Tuesday, January 7th, 2014
The Gospel according to John
Good News Bible - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Good News Bible
The international cover of the Good News Bible, used since 2004
Full name:
Good News Bible
Other names:
Good News Translation, Today's English Version
Abbreviation:
GNB (or GNT/TEV)
OT published:
1976
NT published:
1966
Complete Bible published:
1976
Textual basis:
Medium Correspondence to Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece 27th edition
Translation type:
Dynamic equivalence
Publisher:
Bible Societies, HarperCollins
Copyright status:
© American Bible Society 1966, 1971, 1976, 1979 (Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha), 1992; Anglicizations © British and Foreign Bible Society 1994
The Good News Bible (GNB), also called the Good News Translation (GNT) in the United States, is an English language translation of the Bible by the American Bible Society. It was first published as the New Testament under the name Good News for Modern Man in 1966. It was anglicised into British English by the British and Foreign Bible Society with the use of metric measurements for the Commonwealth market. It was formerly known as Today's English Version (TEV), but in 2001 was renamed the Good News Translation in the U.S., because the American Bible Society wished to improve the GNB's image as a "translation" where it had a public perception as a "paraphrase".[1] Despite the official terminology, it is still often referred to as the Good News Bible in the United States. Beginnings
The beginnings of the Good News Bible can be traced to requests made by people in Africa and the Far East for a version of the Bible that was friendly to non-native English speakers. In 1961, a home missions board also made a request for the same type of translation. Besides these requests, the GNB was born out of the translation theories of linguist Eugene Nida, the Executive Secretary of the American Bible Society's Translations Department. In the 1960s, Nida envisioned a new style of translation called Dynamic equivalence. That is, the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek would be expressed in a translation "thought for thought" rather than "word for word". The dynamic theory was inspired by a Spanish translation for Latin American native peoples. The American Bible Society, impressed with Nida's theories, decided to use them. Due to these requests and Nida's theories, Robert Bratcher[2] (who was at that time a staffer at the American Bible Society) did a sample translation of the Gospel of Mark. This later led to a translation of the full New Testament. The result, titled Good News for Modern Man: The New Testament in Today's English Version, was released in 1966 as a 599 page paperback with a publication date of January 1, 1966. It received a mass marketing effort with copies even being made available through grocery store chains.
In 1976, the Old Testament was completed and published as the Good News Bible: The Bible in Today's English Version. In 1979, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books were added to the Good News Bible and published as Good News Bible: Today's English Version with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. In 1992, the translation was revised with inclusive language.
The Bible Societies released the Contemporary English Version in 1995, also using jargon-free English. While this translation is sometimes perceived as a replacement for the GNB, it was not intended as such, and both translations continue to be used.[3] While the American Bible Society promotes both translations, the British and Foreign Bible Society and HarperCollins have since 2007 refocused their publishing efforts on the GNB including the Good News Bible iPhone App.[4] Popularity
The GNB has been a popular translation. By 1969, Good News for Modern Man had sold 17.5 million copies[citation needed]. By 1971, that number had swelled to 30 million copies[citation needed]. It has been endorsed by Billy Graham[citation needed] and Christian groups such as the Catholic Church (Today's English Version, Second Edition),[5] the Southern Baptist Convention[citation needed], and the Presbyterian Church (USA)[citation needed][2]. The GNB is one of the versions authorized to be used in services of the Episcopal Church.[6] Excerpts from the New Testament were used extensively in evangelistic campaigns, such as the Billy Graham crusades and others, from the late 1960s right through to the early 1980s[citation needed]. In 1991, a Gallup poll of British parishioners showed that the GNB was the most popular Bible version in that nation[citation needed]. In 2003, the GNB was used as the basis for a film version of the Gospel of John[citation needed]. In 2008, Swedish group Illuminated World paired the text of the GNB with contemporary photography for the English translation of Bible Illuminated: The Book.[7] Features
The GNB is written in a simple, everyday language, with the intention that everyone can appreciate it, and so is often considered particularly suitable for children and for those learning English. There are introductions to each book of the Bible. Unlike most other translations, some editions of the GNB contain line drawings of biblical events with a snippet of text. The line drawings were done by Annie Vallotton. However, Vallotton is credited with doing the drawings only in certain editions of the GNB-—in others, the drawings are simply credited to "a Swiss artist".
Since the focus is strongly on ease of understanding, poetry is sometimes sacrificed for clarity. This choice can be seen in the example quotation of John 3:16, which is rendered, "For God loved the world so much that …", which is more pedestrian than the familiar "For God so loved the world". The translated phrase contains a literal, if not figurative, mistranslation: the Greek word for "so" in that passage is Οὕτως, which means "in such a way", not "so much". Because the implication of the phrase "in such a way that he would sacrifice his only son" includes the implication of "so much" and could certainly not include the opposite "loved the world so little," the translators chose the phrase "so much" for its brevity and clarity. See also References
Metzger, Bruce. The Bible in Translation, pp. 167–168.
Sheeley, Steven M. and Nash, Jr., Robert N. Choosing A Bible, pp. 38, 52-53. External links <img src="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciaclass="underline" CentralAutoLogin/start?type=1x1" width="1" height="1">
Source URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Good_News_Bible&printable=yes
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Introduction
The Gospel according to John presents Jesus as the eternal Word of God, who “became a human being and lived among us.” As the book itself says, this Gospel was written so that its readers might believe that Jesus is the promised Savior, the Son of God, and that through their faith in him they may have life (20.31).
After an introduction that identifies the eternal Word of God with Jesus, the first part of the Gospel presents various miracles which show that Jesus is the promised Savior, the Son of God. These are followed by discourses that explain what is revealed by the miracles. This part of the book tells how some people believed in Jesus and became his followers, while others opposed him and refused to believe. Chapters 13–17 record at length the close fellowship of Jesus with his disciples on the night of his arrest, and his words of preparation and encouragement to them on the eve of his crucifixion. The closing chapters tell of Jesus' arrest and trial, his crucifixion and resurrection, and his appearances to his disciples after the resurrection.