Some Significant Books of 1971: Part 1: The Bible as a Whole

Nineteen seventy-one might well be called the year of evangelical translations of the Bible. There is really no such thing as an evangelical Bible translation, of course, but there are translations made by evangelicals. Four of these appeared in final form last year.

The New American Standard Bible is an anonymous team effort sponsored by the Lockman Foundation, which has also permitted editions by Creation House and Gospel Light. It is intended to replace the American Standard Version of 1901, and like that version it is primarily a study Bible; it will function as an effective “pony” for the student who wants to have an exact rendering of the standard Hebrew or Greek text before him. Whether it is really an improvement over its predecessor has already been questioned in this journal (see the extensive review of all four translations by R. G. Bratcher, October 8, 1971, p. 16 ff.), and we add our own hesitation in this regard. However, despite its obvious limitations and idiosyncrasies, the NASB seems destined to a useful life, particularly among students in Bible schools and evangelical seminaries.

Zondervan introduced the Modern Language Bible as the new title for its Berkeley translation. It is a revision of what was originally a translation of the New Testament by one man and of the Old Testament by many. Berkeley always had a bad press, partly because of typographical errors in the original edition, and the new edition is fighting to overcome this difficulty. The MLB is probably the best translation yet to appear for those who want a standard Bible for pulpit reading and are unsatisfied with the RSV. It is heartening that the Gideons, who have up to now stuck to the King James, have approved distribution of the MLB for schools and hotels. MLB does not entirely avoid a fault common to many translations by evangelicals: the tendency to confuse translation with commentary by altering the text to improve, in the translators’ judgment, biblical harmony. Still, the MLB is a fine addition to our available translations, and we wish for it a wide distribution.

Probably no translation in history, with the possible exception of the RSV, has had the kind of publicity barrage in support of it that has accompanied Kenneth Taylor’s complete Living Bible (Tyndale House and Doubleday). By now Taylor’s popular paraphrases need no introduction, and one can express nothing but thanksgiving for the effectiveness with which this author’s prose has communicated the Word of God to contemporary North Americans. Nevertheless, a clear word of caution must be sounded, for there is a tendency for the average Christian to make of the LB what it was never intended to be, a Bible for pulpit and study. Not only does the LB sometimes depart from the Greek and Hebrew original (Bratcher cites several examples), but the translation is based on the American Standard Version (1901) rather than on the best Hebrew and Greek texts. On top of this, the reader has to be aware of a theological viewpoint that occasionally interferes with a clear representation of the original, making the LB less than the ideal Bible for general use or doctrinal discussion.

The NASB, the MLB, and the LB have much to commend them. When we reach the fourth new translation, Jay Green’s King James II Version (Associated Publishers and Authors), it is difficult to find any particular in which this version is an improvement over what it was designed to replace. Most of the criticisms that have been brought against each of the three translations already mentioned (except for the charge of paraphrasing) apply equally to Green’s work. Add to that an approach to textual matters that assumes for Erasmus a degree of accuracy impossible under the circumstances and top it off with a publicity campaign designed to discredit the work of a vast army of faithful translators and textual scholars since the seventeenth century (including evangelicals who have worked on the translations already reviewed) and you have KJII in a nutshell. Without its own distribution agency (Religious Book Discount House), KJII would undoubtedly have not become well enough known to merit inclusion in an article such as this. Of course, it is the Word of God and as such can accomplish his purposes with those who choose to use it.

Another recent translation is worthy of mention. In 1970 the NEB commanded the bulk of Protestant attention, but it was also the year in which a major Roman Catholic effort was brought to completion with the publication—in varying formats by many publishers—of The New American Bible, produced by members of the Catholic Biblical Association of America. Special significance must be attached to the fact that this translation is based entirely on Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts (with the exception of the Psalms), with only a passing mention given in the introduction to the Latin Vulgate of Jerome, the traditional standard Bible of the Roman church. As recently as 1950, when the Confraternity (the name for NAB’s predecessors) New Testament was issued, the preface unequivocably stated: “In no case, however, has the Latin text been set aside in favor of the Greek.”

