Translations

Bible translations...there are many. The King James Version, the New King James Version, the Revised Standard Version, the New Revised Standard Version, the Inclusive Bible, the Living Translation, the New International Version, Today's New International Version, etc...there are many. I've had several conversations lately about translations that have expanded my understanding of the issue. As with so many "issues," talking face-to-face with other people has helped move me from hypothetical rhetoric to helpful realizations about why my opinions may fall short of "the big picture." (For a great read on moving from issues to people, check out my friend Nathan's blog post.)

So, the majority of my life I've read the New International Version. It wasn't really until college that I realized that not everyone preferred the NIV. I encountered people who had strong feelings about translations versus paraphrases, gender inclusive versus literal translation, original idioms versus culturally updated language, etc. These discussions are an interesting part of Biblical scholarship, and there are tons of people who are way smarter than me who have spent their lives coming up with good ideas about how to handle such debates. There's a time for everything under the sun (Biblical wisdom from Ecclesiastes applying to Biblical discussions...ironic), but the time, more precisely the place, for those discussion is not now.

***Okay, I was going to keep going with the paragraph above, but I just got sick of my own need to sound well-balanced and level-headed. I also realized that I just listed a bunch of discussions with an air of superiority like "I could totally discuss that stuff if I wanted to, but I'm just so awesome/humble/salt-of-the-earth that I won't show off by doing that." Boo. Here's the deal: I know some stuff about translations, but not a lot. I can "name drop" words and phrases, but the reality is I have had a fairly unexamined view of the issue because I haven't really needed to think about it other than discussing it briefly during a few classes. I'll get back to the original point of this post, hopefully avoiding any more self-aggrandizing nonsense.***

I think personal stories can open our minds in powerful ways. Here's one:

I was sitting at supper with a friend a couple weeks back. We had just moved some furniture in his apartment and, generous man that he is, he offered to take me out to supper. We went to Firehouse Grill, a restaurant in Evanston whose decor is firehouse themed and whose menu is like a high-end version of your usual Applebee's-esque grill food. I thought it was a classy joint and my friend mocked me both for my unrefined palette and my misguided use of the phrase "classy joint." Valid, perhaps…

So, my buddy and I get talking about Bible translations. He had brought it up earlier in the day when we were chaplaining together at the hospital, saying that he was excited for his new copy of the Inclusive Bible. Between bites of my delicious buffalo chicken wrap, I asked him why he liked his new Bible. He shared some of the story of how and why he got it, and we ended up talking about queer theory in reading the Gospels. He explained that according to this understanding, when John is described as the apostle whom Jesus loved, it means that Jesus had same-sex attraction for John. I asked for further clarification, no doubt doing a terrible job of masking the panic I was feeling as a carrier of the evangelical gene that compels me to immediately shoot down statements that threaten my understanding of God.

My friend's patience seemed undaunted by my insecurities, and he continued to explain what he meant and why it was important to him. He wasn't saying that Jesus and John were lovers, just that there was attraction between them. He said that, as a gay man, he found comfort in this reading. I asked him, "Why?"

"Because I'd like to think that Jesus knows exactly how I feel."

Somehow these words cut through my defenses. I stopped readying rebuttals in my mind, and all the steam I was gaining for a counter assault dissipated in an instant, leaving me with just enough air for a heartfelt "Huh."

Why wouldn't he want his Savior to know exactly what it's like to be him? How could I have possibly expected that such familiarity would not be important to him?

I don't have it all sorted. I don't agree with my friend's same-sex attraction reading of Jesus' love for John, but I think I understand why he would read it that way. We were able to discuss it without the standard vitriolic reactions that I so often hear (sometimes from my own mouth). My friend shared his ideas and I shared mine. I don't think either of us changed the other's mind, but somehow that's okay. I didn't "win the argument," but I think something better happened: I gained insight into why it makes a difference to my friend.

This conversation at Firehouse Grill has added to my understanding of why people read different Bible translations. I think it’s a good thing. Maybe I’ll write more about it in a future post, but for now I’ll just share that story – I’m sure glad my friend shared his.