5.5: This post is dedicated to the neglected but not forgotten nor abandoned Hymn of the Week. It's coming back, I promise.
5: In my first 5.5 Random Things post I plugged Brian's new blog and claimed how he would not be able to keep up the post a day pace with which he started. He went on to claim that he would, in fact, do so just to spite me. Today is one month since his last post. I win.
4: Jeremy has an interesting post about a slip in the ESV dedication to non-inclusive language, found in 1 John 3:24 (where they use a singular "them" rather than "him", which would be consistent with their translation philosphy). The topic of Bible translation is worthy of its own post, but I just want to vent my frustration concerning those who are so eager to bash the NIV (and others, such as the TNIV) for something like using the singluar "they." Does it open the door for misinterpretation? Possibly. Then again, so can a very literal translation, so who cares (not to mention the fact that some of them can be so wooden they don't even make sense in English)? I don't care if someone prefers a literal translation, in fact, the NAS is still my Bible of choice. I just don't see what's so hard about understanding the reasons for the dynamic equivalent style, or, even worse, why it's so hard to accept the benefit to having multiple translations in studying the Bible. It's so basic (in fact, I say it every week in the Bible class I teach at church), why can't people grasp it?
3: I'm watching the Mets-Dodgers baseball game and the idiot announcer, Thom Brennamen (partner of 1st-ballot Hall of Fame crappy announcer Tim McCarver), just claimed that Grady Little did the right thing when he left Pedro Martinez in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS against the Yankees. I believe his exact quote was "when I look at that Boston bullpen, I say Pedro Martinez was the right man for the job." My questions is this: why does this man have a job in announcing baseball? Nevermind Brennamen's tendency to go off on self-righteous tirades concerning some superstar du jour, this quote just proves he doesn't understand anything about the game of baseball, or at least wasn't watching that postseason when the Mike Timlin-Scott Williamson tandem was almost unhittable. FOX Sports is awful, absolutely awful. This is worse than Chris Berman or Joe Morgan. And that's saying something.
2: I have to admit that I really want to see The Departed, the new movie starring Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCraprio (not a misspelling), Matt Damon and Marky Mark, sans the Funky Bunch. Mind you, I don't like Nicholson or DiCraprio, but I'm a sucker for mob movies. Also, I think there's something inside me that longs to hear a movie with good Boston accents. Good Will Hunting wasn't bad, Damon was great and Affleck did a good job (actually, both Afflecks did), but Robin Williams was painful. He wasn't as bad as Costner, but still not good. Anyway, I have hopes that with Damon and Marky Mark (both from Boston) this movie might be able to pull it off.
1: Well, the Detroit Tigers are now everyone's favorite team as they beat the Yankees in 4 games. Early in the season, when Detroit had the best record in baseball, I had said that I hoped they would win it all if the Red Sox weren't going to do it. There are numerous reasons for me to do so: 1) they are a classic franchise, one of the old guys in the AL (a reason I rooted for the White Sox once the Sox were eliminated last year as well), 2) they've been awful for so long (something like 13 straight losing seasons) that it's a great rags-to-riches story, 3)I've loved their manager, Jim Leyland, since he was in Pittsburgh (when I was in Little League I played on the Pirates, so I rooted for them while he was bringing them to the postseason every year), 4) they've got some quality people to root for on that team, 5) I love the old Tigers teams from my childhood (Kirk Gibson, Alan Trammel, Sweet Lou Whitaker, and my favorite, Jack Morris, the most underrated pitcher of my time). I love the mixture of homegrown talent and veterans from outside the organization (which I think is a necessary feature to win these days). I love that the pitching staff relies heavily on 3 guys younger than I am (Zumaya, Verlander and Bonderman). It was great to see Jeremy Bonderman pitch so well today. It was just 3 seasons ago when he lost 19 games (for those who don't know, that is awful), and he lost 45 games from 2003-05. He came to the majors when he was 19 and many thought the Tigers had rushed him, and that his early failures would scar him for the rest of his career (like with Rick Ankiel of the Cardinals). Then today he dominates the Yankees and leaves in the 9th to a goosebump inducing ovation. You have to feel good for a guy like that, and I hope they bring the World Series Championship to Detroit.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
I don't think the NIV has a singular 'they'. If it does, it's the exception and not the rule, as it is in the few places the KJV does it. The TNIV has officially adopted it as a way to handle certain kinds of problems with awkwardness in inclusive translation. Some other inclusive translations refuse to do it, and I think they're much the worse for it.
By the way, was that you who performed that devious little search on my blog a couple hours ago?
You're right, the NIV doesn't do it as a rule, that was sloppy on my part. You philosophers are too precise for lazy folk like me. I was really just trying to lump all those types of translations together. Anyway, I'll get around to a longer post about this stuff eventually, maybe someone will spark something for me with a comment.
I plead ignorance.
I use to try and use they as singular when I had a female roomie. I hated saying "she" and people being like "wha" so I would just say "yeah, they are a real slob". It always caused confusion and people then thought I had multiple roomies.
I found the chapter on translations in the book a delight. Along with the rest of it so far. I'll probably finish it up this week. Great read. Why haven't you told me to read it before? (or maybe you have, but only like 3 times.) If it makes you feel better I think it's good to compare translations.
Just for the record, I was lumping the NIV and TNIV under the category of "functional" translations, or what some would call a "dynamic equivalent" translation.
Bruce, your use of "they" in that situation is confusing, because there is no uncertainty of the gender of your roommate. But good try avoiding the awkward "you have a female roommate?" questions.
For those out there who are wondering what book Bruce is talking about, it's "How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth" by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart. And yes, Bruce, I did tell you to read in multiple times. In fact, any time I've been asked to teach something at church I plug that book.
hey man, i'd be totally down for the departed sometime
Post a Comment