Good News Translation

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The Good News Translation (GNT) as it is known in North America, or the Good News Bible (GNB) as it is known in the rest of the world, is an English language translation of the Bible by the American Bible Society, first published as the New Testament under the name Good News for Modern Man in 1966.

In North America it was formerly known as Today's English Version (TEV) but in 2001 was renamed the Good News Translation because of misconceptions that it was merely a paraphrase and not a genuine translation [1]. In fact, despite the official terminology, it was and is often referred to as the Good News Bible in America as well as elsewhere.

1 Beginnings
2 Popularity
3 Features
4 Criticism
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

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Beginnings

The beginnings of the Good News Translation can be traced to requests made by people in Africa and the far east for a version of the Bible that was friendly to non-native English speakers. In 1961, a home missions board also made a request for the same type of translation. Besides these requests, the GNT was born out of the translation theories of linguist Eugene Nida, the Executive Secretary of the American Bible Society's Translations Department. In the 1960s, Nida envisioned a new style of translation called Dynamic equivalence. That is, the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek would be expressed in a translation "thought for thought" rather than "word for word". The dynamic theory was inspired by a Spanish translation for Latin American native peoples. The American Bible Society, impressed with Nida's theories, decided to use them. Due to these requests and Nida's theories, Robert Bratcher (who was at that time a staffer at the American Bible Society) did a sample translation of the Gospel of Mark. This later led to a translation of the full New Testament. The result, titled Good News for Modern Man: The New Testament in Today's English Version, was released in 1966. In 1976, the Old Testament was completed and published as the Good News Bible: The Bible in Today's English Version. In 1979, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books was added to the Good News Bible and published as Good News Bible: Today's English Version with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. In 1992, the translation was revised.

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Popularity

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The GNT has been a popular translation. By 1969, Good News for Modern Man had sold 17.5 million copies. By 1971, that number had swelled to 30 million copies. It has been endorsed by Billy Graham and Christian groups such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, and the Presbyterian Church (USA). The GNT is one of the authorized versions to be used in the Episcopal Church. Excerpts from the New Testament were used extensively in evangelistic campaigns, such as the Billy Graham crusades and others, from the late 1960s right through to the early 1980s. In 1991, a Gallup poll of British parishioners showed that the GNT was the most popular Bible version in that nation. In 2003, the GNT was used as the basis for a film version of the Gospel of John.

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Features

The GNT is written in a simple, everyday language, with the intention that everyone can appreciate it, and so is often considered particularly suitable for children and for those learning English. Unlike most other translations, the GNT contains line drawings of Biblical events with a snippet of text. The line drawings were done by Annie Vallotton. However, Vallotton is credited with doing the drawings only in certain editions of the GNT — in others, the drawings are simply credited to "a Swiss artist". There are introductions to each book of the Bible.

Since the focus is strongly on ease of understanding, poetry is sometimes sacrificed for clarity. This choice can be seen in the example quote of John 3:16, which is rendered "For God loved the world so much that . . ." which is more pedestrian than the familiar "For God so loved the world . . . ."

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Criticism

The GNT has been challenged as to the degree of accuracy one of the translators maintained to the Greek texts. A lot of concern was raised after Robert Bratcher made public statements questioning the inerrancy and inspiration of scripture in March of 1981. Many people believe that Bratcher's viewpoints unduly influenced what was written into the GNT version.

Bratcher resigned from the American Bible Society soon after the incident in 1981. Further statements from Bratcher and subsequent investigation of the GNT cause some to believe that it weakens or undermines other key doctrines, including the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, and the requirement of a blood atonement to blot out sin. See reference to David Cloud for more information.

Others emphasise however that Bratcher was only part of a committee of translators, and that this attack is simply an attempt to support the view held by some that "Literal translations, especially the King James Version, are God's word, and all dynamic translations are evil" argument, typified by the King-James-Only Movement.

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References

Metzger, Bruce. The Bible in Translation, pp. 167-168.
Cloud, David, A MOST FRIGHTFUL DECEPTION THE GOOD NEWS BIBLE AND TRANSLATOR ROBERT BRATCHER at http://www.wayoflife.org/articles/tev.htm.
The Canons of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church: Canon 2: Of Translations of the Bible. At http://www.mit.edu/~tb/anglican/legal/gc.canons.html.
Marlowe, Michael. Good News Bible at http://www.bible-researcher.com/tev.html.
Anderson, Ken. Good News at http://www.kenanderson.net/bible/good_news.html.
Sheeley, Steven M. and Nash, Jr., Robert N. Choosing A Bible, pp. 38, 52-53.