In other matters one also notes something of a Copernican revolution since those far-off days of 1950. The preface to the earlier work states: “There is one imperfection which inspiration excludes as light excludes darkness, and that is error.… Every proposition of an inspired writer … has in consequence of God’s influence upon him the authority of God.… The Church’s teaching concerning the inerrancy of the Bible is unmistakable.…” By contrast, the new Bible is replete with notes questioning at least the historical and textual accuracy of the Scriptures, if not the theological perspicuity of its writers (see, for example, the note on First Chronicles 21:1). On the positive side, the text itself is clear and readable, with few of the peculiarly Catholic idioms that marked earlier translations. Even the notes reflect a moderate Catholic position on such matters as ecclesiology (e.g., the note on Matthew 16:13–19), while the notes on various Old Testament passages present a wealth of background data.

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, GEOGRAPHY, AND HISTORY There has been no great lack of Bible atlases in recent years, but a new one just out is unusual enough to rate high on the list of important aids for Bible study published in 1971. Atlas of the Biblical World (World) by Denis Baly, the well-known geographer, and A. D. Tushingham, the archaeologist who was co-director with Kathleen Kenyon of the 1961–67 excavations in Jerusalem, is a little more restricted than its title would imply. Italy is not included and Greece only touched on. On the other hand, the lands surrounding Palestine are treated rather more fully than is customary. In addition to forty-nine maps (fourteen in color) and sixty-nine original photographs (sixteen in color and outstanding), the volume includes valuable chapters on the geology, climate, and natural regions of the Near East, archaeology and ancient environments, and the city of Jerusalem. An especially valuable feature is a sixteen-page index to the maps that includes both modern and ancient names as well as alternative locations. Considering the cost of producing this kind of reference work, the price is reasonable. This would make an excellent gift for a minister or theological student, or for the church library.

Even a brief examination of Bible, Archaeology, and Faith by Harry T. Frank (Abingdon) will be sufficient to show how much has happened in the world of archaeology in the decade since the 1962 revision of G. E. Wright’s standard work, Biblical Archaeology. Frank follows Wright in both content and format; thus comparisons are inevitable. The major advantage of the Frank work is its newness: the past decade has seen the appearance of strikingly new material from sites such as Masada, Hazor, Gezer, Ai, Arad, Mt. Gerazim, and Jerusalem, and Frank has had access to the best information and illustrations from each of these “digs.” In quality and number of illustrations, indexing, general command of the subject, and the like, Wright’s book is to be preferred and will still remain standard. Nevertheless, the need for an up-to-date discussion of the material probably tips the scale in favor of Frank if one must choose between the two.

A third volume in this area is really a study of archaeological evidence as it relates to persons mentioned in the Bible. Jack P. Lewis’s Historical Backgrounds of Bible History (Baker) gives in clear, laymen’s language a summary of the available extra-biblical material dealing with figures whose times span the period from the Pharaoh Shishak (tenth century B.C.) to the life of Christ. Sixty-three persons are dealt with, including such figures as Darius the Mede, Sanballat, Pontius Pilate, and King Aretas.

BIBLICAL THEOLOGY The world of biblical scholarship has become accustomed to the regular appearance since 1964 of Professor G. W. Bromiley’s English translation of the massive Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Eerdmans), edited by Gerhard Kittel (volumes 1–4) and Gerhard Friedrich (volume 5 and those following). Bromiley is a marvel, translating every year about a thousand pages of very technical German into accurate and readable English. Many genertions of English-reading students should be profoundly grateful to him, to Eerdmans, and to the work’s proofreader F. F. Bruce for making the rich treasures of this set available.

Despite its title, TDNT contains nearly as much material related to the study of the Old Testament as to the New. This is especially true in the case of key theological concepts, where a large amount of space is given to the Hebrew roots of the New Testament ideas. Volume seven, published shortly before the end of 1971, contains eighty-nine articles on Greek words beginning with sigma by thirty-six contributors for a total of more than 1,100 pages. Some of the more important terms theologically are “sabbath,” “flesh,” “sign,” “cause of stumbling,” “wisdom,” “cross”/“crucify,” “conscience,” “salvation,” “body,” and the prepositions syn and meta with the genitive (especially the phrase “with Christ”). Very helpful historical notes are contained in articles on the Sadducees, Samaria and Samaritans, the Sicerii, Zion and Jerusalem, the Scythians, the use and significance of the crown/wreath in the ancient world, the synagogue, the Jewish Sanhedrin, and the like. There is enough meat here to keep the serious Bible student busy until the publication of volume eight a year or so hence!

