59 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Much closer to the first century origins..., August 5, 2002
By A Customer
I highly reccommend this book, the Complete Jewish Bible, and the Jewish New Testement Commentary, all by Stern.
It is in intriguing peculiarity of Western European and American cultural bias that so many people reviewing this product on Amazon.com write that other editions, such as the Authorized Version of the KJV, are "more reliable." What arrogance!
To presume that an outdated English translation of the original Hebrew and Greek is somehow MORE authoritative is laughable when you consider the KJV translators were living 1,500 years after the time the New Testement was written, and by a group of men who were, primarily, antiSemitic Christians.
It is important to remember that the New Testement was a product of first century Jews (just as our Messiah was a first century Jew).
So you must ask yourself, who is more reliable to turn to when seeking to understand the mind of first century Jewish authors... a 20th century Jew, or a bunch of 15th century antiSemites?
This is not meant as an attack upon Christians or even the KJV translators, but simply a challenge to divorce oneself from the cultural bias, completely baseless, that the KJV translation is somehow flawless, holy and uniquely inspired. It is not.
Stern makes no pretensions of this edition of the New Testement being the result of a "committee of translators" as one reviewer on here charged. He freely admits it is solely his own work.
But does single-authorship of a translation make it less valid? If so, perhaps King David, Moses, Paul and other Bible authors should never have set pen to paper without calling together a meeting of all the Biblical apostles.
Now, I'll admit the tone of this review is a bit combative, but I was reacting primarily to certain other reviewers. Do not let that affect how you approach this fine work; although he is the sole author, Stern's Jewish New Testement has its basis in millenia of Jewish thought and really does away with some "commonly accepted truths" embraced by Christians worldwide that are actually textual misunderstandings lost over the centuries due to the widening crevice separating Christians from the Jewish roots of their faith.
Definitely worth your time and serious study.
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27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Work... Ignore the Criticisms, April 8, 2004
You are going to hear strong Criticisms from certain groups in regard to this translation... Ignore them. They revolve around the contemporary Pauline debate which most Christians are ignorant of...
While I am not inclined to follow Stern in many places in regard to his Pauline interpretation, he does give a new angle to think about. By the way the Greek kartegeo in Ephesians 2:11-16 is a very technical term meaning to nullify the impact not abolish. Messiah nullifies the impact of the separation caused by Purity laws.
Stern takes does take liberties in places but honestly not any more than the NIV does from a Gentile Evangelical perspective. ALL TRANSLATION INVOLVES AT LEAST SOME ELEMENT OF INTERPRETATION. Certainly there are more "literal" translations but Stern's translation emphasizes often ignored or glossed background. Don't stop here though buy the commentary, start reading up on the New Perspective on Paul and start challenging your friends.
After that Learn Greek and Hebrew....
May the Shalom of God rest upon you
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22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
good translation, July 24, 2000
Unless one is using the original Greek, which I don't, one should try to have a few translations at hand. This is one I fully recommend having, because it will bring out the inherent Jewishness that is already in the text. This is long overlooked, and it is great that this translation exists. One should be warned that it is only one translator, so bias can more easily creep into the translation. But for what it does, it does well. I would not use it as my sole New Testament, but I would and do use it. I especially love reading the four gospels in this translation.
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