Another Bible translation?

Yes, there is to be a new interdenominational translation of the Bible — for some sketchy details of this (as yet unnamed) translation, see the graphe site. Do we need another Bible? Surprisingly, I think the answer is yes. In our college community, the NIV seems to hold sway, with some use of the NRSV, the ESV and others. I encourage students to branch out and read, among others, the New English Bible, the Jerusalem Bible and the New Living Translation, though they all have their strengths and weaknesses.

The translations in most common use seem locked in a time warp in terms of their use of language. The thees and thous may have gone, but the sentence structure too often remains stilted. The characters who inhabit the pages of Scripture seem to speak in translationese, with expressions and idioms which no native English speaker would use. Just at random, would you ask a friend to “Intercede with the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored” (NIV), or would your prayer point be in the form, “Entreat now the favor of the LORD your God, and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored to me” (NRSV - 1 Kings 13:6)? We’ve got to do better than this.

The editorial board includes the likes of David L. Petersen and Joel Green, and promises to devote attention to readability. The translation is to be “developed with a special emphasis on education and worship”.

The fact that the new translation includes the apocryphal books is not likely to endear it to conservative Protestants. Are we then condemned to keep using the NIV for the next 350 years just as the church I was in for a while was still insisting on the use of the KJV (“it sounded like a Bible should sound”) long after comprehension had ceased?

"the apology"

John Davies has commented on the apology already. It was well done and created a wonderful reaction around the country.

In April some of our students will spend a week or so in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. Yesterday I caught up with Cliff Letcher from AIM who is organising the trip. He is no political radical, but he has worked with indigenous people and churches for a long time and understands their situation. His view is that  the apology is long over due. He also mentioned the work of a Christian couple who have gone to teach at Canteen Creek School in the NT and have "transformed" it. What great Christian ministry that is.

Sorry Day

It normally takes a horserace to bring Australia to a standstill, but yesterday it was a prime ministerial speech. Our staff watched as Kevin Rudd delivered the long awaited “Sorry” speech for the pain and grief that our nation, through deliberate policies and through indifference, has inflicted on our indigenous population. Worst of all the injustices was the implementation of a misguided belief that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, particularly “half-castes,” would almost invariably be better off taken away from their parents and handed over to white families or church-run missions to bring up. Our Church, along with others, has some time ago apologized for its complicity in implementing these policies, albeit, with the best of intentions. It will probably be a long time before we hear a politician speak so movingly and the emotions of a nation so stirred. It remains to be seen to what extent our governments, state and federal, can translate sentiment into practical support for our indigenous communities in areas such as health and education. There is a danger that when the mood fades, little changes. It will take courage and hard work and ultimately the transforming power of the Christian hope at work in indigenous and non-indigenous Australians alike, not resolutions of parliament, to effect real and lasting change and genuine reconciliation.

Disciple making - not just evangelism

I've been wrestling again today with the difference between 'just' telling someone the gospel and, gospelling with a view to disciple making. I am working on lectures for "Evangelism" in first semester. That led me to spend two hours this morning hanging out with Harry Burgess who's been disciple making and evangelising for years in churches at Campbelltown and Riverwood.

You always plot a route to take you where you want to end up, and if that end product's a disciple, that has to change things. I reckon a disciple has done more than 'turned to Christ' - they have set out on a journey. A disciple is a learner and follower (emphasis on the continuing present?) As Harry puts it, our gospelling doesn't just mention escape from judgment, but the life we live from here to then.

Of course if God's committing to a journey with them, so should we. Harry's take on that: the Great Commission goes along with the Great Commandment. I like that.

Emerging Church - What the heck is it?

Emerging Church is still a hot talking point in many circles. Since it is a movement which has only had a name for about a decade I suspect we are going to keep on talking about it for a bit longer. The big question, specially for Australian Christians is, "What the heck is emerging/emergent church?!" There are no shortage of answers, but here is a resource which helps with an answer. Emerging Village has podcast a discussion from the recent AAR conference. It is in two sections here and here.  The panel consisted of Tony Jones (co-ordinator of Emergent Village); Scot McKnight ('Uber-blogger') and Dianna Butler Bass (an academic interested in flourshing mainline churhces). They are all insiders and don't give any compelling criticism of the movement. However I learnt years ago that in historical theology the first step is to get the thinker or the movement right, and in their own terms. We owe our contemporaries the same respect. I haven't listened to the whole two podcasts yet, but what I've heard so far has helped make sense of a few things for me. McKnight's take is that lots of the questions are post-fundamentalist. In Australia where fundamentalism has not been the same phenomena the emerging issues are not the same.

What is citizenship?

The recent celebration of Australia’s national day (invasion day to some of our indigenous friends) has sparked off a discussion on what it means to be an Australian. The recently introduced citizenship test includes some questions on “Australian values”. Among the questions, for example, are some “sports trivia” questions, like who was Australia’s greatest cricketer from the pre WW2 era. Should such questions, or vague notions of “mateship” and a “fair go” (whatever they mean) be made a test of whether someone has what it takes to be an Australian? There is no doubt that citizenship and nationhood involve more than living within the same geographical boundaries, but what are the shared values we espouse and who gets to dictate what they are? I’m starting to feel that the current discussions in NT circles about the radical nature of the Christian faith and its perceived threat to the imperial cult (Jesus is lord, not Caesar) have some relevance here. There is something “religious” about the notion of “Australian values”, but as Christians, we have a higher allegiance. Our true citizenship is in heaven, the apostle Paul tells us (Phil 3:20). We need to work out the implications of this in the current climate. It may involve us in being “un-Australian”.

My holiday reading

In between Scrabble games, swims and bike rides on the NSW Central Coast, I had time to read Saturday by Ian McEwan, a novel that is an exploration of the problems (and occasional joys) of human society as they unfold in the course the events of a single day in the life of a London neurosurgeon – a sort of theodicy for those who have no God to blame or seek to justify. How do disorders of the mind affect our understanding of evil and the accountability of those who perpetrate it? And how do we evaluate the greater evil (e.g. Saddam’s genocide v. the invasion of Iraq and its consequences)? At the time I was reading it, I also saw the movie Atonement (another “religious” theme!) based on the novel by the same author (which I read a couple years ago). The ending of the movie is one of the rare cases where it is more compelling than the novel.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night explores the confusing and sometimes terrifying world as experienced by an Asperger’s sufferer.
Next was Kate Grenville’s The Secret River, a fictionalised account of the early settlement on the Hawkesbury River to the north of Sydney – based loosely on the life of Samuel Wiseman whose name is perpetuated in one of the few remaining vehicular ferries in the Sydney region. It was good to be able to explore some of the area of which Grenville writes so well and picture it as it was 200 years ago.
Oh yes, and for light reading I enjoyed John Lee’s A History of NT Lexicography, which is as much about the philosophy and principles of defining words as it is about the historical processes which have led to the current state of the discipline (not too good but with better prospects). This book fills a much-needed gap.