A newly issued study of the atonement, Sin, Redemption, and Sacrifice by S. Lyonnet and L. Sabourin (Rome: Biblical Institute Press, 1970), described as a study in biblical theology, will take its place as a standard work in the field. Sabourin has taken a book on sin and redemption by his Jesuit colleague, added to it his own previously issued work on Second Corinthians 5:21, and presented both in English dress. A major purpose seems to be to take issue with the Reformed understanding of the forensic nature of redemption, though whether the authors have properly represented contemporary Reformed theology may be questioned. In any case, the publishers are to be congratulated for making available in inexpensive form this thorough study of all biblical data on the subject.

COMMENTARIESThe Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary on the Bible, edited by Charles M. Laymon (Abingdon), takes its place alongside several other new and recently revised one-volume commentaries. Although it will undoubtedly find its place as a standard work in public and church libraries and has some very useful features (notably the general articles and illustrations), it is not up to the standard of accurate scholarship that marks the Jerome Biblical Commentary or Peake’s Commentary, nor is it as likely to appeal to the evangelical layman as the New Bible Commentary: Revised. It is not that the IOVC is a bad piece of work; it simply does not have many features that would make it an improvement over the JBC, Peake’s, or the NBC. Therefore, the Bible student will be best advised to invest his money in one or more of the other volumes, according to his interest.

It is now more than four hundred years since John Calvin wrote his famous commentaries on the various books of the Bible, and it is a testimony to his greatness as an expositor of Scripture that translations of all of them are still available in the major European languages, with new translations in progress in several. A new reprinting of the edition produced by the Calvin Translation Society more than a century ago has been made available in eight volumes at a bargain price by Associated Publishers and Authors and the Religious Book Discount House. Calvin’s commentaries are no substitute for the work of more recent exegetes who have built on the foundation he laid; yet it would be a mistake for any contemporary exegete or expositor to think he can do without the insights Calvin provided.

Another reissue is a one-volume edition of Ellicott’s Bible Commentary by Donald N. Bowdle (Zondervan). Charles John Ellicott (1819–1905) was the chairman of the British New Testament Revision Company, which produced the translation known as the English Revised Version. The original commentaries were published between 1877 and 1884 and represent an approach to the Bible that might be called “believing criticism.” The views of the authors—including Plummer, Sanday, Plumptre, and Ellicott—were regarded as “advanced” in their day, though all were committed to the inspiration and authority of the Bible. Bowdle’s condensation wisely removes the dated introductions and references to scholarly literature, while leaving the heart of the exegetical material. The result is a useful tool, though it should be supplemented by reference to more recent works.

A series that seeks to represent for the present day the stance of Ellicott and his colleagues is the twelve-volume Broadman Bible Commentary (Broadman), which began to appear in late 1969. The last two volumes are due this spring. Despite the negative publicity that this commentary has had as a result of the withdrawal of the first volume for some rewriting, readers of CHRISTIANITY TODAY should not be put off. It is the attempt of leading Baptist scholars to make use of the best tools of scholarly research in the study of the Scriptures and to present the result to the educated Christian public. Although one may sometimes think that some of the authors tend to offer an all-too-easy blend of critical opinion and piety, it would be unfair to condemn the work as a whole as “liberal” or “unorthodox.”

The authors’ critical position is illustrated by the treatment of the miracle narratives surrounding Elisha, which are represented as “historical deeds” that have “undergone literary expansion,” or the dating of Ezra’s arrival in Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes II (398 B.C.)—a position hardly in keeping with the chronological scheme set by the editor of the Ezra-Nehemiah memoirs but representing nevertheless an honest attempt to deal with a very real problem. The text of both commentaries is long enough to permit the linguistic and historical discussion usually missing in a one-volume commentary. Moreover, the authors stress exegesis and interpretation rather than exposition, thus omitting the usually dated, often irrelevant, and even banal comments such as those found in the multi-volume Interpreter’s Bible. Of particular note are the scholarly treatment of Job by J. D. W. Watts and others and the extensive commentary on the Psalms by J. I. Durham, which utilize the most helpful material from recent research while avoiding extreme positions. Also noteworthy is R. P. Martin’s discussion of the authorship of Ephesians.

A series of very helpful paperbacks, designed to provide a systematic guide to the study of the Bible for the ordinary Christian, is sponsored by Scripture Union and published under the title Bible Study Books (Eerdmans). For the beginner it is hard to think of anything better: here he is provided with brief introductions, comments, and thought-provoking questions that lead him step by step through the whole Bible in the course of five years. Recent contributions include volumes by F. F. Bruce on Matthew, E. M. Blaiklock on Romans, and Derek Kidner on Leviticus-Deuteronomy. A listing of the entire series is available from the publisher or Scripture Union (38 Garrett Road, Upper Darby, Pa. 19082).

