Defending the Bible: The Conservative Bible Project

James McGrath at Exploring our Matrix has an interesting article about a conservative attempt to rewrite the Bible in order to eliminate liberal interpretations of Biblical texts. James wrote:

[T]here is a Conservative Bible Project underway to "translate" the Bible in a more conservative way that will prevent liberal "misinterpretations" or "misconstruals". Or, to put it another way, the plan is to replace what the text says, which is open to other interpretations than their own, with a rendering that will say what they think the text means and really ought to have said. These "translators", if they are serious, are exalting themselves above the Bible and, from the perspective of conservative Christianity, above God.

James wonders whether Conservapedia, the site that will feature this translation project, is real or just an attempt to parody conservative Christianity. Visit James’s blog and read Translating vs. Rewriting the Bible: The Conservative Bible Project.

If conservative Christians make an effort to rewrite the Bible in order to present a conservative translation as an effort to eliminate liberal interpretation of Biblical texts, then such a translation will violate every hermeneutical principle used by Bible translators in their effort to give the reading public a translation that is faithful to the original intent of the Biblical writer.

A translation of the Bible must translate the Biblical text in the language of the reader without infusing the theological presuppositions of the translators. If a conservative translation changes the meaning of the original text in order to support a theological viewpoint, even when that theological viewpoint reflects Christian orthodoxy, that translation ceases to be a faithful translation.

A case in point has been made by a blog which aims at defending the Bible. In his evaluation of modern translations of the Bible, Dr. Norman Geisler said:

Here’s what you have to keep in mind when you’re looking at translations of the Bible. Who are the people that translated it? Were they biased? Now, obviously the people who translated the Revised Standard Version were biased. These were liberal scholars and when they came to Isaiah 7:14, they said, “Young maiden” instead of “virgin.” Well, it had to refer to virgin because the verse is quoted in Matthew 1:21ff. It says, “A virgin shall conceive.” So it’s a bad translation and it comes out of the bias of the particular translators. Whereas, the New American Standard Bible, the New International Version are not done by biased liberal scholars. And another important thing about these translations is they’re done by a committee of several scholars, not just one person ultimately like say, for example, the Living Bible that was done by Ken Taylor. Fine Christian, fine believer, doing it for his children, paraphrased it. But it’s not a literal translation, it’s a paraphrase and often it’s a devotional paraphrase and people get blessed by it. But it’s one person and it’s a paraphrase.

This statement is a good example of what happens when a translator uses theological presupposition to translate a specific text of the Bible. Every person who has studied Hebrew knows that the word ha almah in Isaiah 7:14 means “the young woman” and not “virgin.” The Hebrew word for virgin is betulah.

The King James Version incorrectly translates Isaiah 7:14 as follows: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”

It is clear that the King James Version does not represent the correct meaning of Isaiah 7:14. But when theological bias is used to support the statement in the gospel of Matthew 1:22-23, the translator has used his or her translation, incorrect as it is, to defend an important teaching of the church, that is, that Jesus was born of a virgin.

As I have written in a previous post, when Isaiah 7:14 is interpreted historically and sociologically, the translation “a young woman” does not contradict Matthew 1:22-23. Thus, the translation of Isaiah 7:14 in the Revised Standard Version is not biased but correct:

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

Rather, it is the theological bias that is present in the New American Standard Bible and the New International Version that makes these two translations not faithful to the original text.

Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

Tags: Almah, Betulah, Bible Translation, Conservapedia, Isaiah 7:14