In a post on his blog, Dash House, Darryl Dash writes:
[November 1st] marks the online release of an update to the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible, the first time it has been revised since 1984. Although the print form will not be ready for release until next year, the text is available at BibleGateway.com and Biblica.com beginning today.
To mark that release Dash features an interview with Douglas Moo, Chair of the Committee on Bible Translation responsible for the updated NIV.
The interview deals with philosophy of translation:
How and why did the Committee change their philosophy from the release of the original NIV to the new version?
I don’t think that the philosophy has changed in any significant way since the first translators began their work in the 1960s. The NIV has always been about trying to reproduce the experience of the first audience of the Bible for contemporary English-speakers, blending transparency to the original form and structure of the text with English that communicates naturally and effectively.
The complementary role of many contemporary translations:
Where will the NIV fit in relation to the ESV and the HCSB?
The updated NIV will take its place alongside the many other fine English translations currently available, including the ESV, the HCSB, the NRSV, the NKJV, the NLT, and many others. We continue to believe that the NIV has an important place in this mix of translations, with its concern to maintain as equal priorities “hearing the Word the way it was written” (trying to reflect in English something of the form of the original text) and “understanding the Word the way it was meant” (putting the Bible into natural contemporary English).
And many other issues.
The interview concludes with the best possible answer that a Bible scholar could give to the question:
Were their any particular passages that particularly ministered to the souls of the translation committee?
I can’t single out one particular passage. Throughout our work, we seek to let the Scriptures speak to us so that we give them the place they need to have in our lives.
The whole interview is an interesting read for students of the Scriptures, whether you use the NIV or not.
mgpcpastor's blog 