Bible Translations: Old & New February 25, 2013 Issue

Enlarging my tent

Cecily Sharp-Whitehill

Here’s some of what makes me feel wealthy: sitting at my desk surrounded by Mary Baker Eddy’s writings, a variety of concordances and reference books, and multiple Bible translations. 

Every Bible translation has merit. Each can lend depth to, and insight into, meanings, intentions, and even radical differences among translations. And this diversity can be so helpful as I endeavor to interpret and discern the true or most appropriate meanings of certain words, phrases, or parables. 

I must say, though, that for the glorious intimacy of “conversation” with God and the sheer joy of His palpable shepherding all of us all the time, I am most drawn to The Message and to the King James Version of the Bible. Welcoming and making “radiant room” (Mary Baker
Eddy, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 298) for consideration of all the good ideas that emerge enlarges my spiritual “tent,” for which I am ever grateful.