just couldn't take off. There was simply too much money in the NIV. The TNIV was supposed to be more accurate. Yet recent promotions talked about accuracy for particular generations. In spite of the nonsense about the TNIV being aimed to an 18 to 34 year old crowd, Zondervan never did make the kind of logical steps necessary to transition to the TNIV, such as to refit the very popular Student Bible text with the TNIV. Such a move would have made sense by Zondervan's own promotional copy about the TNIV, but it never happened.

I've long maintained that the standard for transitioning to a new translation was set by Tyndale House when they released the New Living Translation in 1996. At the time, the Living Bible was still in the top five selling translations. I've never been told for certain, but I would guess that Tyndale probably took a financial hit at first when they decided to completely stop production on all but one edition of the Living Bible. IBS and Zondervan simply never could bring themselves to take the painful step.

So, will they be able to do it now? Yes, I know the promises were made today that they would. But what happens if the editors of the very successful Archaeological Study Bible decide they don't like the 2011 NIV? Will Zondervan stay true to their word and remove a bestselling Bible from the market? I can tell you right now, that if they aren't willing to make the hard moves, the NIV 2011 won't have any more success than the TNIV did. Zondervan has to stick to its guns, regardless of criticism. And there will be criticism.

When it comes down to it, if you like the TNIV, you can keep using it. No one is going to stop you. There are so many English translations out there, and updates seem to come so quickly these days, is there anything wrong with simply sticking with one, regardless what others use?

Nevertheless, here are my predictions for the time being.

(1) Get your TNIVs while you can as they will become more difficult than ever to find. Yes, I know that it's promised that the TNIV won't be phased out until the 2011 NIV is in print. But come on. I put 2009 and not 2011 on the tombstone above for a reason. For the most part Zondervan's never been that keen on the TNIV. They certainly can't be found in stores. Do you really think that as supplies dwindle, they'll crank up another print run? No way. Who knows--they may even be collectors' items one day. It kind of makes me regret deciding to start writing in the margins of my TNIV Renaissance Leather Reference Edition.

(2) The 2011 NIV will be more gender inclusive than the ESV, but less so than the TNIV. Keep in mind that the ESV is already more gender inclusive than the 1984 NIV--compare Matt 10:41 in both the NIV and ESV, for instance. And the ESV regularly includes inclusive renderings in the footnotes, but avoids them in the text (see Matt 5:47; 23:8; 25:40, etc.). For verses like these, the 2011 NIV will continue to use inclusive readings in the text. So the 2011 NIV will readily render ἀδελφοὶ as brothers and sisters and put in the text what the ESV translators are content to keep in the footnotes. Having said that, however, expect to see more controversial readings such as those found in Psalm 34:20 and 1 Tim 2:5 retreat back to traditional readings.

(3) Say goodbye to the Singular They. This is an easy compromise. I've always grudgingly accepted the singular they because I recognize its purpose and near ubiquitous use in informal communication. Yet, as I read from James 5:13-15 at church this past Sunday, I cringed internally. I imagine this will be an easy fix. Whether or not the CBT will decide to use a lot more second persons or retreat to masculine universals, I cannot say.

(4) Regardless of how much the progress of the TNIV is compromised in the 2011 NIV, it will still be controversial. The CBT is simply not going to satisfy some of the detractors out there. That crowd actually dislikes the NIV, too. The TNIV was simply their excuse to rail and promote "other" translations. Most of these folks will do the same thing to the 2011 NIV. However, if Zondervan can get Lifeway and other CBA stores to carry the 2011 NIV where the TNIV was forbidden, they will have at least made some progress.

(5) As we wait for the 2011 NIV, expect the 1984 NIV to keep on selling. I've already read some speculation that announcing the 2011 NIV so early might keep people from buying the current NIV. There's nothing for Zondervan to worry about here. You and I may be aware of the 2011 NIV, but for the average person in the pew, it will remain off radar--perhaps even after it's finally released. For the average person, the NIV will still be the NIV. Thus, sticking with that name may be the best idea yet.


And as for me, I'll always remember the TNIV with great fondness. It was surely the best translation that nobody ever read.

When the 2011 NIV finally reaches my hands, I'll be glad to evaluate it on its own merits, although it will be difficult not to compare it to the TNIV. Nevertheless, if I decide I do, in fact, like the 2011 NIV, can I finally get a real wide margin edition for the love of Margaret?!

Tags: NIV, NIV 2011, TNIV

Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society) has just announced that the 1984 NIV Bible will be updated in terms of both language and scholarship as the "NIV 2011."

From the press release:

The global board of Biblica today announced its intention to update the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, the first time it has been revised since 1984. The Committee on Bible Translation (CBT), the independent body of global biblical scholars solely responsible for the translation of the world’s most popular Bible, is slated to finish its revision late next year, with publication in 2011. The announcement was made at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Ill., the site of the historic first meeting of the CBT in 1965.

I watched the announcement this morning live via webcast. Presentations were made by Keith Danby, CEO-Biblica (former IBS-STL Global); Professor Doug Moo, Committee on Bible Translation and Moe Girkins, President and CEO, Zondervan.

Above: Douglas Moo speaking about the new NIV 2011.

During the Q&A, Moe Girkins announced that the TNIV would be discontinued and there would be no more TNIV products released. More specifically, she stated that after the release of the 2011 NIV, no new 1984 NIV will be published either. To be clear, in the longterm, Zondervan plans to eventually discontinue publishing both the 1984 NIV and the 2005 TNIV, but how long of a transition between the current NIV and TNIV remains to be seen.

Also during the Q&A, Girkins confirmed that the 2011 NIV will simply be called the "NIV."

The second question responded to during the Q&A was submitted by myself. I wanted to know the relationship of the TNIV to the new 2011 NIV as I had understood that the TNIV was the update to the NIV. Doug Moo fielded the question. The relationships between the NIV and the TNIV aren't exactly clear currently as the entire 2011 NIV Bible is under revew.

For more infomation, see the NIV Bible 2011 website.

Tags: NIV, TNIV, NIV 2011