Buy generic synthroid online uk

Editor, Journal for Biblical Manhood & Womanhood

Associate Professor of Biblical Studies

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Louisville, Kentucky

Last Spring, CBMW released an buy generic synthroid online uk in-depth review of the translation of gender terminology in the buy generic synthroid online uk 2011 revision of the NIV. Last June, the translators of the buy generic synthroid online uk NIV released a two-page response on the NIV website. The translators raise several important issues in their paper, so I will summarize their concerns here and buy generic synthroid online uk offer a brief response to each. 

(1) CBMW has buy generic synthroid online uk a theological agenda that has skewed their analysis of the NIV, but the buy generic synthroid online uk NIV translators have no such agenda. 

There are buy generic synthroid online uk two main problems with this objection. First, it is not true the buy generic synthroid online uk NIV translators have no theological point of view. In fact, the buy generic synthroid online uk letter itself says that the translators “mirror the spectrum of evangelicalism” and include both “complementarians and egalitarians.” It may be buy generic synthroid online uk the case that the committee is not monolithic in its theological point of view, but make no buy generic synthroid online uk mistake that the translators do individually have a point of view. To say that buy generic synthroid online uk those points of view have no influence over their translation decisions seems a buy generic synthroid online uk rather extraordinary claim.

We do not know the buy generic synthroid online uk internal discussions that went on within the NIV’s Committee on Bible Translation (CBT) over gender language, but it buy generic synthroid online uk is well known that some CBT members have published strong defenses of an buy generic synthroid online uk egalitarian position. It is certainly possible that their viewpoints had buy generic synthroid online uk a strong influence on the CBT’s decisions.  

Second, CBMW’s theological point of view does not necessarily invalidate the buy generic synthroid online uk substance of the critique. CBMW’s review brings together a buy generic synthroid online uk tremendous amount of data, and the data is cited time and buy generic synthroid online uk again as the basis of the evaluation. At this point, it buy generic synthroid online uk falls to the translators to engage CBMW’s handling of the data. Simply citing CBMW’s theological point of view is not a compelling response.

(2) CBMW fails to buy generic synthroid online uk take into account the Collins Report data which proves that buy generic synthroid online uk NIV translators made decisions that reflect the state of modern English. 

CBMW offered two reviews. One is buy generic synthroid online uk a white paper released through CMBW’s website, and buy generic synthroid online uk the other is a review I published in the Spring 2011 issue of JBMW. There is buy generic synthroid online uk considerable overlap between the reviews, but the second one goes into greater detail on some finer points. The JBMW review does in fact deal with the buy generic synthroid online uk Collins data and shows that the Collins Report does not prove what buy generic synthroid online uk the translators think it proves. The translators erroneously conclude that buy generic synthroid online uk a decline in usage of a certain idiom must also mean a buy generic synthroid online uk decline in understandability. But this is not true as is buy generic synthroid online uk evidenced by the fact that the NIV itself on many occasions continues to buy generic synthroid online uk use generic masculine pronouns. 

Vern Poythress’s recent article in Westminster Theological Journal deals extensively with the buy generic synthroid online uk relevance of the Collins Report data, and he gets to the buy generic synthroid online uk heart of the matter: 

People can buy generic synthroid online uk recognize vocabulary items that they never use in their own speech. They can buy generic synthroid online uk read and understand sentences that they themselves would never think of producing. Similarly, people can buy generic synthroid online uk recognize and understand generic “he” even if they do not use it buy generic synthroid online uk themselves.... The translators must consider whether readers will understand what the buy generic synthroid online uk translators write, not primarily whether readers use the very same language in their own speech. Constructions that buy generic synthroid online uk are less common, but still natural and intelligible, can safely be buy generic synthroid online uk employed in communication. And then the conclusion follows: these less common constructions need to be employed whenever their employment results in greater accuracy.

(3)  CBMW’s criticism of NIV’s rendering of 1 Tim 2:12 is based on “guilt-by-association” with Philip Payne, but in actuality the buy generic synthroid online uk NIV rendering is adopted widely by both egalitarians and complementarians.