Yankee Come Home

Although the number of people who have never heard the Christian Gospel is increasing by the hundreds of millions a year, many mainline Protestant denominations are cutting back rather than expanding their foreign mission programs.

The United Presbyterian Church, for example, has cut its overseas staff almost in half during the past fifteen years. The Episcopal Church is supporting only a third as many missionaries in other lands as it did in the late 1950s. The United Methodist Church, the United Church of Christ, the Southern Presbyterians, and the American Baptists also have retrenched by substantial percentages.

Officials of these big denominations offer a variety of explanations for this apparent retreat from the mission that Jesus explicitly assigned to his disciples: to tell the good news of God’s love in “all nations.”

Some blame the missionary cutback on lack of money. But this excuse is persuasive only if one accepts the validity of the decisions by which denominational leaders give higher budget priority to many things other than foreign missions. Of every dollar contributed by a United Methodist, only 2½ cents goes to support the global outreach of his church. Similar percentages prevail in other mainline denominations.

Another alibi for dwindling missionary effort is the intense nationalism of newly emerging countries of Asia and Africa. This, it is said, makes it desirable for native-born Christians to become the primary preachers of the Gospel to their own people, while foreign missionaries retire into supporting roles. Well and good. But if mainline denominations really believed this, one would expect them to be spending huge sums to create and staff seminaries for training indigenous clergy in other lands. And they are not doing that.

Some missionary officials say the real problem lies in the realm of belief. Many members of mainline Protestant denominations no longer believe the Christian faith offers good news that God intended all mankind to hear.

Not a few church members today seem to think of foreign missions as a kind of religious imperialism. They ask: “Why should we consider our faith superior to the one ‘they’ already have?”

There are two answers. One is that “they” don’t necessarily have a “faith of their own.” The vast majority of the human race is not affiliated with any of the great world religions. A deeper answer might be: “It isn’t our faith we’re trying to share. It’s a faith that, born among the Jews of Palestine, came to us Western Gentiles through the efforts of earlier missionaries, such as St. Paul, who had no doubts about the rightness and necessity of their task.”

Fortunately, there still are Protestant Christians in America who believe as St. Paul did in the urgency of “preaching the Gospel to all nations.” Among the big denominations, the Southern Baptists have more than doubled their overseas missionary force since 1958. And the small fundamentalist bodies affiliated with the National Association of Evangelicals have increased their missionary staffs by more than 60 per cent during the same period. These “old-fashioned,” often scorned Christians are moving as fast as their limited resources will permit to fill the void created by the continuing retreat of big-name denominations from the mission fields of the world.—LOUIS CASSELS, in his syndicated United Press International column “Of God and Man.” Used by permission.

BOOKS ESPECIALLY FOR LAYMENFifty Key Words: The Bible by Julian Charley (John Knox) contains excellent though brief statements of basic themes of biblical theology from Adoption to Wrath. Considering the limitation of space (sixty-nine pages) and scope (no direct reference to contemporary scholarly literature), it would be hard to imagine a better discussion of the topics included. This is a book that truly fits the need of the layman and could well be used as a basic Bible-study guide for adults.

Intended for the same audience is Lawrence O. Richards’s Creative Bible Study (Zondervan). Although its claim to be a “totally new approach to Bible study” is exaggerated, it does strike out in new directions. First, it is designed to emphasize the view that the Bible was “meant to be studied corporately.” Secondly, the emphasis is on hermeneutics (principles of interpretation) rather than methods. A full evaluation will have to come from those who make use of the book as the basis of group study; our opinion is that Richards has written a handbook of considerable merit.

Another small but useful volume is Hermeneutics by Bernard L. Ramm and others (Baker). Eight evangelical authors combine to offer ten essays on topics such as interpretation of parables and prophecy, the history of biblical interpretation, and the “new hermeneutic.” The essays are excerpted from Baker’s Dictionary of Practical Theology edited by R. G. Turnbull, first published in 1967.

