Point/Counterpoint: Pros and Cons of the Contemporary English Version
CEV’s chief translator: we were faithful to the intention of the text
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Our intent in the CEV translation was a faithful rendering of the intent of the Greek text. Nothing more, nothing less. As with the inclusive gender language in the CEV, concerns over Jewish sensitivities were a by-product of our work, not our motivation.
I am thoroughly convinced that it was never the intention of any New Testament writer to perpetuate anti-Jewish sentiments that would ultimately result in either discrimination against or persecution of the Jewish community in the course of history. One has only to listen to the apostle Paul: “I would gladly be placed under God’s curse and be separated from Christ for the good of my own people” (Romans 9:3).
In the many New Testament passages (especially in John and Acts) where the phrase “the Jews” occurs, a literal rendering has historically resulted in arousing negative reactions that were not intended by the authors of these documents. Whatever the response of the authors to their particular conflict with certain segments of the Jewish community, it was never their intention to perpetuate 20 centuries of anti-Jewish feelings.
Each translation has its own paralinguistic features, or “body language,” which convey a message beyond the specific words themselves. The cumulative impact of a literal rendering of “the Jews” in negative contexts signals something significantly different to the average reader today than was originally intended by the New Testament writers. Moreover, it is exegetically inaccurate to retain an inclusive phrase when not every Jew is intended, and it is stylistically infelicitous in English not to substitute pronouns in many of these contexts.
Jesus was a Jew. Peter was a Jew. Paul was a Jew. The disciples were Jews. The apostles were Jews. The first Christians were Jews. Nicodemus was a Jewish leader (John 3:1). Yet the frequent appearance of “the Jews” in negative contexts in the New Testament has led some readers to conclude wrongly that the Christian Scriptures speak of two categories of people—Christians and Jews, the “good guys” and the “bad guys.” But nothing could be further from the truth.
In most of the New Testament, “the Jews” is best understood to mean “the other Jews” or “some of the Jews” or “a few of the Jews” or “the Jewish leaders” or “some of the Jewish leaders” or “a few of the Jewish leaders.” Never does it refer to the nation as a whole.
Above all else, to assume that every generation of Jewish people should be held responsible for the death of Jesus is without historical foundation. It was Pontius Pilate—the Roman governor—who sentenced Jesus to death! And those men who nailed Jesus to a cross were Roman soldiers.
“Christ has made peace between Jews and Gentiles, and he has united us by breaking down the wall of hatred that separated us.” Ephesians 2:14 stands as a witness against those who would use any portion of the New Testament as a weapon of warfare for inciting anti-Jewish sentiments. To do so is to deny the efficacy of the work of Christ as well as the overall message of the New Testament itself.
New Testament accounts of early conflicts between “Jesus Jews” and “the (other) Jews” should not be distorted into justification for racial hatred today. And a truly faithful translation of the New Testament requires that the translator should constantly seek ways in which false impressions may be minimized and hatred overcome.
In every passage of the CEV New Testament, the basic concern was to produce a faithful and stylistically appropriate translation of the meaning of the Greek text. As a result of this overriding concern for accuracy and style, the CEV contains fewer passages in which the phrase “the Jews” can be wrongfully understood as 051a reference to the entirety of the Jewish community, whether past or present.
Blenkinsopp castigates us for the translation “a lot of people” in John 12:9 where he would translate “a great crowd of Jews.” But the overriding context of John 12:9 (see John 11:46–53, 55–56, 57; 12:1, 10–11, 12) clearly implies that the people were Jewish, without being explicit. To translate “ioudaioi” as “Jews” implies that the writer is calling attention to the crowd as Jews, which is not the case. To translate the word in a literal way, as Blenkinsopp would do, gives a false impression and a meaning the writer did not intend. This is especially true in the context from which a modern reader necessarily infers meaning.
Similarly, in the passages dealing with the crowd’s demand for Jesus’ execution (see John 18:3–5, 13–14, 19–24, 28, 35; 19:6, 7, 15): These passages make it clear that the crowd was Jewish, but by “ioudaioi” the author did not intend to refer to all Jews or to relate the demand for Jesus’ crucifixion to the crowd’s Jewishness. To translate these passages so that a modern reader would understand them as referring to all Jews—or even to all generations of Jews—would be to mistranslate them.
Contrary to Blenkinsopp’s accusation, the CEV has not watered down anything. See, for example, John 8:44, 47, 55 (when addressing a crowd that refers to Abraham as their father): “Your father is the devil, and you do exactly what he wants…Anyone who belongs to God will listen to his message. But you refuse to listen, because you don’t belong to God…I would be a liar, just like all of you.”
The rendering of Matthew 23:16 (“twice as fit for hell as you are”) cannot be said to diminish the effect of the literal “sons of hell,” whatever that might mean to the uninitiated reader. And the decision not to perpetuate the biblicism (and transliteration of the Hebrew word) “Woe!” was in no way intended to “soften the impact and make Jesus sound like a grade-school teacher,” as Blenkinsopp claims. Rather it was to avoid making him sound (this is a text for the ear!) like a Missouri farmer yelling at a mule: “Whoa!”
As for Blenkinsopp’s criticism of our translation of John 6:20 and 18:6, I see three possibilities: “It is I” (which sounds pretentious and unnatural); “It’s me” (the best contemporary choice); or “I am Jesus” (which avoids being overly pretentious and captures something of the “I am” language that theologians love but which has no significance for non-theologians until it is explained to them).
Both “synagogue” and “manger” were avoided in the CEV because the translation was crafted to be read aloud without stumbling and heard without misunderstanding by people unfamiliar with traditional biblical jargon. In testing sessions over a period of several years, both words proved to be problematic—“synagogue” because of the final “ue” that goes unpronounced and “manger” because of the consonant cluster “ng” that leads many readers to wrongly divide the word as “man-ger” (as they would with “mango”).
Instead of “synagogue,” the CEV uses “Jewish meeting place” or “Jewish meeting,” depending upon the context. This means that “Jewish” could possibly occur more often in the CEV than in some other translations. For example, Mark 1:21, 23 reads: “Jesus and his disciples went to the town of Capernaum. Then on the next Sabbath he went into the Jewish meeting place and started teaching…Suddenly a man with an evil spirit in him entered the meeting place.”
To have translated “meeting place” instead of “Jewish meeting place” following the mention of Capernaum in verse 21 would have suggested to the uninformed reader a town meeting of some sort. On the other hand, “meeting place” is all that is necessary in verse 23, where it obviously refers back to the previously mentioned “Jewish meeting place.”
Our intent in the CEV translation was a faithful rendering of the intent of the Greek text. Nothing more, nothing less. As with the inclusive gender language in the CEV, concerns over Jewish sensitivities were a by-product of our work, not our motivation. I am thoroughly convinced that it was never the intention of any New Testament writer to perpetuate anti-Jewish sentiments that would ultimately result in either discrimination against or persecution of the Jewish community in the course of history. One has only to listen to the apostle Paul: “I would gladly be placed under God’s curse and […]
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