Gender and the Bible

"Some of the most strident voices demeaning the TNIV are associated with these new versions--a situation many translators and publishers consider a conflict of interest," Kohlenberger wrote in Priscilla Papers, a journal of the Christians for Biblical Equality. He said the critics were associated either with the Holman New Testament published in 2000 or "served as advisers, reviewers or `translators' of the evangelical revision of the RSV," published as the ESV in 2001.

"I don't think there is a conflict of interest," Stinson of the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood told the CENTURY. "Most of the people who are outspoken against TNIV this year were just as outspoken in 1997 when there were no competing Bible editions."

One vocal adversary of the TNIV is R. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. On June 10 he told a breakfast sponsored by the SBC's LifeWay Christian Resources, parent of Holman & Broadman Publishers, that its HCSB (whose complete version will be out in 2004) is one of three Bible translations that he will recommend for use in serious study. The others are the E SV and one that eschews gender-inclusive terms, the New American Standard Bible.

"I'm not saying this because I'm at a LifeWay-sponsored event," said Mohler, according to Baptist Press. "It [HCSB] is a translation I would commend, and there aren't very many I would commend." Mohler said he was not initially excited about the HCSB because of the proliferation of translations. But the new controversy convinced him the Holman Bible was important to do--"if for no other reason than we will have a major translation we can control," he said.

Characterizations of the TNIV as inaccurate and influenced by secular, "politically correct" culture has spurred studies by some pastors. For example, David Stratton, pastor of Brunswick Islands Baptist Church in Supply, North Carolina, received the Holman version in January and was sent a preview copy of the TNIV in February. He made comparisons. In 15 New Testament books, Stratton said he found 306 verses in which there was at least one instance of the Holman Bible (HCSB) using more gender-accurate language than the NIV, whose last edition was published in 1984. "I felt it was a bit harsh for SBC leaders to be so terribly critical of the TNIV over gender language" since the SBC had published a version "making allowances for recent changes in English gender usage." Stratton posted his research at www.brunswickislandsbaptist.org.

In southern California, David W. Miller, senior pastor of the non-denominational Church at Rocky Peak, said he cringed at headlines such as World magazine's "NIV's Twisted Sister." Comparing the TNIV with Greek texts, Miller said, "I expected to find a liberal mistranslation because of the negative press it had received. To my pleasant surprise, I instead discovered an amazing improvement in gender accuracy over the NW." Miller posted his lengthy commentary on his church's Web site: www.rockypeak.org. (The July newsletter of the Society of Biblical Literature features six articles on Bible translation at www.sbl-site.org/news letter/index.htm.)