Lost in Translation* - The BAS Library
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Lost in Translation*

* Do we really need to read footnotes?

By Daniel N. Schowalter

“Read the fine print,” the lawyers tell us. They’re usually talking about contracts, but the warning also applies to the fine-print footnotes in some editions of the Bible—such as those for the New Testament in the Oxford edition of the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV),a which will serve as our examples. These footnotes reveal some of the difficult textual and interpretive decisions made by modern editors and translators. Take the first verse in Mark’s Gospel: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” A footnote at the end of this verse tells us: “Other […]

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Footnotes

1.

The NRSV, released in 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ/USA, is now a standard text in many academic and ecclesiastical settings. For reviews, see Walter Wink, “The New RSV: The Best Translation, Halfway There,” Christian Century (September 19, 1990), pp. 829–33; and Harvey Minkoff, “New Revised Standard Version” BR 06:03.