Three paperbacks stemming from Fuller Theological Seminary demonstrate the ability of at least some academic biblical scholars to write in terms readily comprehensible to the man in the pew. Does the Bible Really Work? (Word) is the title given to eleven chapters that originated as radio talk by David A. Hubbard on “The Joyful Sound.” Hubbard stresses the idea that the Bible is a book of promise and fulfillment, giving a pattern of biblical theology as a model for use in reading the Scriptures. Men Who Knew God and Men Who Knew Christ by William Sanford LeSor (Regal Books) are revised versions of a series of expositions on the lives of the great personalities of the Old Testament and New Testament respectively. The author blends geographical, archaeological, and historical information with the data of Scripture to bring to life the characters of the Bible and the ages in which they lived. Here are popularizations at their best!

Three additional handbooks, also available in paperback and intended for the educated layman, are worthy of mention. Bible Study Source-Book is the new title of a Zondervan reprint of an unrevised older work by Donald E. Demaray; it is similar to the Bible handbooks by Halley and Unger and contains little if anything that is not contained in a Bible dictionary or in the Bible itself. John H. Hayes’s Introduction to the Bible (Westminster) is a much more solid work and will no doubt be used as an introductory college text, though one wonders what makes it different from any of a dozen or more similar volumes that are readily available; however, it does provide one with a readable introduction to a fairly standard, liberal interpretation of the Bible and its message. Biblical Criticism provides the subject of volume three of “The Pelican Guide to Modern Theology” (Penguin Books) and is written by Robert Davidson (Old Testament) and A. R. C. Leaney (New Testament). Although the authors (especially Leaney) tend to give the impression that there is a greater amount of unanimity among biblical scholars than there actually is, they have provided the general reader with an admirable introduction to some of the main lines of discussion in contemporary scholarship.

COLLECTED ESSAYS Twenty South African scholars pay tribute to their teacher and colleague Adrianus van Selms in a volume entitled De Fructu Oris Sui (Brill). The articles, though primarily related to the Old Testament and Near Eastern backgrounds (the areas of the recipient’s major work), also cover such New Testament subjects as “The Earliest Name of the Earliest Church” and “Hebrews 11:8–10 in the Light of the Mari Texts.” Of special interest to evangelicals will be the fact that the majority of the essays assume a high view of Scripture; though marked by first-rate scholarship, the volume is refreshingly free from the critical dogmatism found so often in similar works. A bibliography of van Selms is included, which leads us to hope that future years will see many of his writings translated into English. In spite of its high cost, De Fructu Oris Sui should find its place in all libraries that make provision for serious biblical research.

Another tribute volume is Understanding the Sacred Text: Essays in Honor of Morton S. Enslin, edited by John Reumann (Judson). Five of the thirteen articles are on the Old Testament, including a long review of the NEB. The New Testament articles include Everett Harrison on the Resurrection in Acts, Bruce Metzger on the Ethiopic endings of Mark, and John Reumann on the quest for the historical John the Baptist.

SPECIAL CATEGORY A book that stands alone is Which Bible?, edited by David Otis Fuller (Kregel). This is a defense of the King James Version of 1611 (presumably in its subsequently revised form of the present day!) and its underlying Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. It is a hodgepodge of articles written to support what almost all biblical scholars, including evangelicals, would regard as a lost cause—namely, the view that the so-called Textus Receptus, the “received” or majority manuscript tradition that lies behind the Greek text of Erasmus and therefore the early European translations of the New Testament, is superior to the critically reconstructed text of Westcott and Hort, which laid the foundation for the Revised Version of 1881 and subsequent translations. The most plausible essay in the book is the one by Zane Hodges (one of the few recently written chapters), though it is doubtful that it would convince even all his colleagues at Dallas Theological Seminary. It is sufficient to point out to the non-expert for whom the volume is intended that the overwhelming majority of evangelical Bible scholars—for example, members of the Evangelical Theological Society; teachers at evangelical Bible schools, colleges, and seminaries; the translators of all recent translations of the Scriptures (except King James II!)—would agree in regarding Which Bible? as basically wrong-headed in its approach and typical of a misguided apologetic that causes evangelicalism to be identified in many people’s minds with an unenlightened obscurantism. For those who have any doubts, the reading of a handbook on New Testament textual criticism by an evangelical scholar, such as the older work by B. B. Warfield (1886) or the more recent one by J. Harold Greenlee (1964), is recommended. It will be a pity if this book finds a wider acceptance in Bible-believing circles than it deserves.

(Surveys of 1971 books focusing on the Old Testament and on the New Testament will appear in the next two issues.)

Carl E. Armerding teaches Old Testament and W. Ward Gasque New Testament at Regent College, a graduate school that is located in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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