Bible Translation Debate: Complete TNIV Hits the Streets...Continued from page 2

“Also, this is a completely independent committee. They are not owned by Zondervan. They are not owned by the International Bible Society. They are their own independent group and, believe me, they work independently to translate God’s Word in the most accurate way possible.” 

Mark Rice, vice president of corporate communications for Zondervan, insists that the TNIV meets one of the company’s most important criteria: widespread acceptance by its target demographic.

“The one thing we have really kept in focus is, and what frankly has been the most encouraging, has been the response we’ve received from the age group that we are after. That is frankly, for us, the response that is most important – and that is how are 18 to 34 year olds responding to the text?” Rice said.

“Our biggest supporters have been young people in the 18 to 34 year old demographic who want a Bible that combines the best in biblical scholarship with language that is relevant today and we have received overwhelming support from that age group. To us that is the true sign of how this text is being received in the market.”

The TNIV is one of several new translations released in recent years. The Holman Christian Standard Bible, published by Broadman & Holman, was released in 2004. Incidentally, the HCSB may share some common ground with the controversial TNIV translation simply because in some cases HCSB translators saw that a passage in the original language indeed had no gender specificity. On the other hand, in some cases the HCSB may break with the 1984 New International Version which added masculine pronouns not reflected in the original text.

The TNIV controversy has a shelf life that dates back nearly a decade.

News of plans to revise the NIV in a gender-neutral direction first came to public notice in 1997 when WORLD magazine detailed the intentions of Zondervan and the International Bible Society (IBS) – the group responsible for the NIV – in a series of stories that led to a meeting in Colorado Springs between a number of evangelical leaders and Bible scholars and representatives from Zondervan and IBS.

Participants in that meeting – which Focus on the Family founder James Dobson convened – reached an agreement that the NIV would not be revised as planned. Opponents of the revision, as well as Zondervan and IBS representatives, signed a document called the “Colorado Springs Guidelines” that gave specific guidance as to how gender-related language in the Bible should be handled.

However, in 1999, IBS effectively reneged on the agreement and announced plans for a new translation. In 2002, Zondervan rolled out the New Testament edition of the TNIV, which unleashed a hail of discussion over its use of the original languages.