Book Review

THE WORD OF GOD IN ENGLISH: CRITERIA FOR EXCELLENCE IN BIBLE TRANSLATION

Leland Ryken

Wheaton: Crossway, 2002, 336 pages, £8.91, ISBN: 1-58134-464-3

‘The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him’. (Prov. 18:17, ESV)—an apt description of the success of Eugene Nida with his translation theory of ‘dynamic equivalence’. In this book Ryken sets out to convince the jury of the negative effects of such ‘thought for thought’ translation, contrasting with the ‘word for word’ focus of ‘essentially literal’ translations such as the English Standard Version (ESV).

Being a professor of English, the author served as literary stylist on the translation committee for the ESV. This gave him both the impetus and expertise needed to explain his ‘literary intuitions’ that dynamic equivalent translations such as the New International Version were inferior. His preference for the ESV, apparent in every chapter, doesn’t prevent him from also criticising it where it seems to him inferior, and his analysis actually reinforced my appreciation for my trusty New American Standard.

The result of his investigations is heartfelt, sometimes to the point of overstatement and emotive language (e.g. p. 213: ‘The quarrel of those who prefer colloquial translations is not with me but with the authors and ultimately with the God who gave us the Bible.’), while at the same time thorough, approaching the subject from almost every angle.

Part One lays the groundwork, demonstrating in the first two chapters the importance of word for word reproduction of a wide variety of original sources, whether in literature or ordinary discourse. Most examples concern updating rather than translating, but this reinforces his point that translation should be no excuse for ‘dumbing down’ the Bible’s literary content. The third chapter gives a useful potted history of English Bible translation.

Part Two succeeds in exposing twenty different fallacies that are commonly present in the prefaces to modern translations, often surprisingly condescending, about the Bible, translation and Bible readers. The tone becomes more solemn in Part Three, where Ryken makes the strong claim that a belief in the verbal/plenary inspiration of the Bible cannot be reconciled with the dynamic equivalence theory of translation. Here he also takes a chapter to isolate more precisely the appropriate division between translation and interpretation of Scripture.

In Part Four his literary sensibilities take more of the centre stage as he analyses in four chapters different problems of modern (dynamic equivalent) translations. Ignoring the literary qualities of the Bible leads to a reduction of the ‘fullness’ of the original, and by prioritising the (uneducated) reader over the author translators obscure the world of the original text, replacing details that give our Bible the flavour of ancient Israel. The most disturbing chapter, however, covers the ‘destabilisation of the Biblical text’. Ryken perceptively notes the widespread decrease in both confidence in and use of the Bible among English-speaking believers and churches. This is a situation he attributes primarily to dynamic equivalent translations.

Part Five concludes with five chapters that highlight what he considers to be the primary ‘criteria for excellence in an English Bible’, including not only accurate and effective words, but also appropriate poetic language, natural rhythm, and ‘exaltation and beauty’. In the appendix, Professor John Collins lends his expertise as a biblical scholar to the discussion of relative accuracy achieved through different translation methods, reiterating Ryken’s reasoned rejection of dynamic equivalent translations.

Ryken’s decision to criticise translation techniques rather than specific translations should keep him well above accusations of clever marketing for the ESV, and his book deserves wide readership. Despite my upbringing in international Bible translation I have become increasingly convinced that non-English translation theory must also take account of his arguments. Closer to home, both church leaders and individual Christians will find their standards raised when it comes to choosing an English Bible.

James Patrick

Cambridge