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| How to Choose a Translation for All Its Worth: A Guide to Understanding and Using Bible Versions | 
 enlarge | Authors: Gordon D. Fee, Mark L. Strauss
Publisher: Zondervan
Category: Book
List Price: $12.99
Buy New: $7.33
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Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 258732
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 0310278767
Dewey Decimal Number: 220.5
EAN: 9780310278764
Publication Date: October 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: A BRAND NEW COPY & in MINT NEW condition From Aphrohead Books of Southport - United Kingdom. Delivery time is 4 - 5 days direct to the USA. Thanks from all at Aphrohead.
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| Customer Reviews:
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 This book doesn't need my defense October 27, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
but the reviewer who concludes that Fee and Strauss's position is "indefensible" based on one example--Romans 13:4 in the NLT--has really missed the point.
If you want to use Romans 13:4 as a proof-text supporting capital punishment (by the way, I believe in the legitimacy of capital punishment), then this passage in the NLT will disappoint you. But if you want to understand Paul's exhortation to believers that they obey the governmental authorities, which is the point of the passage, then the NLT is perfectly adequate. (If the only governmental punishment that would deter your disobedience is the death penalty, then you probably don't care much what Paul has to say, anyway.)
The reviewer simply hasn't grasped the fundamental difficulty facing the translator, which this book lays out so cogently: the tension between accuracy and clarity. And this is strange, because judging from his spelling and syntax, English is apparently not the reviewer's native language, so he should understand better than most why there can be no such thing as a literal translation.
Good Book but the Title is Misleading September 8, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Which type of Bible translation is better: formal equivalent (essentially literal) or functionally equivalent (used to be called dynamic equivalence)? That's what "How to Choose a Translation for All Its Worth" is about. It should be mentioned that Fee was on the translation committee for the TNIV (a functionally equivalent version). And I'll also mention that Fee is the author of many superb books, including the excellent volumes on 1 Corinthians and Philippians in the New International Commentary on the New Testament (NICNT) series.
"How to Choose a Translation for All Its Worth" comes out swinging as the first four pages of the book contain a series of endorsements by some of my most respected and beloved authors, including D.A. Carson, Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Bruce Waltke, Tremper Longmann III, and Daniel I. Block. With these endorsements, this book couldn't be bad, and it isn't. It's quite good and I really enjoyed reading it.
When you see the title of this book along with its subtitle ("A Guide to Understanding and Using Bible Versions"), you would think that the book is just a guide of the strengths and weaknesses of various Bible versions. But it is more.
Fee and Strauss have a preference. This preference is clearly stated in the conclusion to Chapter 8: "Biblical translation involves the transfer of the meaning of words originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek into functionally equivalent words in English." But you don't have to wait until Chapter 8 to learn that. From the beginning of the book they make their case for the superiority of functionally equivalent translations and, while I learned many things, I disagree with their preference.
I own approximately 30 Bible translations, from the KJV to the NCV, from the RV to the NLT. When I study I use many different ones. And the more I study, the more I like formal equivalent translations, and (in my opinion) the more I find that they are more accurate.
Case in point. I am currently reading the New American Commentary (NAC) on Judges by Daniel I. Block (who by the way is one of the endorsers of the book under review). It's interesting that the NAC series prints the NIV (a somewhat functionally equivalent translation, referred to as "mediating" in this book) in the commentaries, but the authors are free to comment on the NIV text and how accurate it is to the original languages. Time and again Block points out where the NIV translates incorrectly and he gives his own translation. When this happens, I look it up in the NASB and ESV and the vast majority of the time both match Block's translation.
If I was stranded on that proverbial island and could have only one Bible translation, it would be (in this order): the NASB, ESV, and NKJV. However, since I'm not on that island, after reading "How to Choose a Translation for All Its Worth," I went out and purchased a copy of the TNIV. Go figure.
This is an excellent book and I would have given it 5 stars if the title or subtitle accurately described the contents. I would suggest leaving the title as is but changing the subtitle to "The Case for Functionally Equivalent Bible Translations."
If you want the other side of the debate, you can try "Translating Truth; The Case for Essentially Literal Bible Translations" by Collins or "The Word of God in English" by Ryken.
 Save your money September 6, 2008
2 out of 12 found this review helpful
I'm glad I only paid $1 for this at a book sale.
I picked this up expecting to it to enhance 30 years of Bible study as a lay person. However, I came away with an understanding of how to create a pseudo-intellectual attack on translations of the Bible that disagree with the author's personal morality; i.e. how to make study of the Bible even more divisive and partisan than it already has become in 21st century America.
I always give my books to a local charity to sell, even books I didn't particularly enjoy. I threw this one away.
 Missing the point August 23, 2008
1 out of 8 found this review helpful
Although the authors try to be objective, the fact of the matter is that they do not seem to realize what the most fundamental error of dynamic equivalence translational methodology is. The statement of "rendering the accurate meaning of the original language to the receptor language" sounds innocent enough, until you ask the question "So what is the accurate meaning in the original language?". The fact of the matter is that such "functional equivalence" translations MAY well lose the original meaning of the texts at certain points because of unknowing misinterpretating them. Such "functional equivalence" translations therefore may in fact lose the true meaning of the text in its original language; ironically out of an intent to accurately render the meaning of the text in the receptor language.
An example can be seen for example in the removal of the word "sword" in Rom. 13:4 in versions such as the NLT. Therefore, if capital punishment is indeed intended to be taught in Rom. 13:4 in the original language texts by means of the word "sword", the NLT would not have accurately render the correct meaning of the original language.
In conclusion therefore, the "funtional euqivalence" translational methodology fails on all counts. It fails in preserving the exact words of Scripture as much as possible, and it even fails in its own stated aim of preserving the accurate meaning in certain passages of Scripture. The position taken by Fee and Strauss therefore is indefensible when seen in this light, and their defense of Dynamic Equivalence is therefore in error.
Rather than reading this book, why not read a better book on the issue of Bible translation by Leland Ryken?
The Word of God in English: Criteria for Excellence in Bible Translation
Background on translations everybody should know June 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
One of the most controversial topics in modern Protestant Christianity is Bible translations (i.e. those that are good and those not so good). For instance, some believe that one translation is better than another, even possibly more inspired. Others may not care. In this book, Fee and Strauss work well together as they explain the importance on translations and how a Christian can determine what defines a good translation. After all, if God's Word is living and active, reading it in an accurate form using today's language has got to be important. The writing in the book does get a little scholarly in some areas, as the writers use some specific wording and language jargon that can be a little confusing for those not versed in the subject. Hence, I would not recommend this book to most of my high school students because many of them would not find the presentation very interesting. Yet understanding more about the differences in translations is going to take a little work. I recommend mature Bible readers picking up this book to study the 157 pages so, the next time the topic of Bible translation comes up, they will be fully educated on the matter.
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