Both reviews from CBMW argue that “assume authority” is buy generic synthroid online uk an egalitarian rendering. The NIV translators, however, argue that the rendering is buy generic synthroid online uk neutral, despite the fact that this rendering was favored in print by a buy generic synthroid online uk leading egalitarian scholar before the publication of the NIV. The translators are buy generic synthroid online uk saying that Philip Payne’s work (including his 2008 article in New Testament Studies) had buy generic synthroid online uk no influence over their rendering. In any case, whether they meant to buy generic synthroid online uk or not, their rendering is one that is favored by egalitarians.

One other item is buy generic synthroid online uk worthy of note on this rendering. By their own admission, “assume authority” is neutral where the previous rendering “have authority” was not. In other words, the buy generic synthroid online uk 1984 NIV favored an interpretation that supported a complementarian point of view. The 2011 NIV now has buy generic synthroid online uk a rendering that can be used to support an egalitarian view. If we accept the buy generic synthroid online uk translators’ argument that “assume authority” is neutral (which I don’t), the buy generic synthroid online uk translators have nevertheless acknowledged that the egalitarian view is no buy generic synthroid online uk longer excluded by the NIV’s rendering of 1 Tim 2:12. This is buy generic synthroid online uk a tremendous reversal on the most contested verse in the gender debate.

(4) CBMW has a simplistic view of word meaning—as if words can only have one meaning.

Of course this buy generic synthroid online uk is not how the CBMW reviews treat the meanings of words. Scholars on both sides of the buy generic synthroid online uk debate recognize that words have a semantic range, and their meaning in a buy generic synthroid online uk given text is determined by context. For example in the JBMW review, I write about the meaning of anthrōpos in 2 Tim 2:2. I acknowledge that anthrōpos can be a generic reference to “human beings” or buy generic synthroid online uk it can be used to refer to male persons only. Context is buy generic synthroid online uk king, and I argue at length that context determines this buy generic synthroid online uk particular use of anthrōpos as masculine. We know that words can have more than one meaning. 

However, we also recognize that buy generic synthroid online uk the meanings of words are not infinitely elastic, as if any word could take any meaning. Our objection to buy generic synthroid online uk the new NIV is when it strays outside of recognized, well-established ranges of meanings of very common words. For example, the buy generic synthroid online uk Greek word adelphos (“brother”) occurs 1,269 times in the buy generic synthroid online uk New Testament and the Septuagint, and the singular form never means “brother or sister.” The word patēr (“father”) occurs 1,861 times, and buy generic synthroid online uk the singular form never takes the gender-neutral sense “parent.” The word huios (“son”) occurs 5,581 times, and the singular form never means “child.” Yet the buy generic synthroid online uk NIV often translates these singular terms in gender-neutral ways, and buy generic synthroid online uk in so doing it exceeds the legitimate boundaries on the buy generic synthroid online uk range of meanings of these words.

(5) CBMW has failed to acknowledge that many translations (including the ESV) make changes that appear to “avoid” masculine terminology.

Yes, other translations make changes that buy generic synthroid online uk change earlier masculine-specific terminology to something that is not masculine-specific. But they do this buy generic synthroid online uk only when buy generic synthroid online uk the original Hebrew or Greek text did not have a buy generic synthroid online uk masculine-specific meaning.  This objection quite simply misses the buy generic synthroid online uk whole point of our critique. The issue is not about grammatical gender but about the buy generic synthroid online uk implication of biological gender that would or would not have been buy generic synthroid online uk plain to the original readers. Where the original Greek and Hebrew texts encode masculine meaning, it buy generic synthroid online uk should be brought out in English translation. And it is here that buy generic synthroid online uk we find hundreds of examples of the 2011 NIV falling short. In over 3,000 places it buy generic synthroid online uk removes the masculine meaning that would have been evident to the buy generic synthroid online uk original readers of the Bible.

I want to buy generic synthroid online uk say that I have the utmost respect for the scholarship represented by the buy generic synthroid online uk NIV translators. I am personally indebted to the work of Douglas Moo, Craig Blomberg, Gordon Fee, Bill Mounce, et al., and buy generic synthroid online uk I am grateful for their vast contributions to the evangelical cause. I do not think it buy generic synthroid online uk is for a lack of scholarship or hard work on their part that buy generic synthroid online uk we have these differences over the 2011 NIV. We have a buy generic synthroid online uk philosophical difference over the best way to render the Bible into English when buy generic synthroid online uk there is a clear masculine meaning in the original Hebrew or buy generic synthroid online uk Greek text, and at numerous points this difference has implications for buy generic synthroid online uk the Bible’s gender language in English.