51 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Truth In Translation-Werner is Shameful Plug for New Bible..., June 6, 2008
This review is from: TRUTH IN TRANSLATION: Accuracy and Surprising Bias in the Old Testament (Paperback)
I bought this book "Truth in Translation" because it has a nearly identical title and identical art work on the cover, to another book "Truth In Translation" though by a David Debuhn, (that I thoroughly enjoyed and learned from) so I thought it was written by a colleague of his or of someone of his caliber.
How Werner and her ARTB publisher can get away with this, is beyond belief and should not be permissible!
Unlike the book by Debuhn, this book is a scam, a shameless advertising plug for the purchase of a new Bible, which coincidentally is published by the same publisher of her book, ARTB Publishing. In fact the Book "Truth in Translation" by this A. Francis Werner, is included in the new Bible it advertises published by ARTB, as an appendage.
Not only is she wrong, in many or most of her assertions, but the claims made by her of revealing "surprising bias" etc. NEVER appear in the book at all!!! What she calls "surprising" is standard and natural, different acceptable expressions that are usual and customary in every day language, used in translating not only the Bible but other works!
For example in Chapter 3 she makes a big "surprising" issue over the word, in Hebrew that is translated into English as both Angel and Messenger and compares two scriptures as translated or version written in several Bibles. (She does this with other NON surprising words, in like manner throughout the book while plugging the new Bible which coincidentally ranks BEST to use accordingly to her, so buy one)----That's it, the shockingly big surprise and bias!!!!
Regarding this same Hebrew word she claims that it should ONLY be translated as messenger and NOT or NEVER angel and blames the use of "angel" on Greek influence among things. She makes the following (incorrect) blanket bold statement, "Any version which inserts the word angels throughout the Old Testament for messengers from God may be leading readers to the wrong assumption that humans have nothing to do with heavenly messages." First, that is NOT what translating "messenger" in place of "angel" or visa versa does!!!
Now, interestingly, to support this "surprising" conclusion she cites (among other scriptures) the account found in Judges 13:9, about a messenger visiting the soon to be parents of Samson, and claims the word should be messenger rather than angel, or one can be misled to think that humans have nothing to do with heavenly messages!!! What does this statement have to do with the price of bananas? Exactly, my point!!!!!
I humbly submit, this issue, as supported by the scripture at Judges 13:9, has nothing to do with supporting the idea that humans have nothing to do with heavenly messages, not to mention that this is completely off the subject matter, (of her own statement) but instead of choosing messenger here in this verse, angel is indeed appropriate (meaning no one can find fault with or surprising bias here) as the account shows in verse 17 and 18 that he messenger did not provide a name, but explains it is a "wonderful-one" and in verse 19, shows this messenger doing something in a "wonderful way" and finally in verse 20 this messenger is shown NOT to be human, as the messenger "ascended into the flame of the altar heavenward" making it crystal clear that it is an spirit creature, angel in the account!!! Therefore any reasonable person (scholar or not) can and would use the word angel in this verse (Greek influenced or not) without compromising the text at all, and for that matter use messenger and it would have the same affect, which has NO effect on "humans having nothing to do with heavenly messages"!!!
As to her discussion and big deal she makes on "missing words" I wish to quote the words of Professor Moises Silva, Ph.D., University of Manchester, formerly Professor of New Testament, Westminster Theological Seminary and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and apply it here, when he states in the book "The Challenge of Bible Translation, Communicating God's Word to the World", of which he served as contributor among many, where he states on page 25, "His personal struggle early on to translate into English all the rich nuances of Spanish, his own first language, convinced him that any "literal" word-for-word translation strategy will prove both impossible and ultimately unhelpful." I couple it with the words on page 22 of that book which states, "Translation is not as straightforward as converting Fahrenheit temperatures to Celsius or Roman numerals to regular numbers. Thus, the one of the recurring themes in this volume is that translation is not an exact science. We should take this to mean that the fantasy of a one-for-one mechanical conversion process has finally been exposed for the false it really is."
