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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2248 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 22, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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A New Testament That Actually Feels Like an Anthology:

Most of these translations are available on BibleHub, except Phillips, and BibleGateway, except Weymouth. The REB is available on neither.

At some point it makes more sense to just learn Greek and read the original text.

I mean, Hart already did that.

The New Testament: A Translation by the Eastern Orthodox theologian and philosopher David Bentley Hart, first published in 2017.

Hart explicitly stated that his goal was to provide a "pitilessly literal translation" that preserves the distinct linguistic talents—or lack thereof—of each individual writer, rather than smoothing them out into an artificial, uniform majesty.

I’m planning on grabbing a copy soon.

that preserves the distinct linguistic talents—or lack thereof—of each individual writer

Kek, which apostle is he throwing shade at?

Probably Mark. His Greek is noticeably unpolished, even for Koine (“common” Greek, as opposed to the more refined literary forms of Attic Greek).

Which, ironically, makes his the most likely to have been genuinely attributed to a scribe writing out the memories of a Galilean fisherman.

I personally take the traditional attributions at face value. Between AD 30 and the destruction of the Temple, the movement (and the Jerusalem church in particular) swelled to such size that good scribes and decent writers would have been readily available to help the Apostles write out their recollections of the Master’s teachings, and their letters to other cities’ bodies of believers.

As for who wrote Hebrews, since we don’t know which human wrote it, we can call it the book of the Bible in which the authorial guidance of the Holy Spirit is most transparent.

Learning Latin was bad enough. Please don't make me go through another classical language.

I have one, and lexicons that help me parse my way through reading it, but I’ve always been hopeless when it came to learning other languages. I’ve heard that reading the Epistle to the Hebrews (originally written in Koine) is some of the best Greek ever written of that time period and is beautiful for those who understand it. The closer you can go to the Greek makes it evident why scholars reject the traditional ascriptions to the authorship of the New Testament. The earliest Christian sect wasn’t illiterate, or uneducated or some random fishermen. The movement was either originated or taken over by educated elites who clearly went through the best schools of the Roman Empire and learned how to compose elegant works of literature. They clearly understand Greek very well (and also the contemporary rhetoric very well) and were very well trained in it.

I'm only vaguely familiar with the various English Bible translations. What was the thought process around your curation choices? Just trying to show a diversity of perspectives? Or do you have specific reasons for each translation of each book?

Yes, my process was thoughtful and my choices are specific. Translation teams tend to homogenize their output across authors, not deliberately but by unconscious bias. My goal was to make it truly feel like an anthology written by different authors with different thought processes.

The 1978-2011 NIV is a Bible for everyone, with the most vulgar (low grade level) contemporary plain English. This matches the low phrasing of Mark, widely believed to have been Peter’s scribe. Thus, the Gospel of Mark and Peter’s letters.

JB Phillips translated the New Testament in the 1950’s with an eye for digestibility and teasing out a sense of meaning and spirituality. Thus, the Gospel, Revelation, and letters of John, the Apostle of light and love.

The 1990s’ ESV is a retranslation of the KJV, ASV, and RSV, consistent and clear in translated word choices, and suitable for Bible study and doctrine. It’s the one I’ve spent the longest time reading, 18 years of weekly Bible study. Doctor Luke, Paul’s Greek scribe, compiled the accounts and anecdotes in Luke and Acts as two volumes of faithful and accurate testimony for Paul’s trial in Rome.

The 1903 Weymouth translation is an attempt by a master translator to write as if the authors natively thought and spoke in British English, like Dickens or Doyle. “Translated from the original Greek text into modern English, Weymouth's goal was to produce a Bible version without theological or ecclesiastical bias.” - Google. Lately I’ve found unique phrasing in Weymouth’s Paul’s letters that makes them a good match for Paul’s lawyerly writing.

The 1999 HCSB New Testament has a deliberate focus on adding a Hebraic flavor to the New Testament; for example, by using Messiah instead of Christ in many places. It also has higher phrasing than the ESV with a similar translation philosophy. I find it a delight to read, my current favored translation, and a match for the Hebraic (Jewish) focus of both Matthew and Hebrews.

James and Jude, believed to have been the sons of Joseph, and thus Jesus’ half brothers, are given two translations favored by groups of denominations. “While the NASB is favored by independent conservative evangelicals, the REB was a massive collaborative effort sponsored by virtually all major mainline Protestant and Catholic bodies in the UK and Ireland.” - Google

Fascinating summary, thank you for elaborating. I like how you're trying to recreate the different biblical authors distinctive voices. It never even occurred to me as a goal, but it's certainly a worthy one, and actually serves as a nice homage to the Bible's choice to split the life of Jesus into four distinct accounts rather than attempt to provide a single, unitary narrative.

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