TRADITION AND THEOLOGY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Dr Eugene Nida needs no introduction as a biblical scholar. He has worked for many years with the American Bible Society and is the executive secretary for translations. He is also translations research co-ordinator for the United Bible Societies. This little book on the background to the Good News Bible is an extremely helpful publication. In characteristically lucid and fresh style, Dr Nida gives us the background not only to the practical matters in the production of the translation for the Good News Bible but also to the underlying principles of translation which were used. For those who want to understand in detail the way in which the Good News Bible was produced, this is essential reading. He tells us that the first and central aim of the translators has been accuracy: that is to say faithfulness to the meaning found in the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic texts of the Scriptures. In seeking to achieve this faithfulness and accuracy, the translation reflects the principle of 'dynamic equivalence'. This, Dr Nida points out, is not a new idea and he quotes from Martin Luther to illustrate the point. The principle is that a translation should accurately indicate to the reader in the receptor language what would have been indicated to the reader of the language being translated. Dr Nida further commits himself to the idea that a translation ought accurately to convey what the writer intended to mean. These two principles are of fundamental importance in any translation work. The principle of dynamic equivalence has been much discussed in semantics and linguistics and is here reflected in a translation of the Bible. This is not just a translation which restricts itself to some kind of basic English. Nor is it a paraphrase: it is an attempt to convey accurately the sense and meaning that the author intended. We are given an example of this in Luke 16:22 where the phrase 'Abraham's bosom', according to the majority biblical scholarly understanding, refers to the heavenly feast of the righteous. Thus, because the phrase in its literal translation is misleading to the average reader of an English version of the Bible, the Good News translation is 'the poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit by Abraham at the feast in heaven'. Here another principle is introduced into the translation, namely, that on matters of biblical scholarship the translators agree to accept the widest held opinion upon a particular point. A negative example of a phrase which scholars have some difficulty in explaining is the way in which the Good News Bible deals with the phrase 'urim and thummim'. These were employed in some way to determine the will of God, and here in the Good