Visits

Thursday, December 14, 2017

New New Testament

I happened upon an article the other day regarding a new translation of the New Testament by a man by the name of David Bentley Hart. Hart is an American Orthodox Christian philosophical theologian as well as an expert in the Greek language in which the New Testament was written. I found the article so fascinating that I just had to buy the book for iPad. Of course, I would rather have the book itself--I mean the kind that has pages and all--but this would 1) be expensive, especially given the mailing costs, and 2) might not arrive in Bali at all. The mail service here is hit and miss. 

Anyway, having read now the long introduction as well as half the book of Matthew, I am finding it well worth my time and money. One of Hart's main goals here has been to reproduce the New Testament in a translation that is as close as possible to the Greek version that the early Christians would have read. This results in some poor grammar, but also in a feeling of immediacy and authenticity that has sometimes been polished out in other translations, or worse, actually altered somewhat to suit the doctrinal requirements of the particular translator or committee of translators. Going back to the literal Greek, or as close as Hart can get to it in English, provides a new, refreshing experience of the material.
 

No comments: