Items of Interest November 14, 2011 Issue

Bible translation gets a boost from 21st-century technology

“The New Common English Bible happened only because of 21st century technology” tbbmedia.com September 12, 2011

By the time early church scholar St. Jerome died more than 1,500 years ago, he had laboriously translated the Bible into Latin, taking more than 20 years, working within the confined technology of the late fourth century. 

Electricity, the Internet, and instant global communication have allowed immense strides in communicating across languages, including new Bible translations like the Common English Bible, in which 120 academic scholars and editors, 77 reading group leaders, and more than 500 average readers from around the world joined together to clearly translate, in record time, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages from thousands of centuries ago into the English of today. 

“Even the usual Bible translation schedule is not for the timid,” says Paul Franklyn, PhD, associate publisher for the Common English Bible. “Accomplishing it in less than four years requires extra stamina—and modern technology.” Less than four years is phenomenal when compared with other recent modern English Bible translations that took 10–17 years to complete.

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