By way of a simple example of what is expressed above for use in understanding "missing words" and using the simple (as compared to Classical Greek or Ancient Hebrew) known language of today, Spanish, note, that the simple word in English, "courtroom" exactly translates into two words in Spanish, "Corte" [for the first part-court] and "Cuarto" and or "Sitio" [for the second part of the word-room ] however, if you would to express to anyone highly educated or dumb in Spanish today, that they need to go to the "Corte Cuarto" or "Corte Sitio" NO ONE WOULD UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MEANS AT ALL AS IT MAKES NO SENSE!!! Now, the correct dynamic or formal equivalence of the English word "Courtroom" in Spanish is "La Sala Del Tribunal", so one in Spanish could easily understand that they need to go to this place! NOTE: Not only are there "missing-words" not one of the words that this translates to, is match at all to "courtroom" in English! This Werner author is misleading and her readers, who may find her work to actually be more than a shameful plug, advertising piece for a new Bible!
There is an old Latin expression taught in some law schools L1 programs, that I do my best to spell from memory, that applies to this book; uni falti, tutti falti, that roughly translates into, when `one thing is wrong with a document or matter, then the whole document or matter is wrong'!!!
Shameful plug with a poorly written work!!!
Sincerely,
TonyP-Tucson Arizona
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Is it ethical to deceive in order to promote a new book or Bible translation?, June 6, 2009
This review is from: TRUTH IN TRANSLATION: Accuracy and Surprising Bias in the Old Testament (Paperback)
Is it ethical to deceive in order to promote a new book or Bible translation?
THIS IS NOT THE REAL BOOK!!! This work's title and book cover plagiarizes almost word for word the original title and cover appearance of the real book by the genuine scholar Mr. Jason David BeDuhn.
THE real book is "TRUTH IN TRANSLATION" Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament by Jason David BeDuhn by University Press of America ISBN 0-76182556-8 paperback edition, or ISBN 0-7618-2555-X clothbound edition, which is, by the way a scholarly respected work of rigorous academics and diligent research.
Is it then really ethical to deceive the public in at first thinking this person's comments have something to do with Mr. Beduhn's work?
Is it really necessary to resort to academic dishonesty, greed and deception in this pathetic world? How sad this person and her publishing house feels compelled to resort to deception to sell her books. I question the value of her material when she has to resort to copying almost word for word the title and the cover art and graphics of another's work, obviously in an effort to deceive and confuse the hapless reader.
Academic ethics and honesty demands she change her title and cover art and graphics immediately with a letter of apology to Mr. Jason David DeBuhn and to us, the public.
At this point I am so disturbed by this deception I find it difficult to consider anything she may have written as having value since she herself has overshadowed her own efforts to sell her book by resorting to dishonesty and plagiarism. To be fair I wanted to learn more about the publishing house ARTB Publishing but the number provided has a recorded message stating it was not a working number. (314-843-8360) Perhaps there is another number?...I do not know.
Since her comments concern Bible usage in translation, I wonder what the AUTHOR of the BOOK of Books thinks of her efforts? Stealing another person's name or coveting another person's property or any form of deception and hypocrisy for whatever reason, is strongly condemned in Sacred Scripture. (Exodus 20:15-17, Psalms 5:4-6; John 4:24; John 7:17-18, and John 17:17 to just name a few important texts.)
I question what has happened here to her love of God and love of Neighbor? (Leviticus 19:18 Matthew 22:36-40) Her conduct brings reproach on honest academic analysis of Scripture. Her conduct strengthens my convictions that the prophetic power of Scripture continues to be fulfilled not only in earlier times but especially now in our day as noted in these few examples (Matthew 7:15-23, Romans 13:10 and again 2nd Timothy chapter3, the entire chapter, but especially verse 13.)
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
