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Rolf Furuli
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The Role of Theology and Bias in Bible Translation: With a Special Look at the New World Translation of Jehovah's Witnesses Paperback – February 15, 1999

by Rolf Furuli (Author), Rolf. Furuli (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars 19 ratings
In the natural sciences, a basic principle is to break everything down to the smallest possible units and then study each unit. In linguistics and in the study of the biblical languages, a similar principle was followed with the word as the basic unit, but from the middle of this century the view has developed that the smallest units which were meaningful for translation had to be the sentence or even the paragraph. The author believes that the pendulum has swung too far in one direction, and that it still is meaningful to work with the word as the fundamental unit of translation. The book therefore suggests that for a particular target group - those who, by the help of their mother tongue, want to come as close as possible to the original languages - a literal translation will be better than an idiomatic one. In the course of discussion it is shown that the principles on which such a translation is based accords fully with modern linguistic principles."
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  1. Print length
    360 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Elihu Books
  4. Publication date
    February 15, 1999
  5. Dimensions
    6.5 x 0.75 x 9.25 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0965981444
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0965981446
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rolf Furuli has worked with the biblical text for four decades. Since his first Greek lecture 24 years ago, his interest in translational questions, particularly in the finer nuances of the verbal systems of the biblical languages, has mushroomed, culminating in the publication of this book.

Rolf Furuli has earned his B.A. and mag.art (a degree between M.A. and Ph.D) from the University of Oslo, with an emphasis on Hebrew; he has also studied Accadian, Arabic, Aramaic, Ethiopic, Greek, Latin, Middle Egyptian, Syriac and Ugaritic, and has done postgraduate studies in applied linguistics and semantics. At present he is a lecturer in Semitic languages at the University of Oslo, and is also working on a project where the Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls and ancient inscriptions are studied with the goal of redefining the verbal system of classical Hebrew.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Elihu Books
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 15, 1999
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 360 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0965981444
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0965981446
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.09 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 0.75 x 9.25 inches
  • Best Sellers Rank: #3,070,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.6 out of 5 stars 19 ratings

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Customer reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars
19 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

  • Edgar Foster
    5.0 out of 5 stars Furuli's Learned Discussion of Translation Principles
    Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2003
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses, who prefers using the NWT to any other translation. Yet, while what I'm about to say might be viewed as a biased favorable slant, I think I can somewhat objectively say that Rolf Furuli's book deserves five stars. Furuli skillfully introduces his readers to mental lexicon theory, two triangles of signification involving word, concept and reference, and he thoroughly explains what he means by "concept" and "bias".
    Moreover, Furuli's book contains extended discussions on Jn 1:1c, 8:58, Col 1:15-17 and Philippians 2:6ff. He has a helpful section on the Tetragrammaton and Hebrew aspect in general. His work serves as a challenge to those who insist that Trinitarian explanations of Scripture are to be preferred to non-Trinitarian ones. Despite what some critics have unfairly charged, Furuli's comments are quite balanced and he often avoids resorting to dogmatism or assertion in _Theology and Bias in Bible Translation_. See pages 46-47 of his work.
    Edgar Foster
    Glasgow University
    62 people found this helpful
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  • J. Stewart
    1.0 out of 5 stars A book on translation?
    Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 1999
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    If you are looking for a book on The Role of Theology and Bias in Bible Translation, (in my opinion) you won't find it here. This book claims to be, "...a philological and linguistic approach to the issues, rather than a theological one."(Page xvii) On page 155, Mr. Furuli states, "As we proceed with our discussion, we should keep in mind that the following section of this chapter (or any other part in this book) is not written to defend the renditions of the NWT or the arguments behind them." Again on page 292 he states, "There is therefore, a need for literal Bible translations with extensive footnotes and appendices, so as to inform the reader of the different choices that have been made on his or her behalf. Because the NWT is just such a translation, it was chosen as the object of our study." Mr. Furuli does state in note 8 on page xvii, "Any work will, to a certain extent, be colored by the author's theology, this is of course also the case with this book." This is too weak of an admission. What you find is a book that should have been entitled 'New World Translation Defended.' This book is just a Jehovah's Witness apologetic. In the description of the author, it does not state that he is one of Jehovah's Witnesses. This book picks out three books critical of the New World Translation to refute. These three books are Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus Christ, and The Gospel of John by Robert M. Bowman, Jr.; The Jehovah's Witnesses' New Testament by R.H. Countess; and So Many Versions by S. Kubo and W.F. Specht. Considering the author's claims of providing an objective analysis, it is surprising that he attempts to refute books that are critical of the New World Translation. On pages XV and 45, he states that translation is interpretation. On page 27, he criticizes the TEV for some of its translations of SARX stating, "...thus, the interpreting is done for the reader, when it should be done by the reader." But didn't he say that translation is interpretation (rhetorical question)? Again on page 31, he states, "Idiomatic translations convey words that represent the interpretations of the translators. Literal translations convey concepts that the readers can interpret." But didn't he say that translation is interpretation (rhetorical question)? On page 42, he states that Nida & Taber's translation (interpretation) of Eph. 1:4 is forced upon the reader. But this is a two-edged sword. The New World Translation of Eph. 1:4 is forced upon the reader. The largest problem with all of this is that he is contradicting his organization! In The Watchtower, 7/1/73, page 402, it stated, "Only this organization functions for Jehovah's purpose and to his praise. To it alone God's Sacred Word, the Bible, is not a sealed book." And, in The Watchtower, 10/1/67, page 587, it stated, "Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason, the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah's visible organization in mind." One glaring deficiency in this book is no discussion of the concepts of 'marked' and 'unmarked' meanings of words. This is fundamental to any book on translation. If you want to read a real book on Bible translation, Mr. Furuli references two books I would highly recommend. They are The Theory and Practice of Translation by E.A. Nida & C.R. Taber published by Leiden: Brill, 1974 and From One Language to Another by J. de Waard & E.A. Nida published by Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1986.
    38 people found this helpful
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  • M. van Elburg
    2.0 out of 5 stars The book itself is biased and scholarly flawed and even dishonest
    Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2016
    Format: Paperback
    First of all: Furuli never mentions he is a Jehovah's Witness himself, so when you talk about bias regarding the New Word Translation of Jehovah's Witnesses, it works both ways and as a scientist you are ethically obliged to state your membership of this religion and other conflicts of interest. Throughout the book Furuli is specifically making an effort to make the impression he writes from a neutral point of view, which is clearly not the case.

    Further is Furuli's approach methodologically flawed. Another reviewer already pointed out that a translator taking the word as the smallest possible entity ignores many recent studies that point in the direction of taking a sentence or kernel / thought / idea as the smallest possible entity. Determining the right translation of a word is often impossible without looking at the context of that word. Furuli ignores this completely and never explains why a translation that is as literal as possible, is the best way for readers to make an "informed choice", especially readers that do not master Hebrew or Greek. And that is because exactly the opposite is true. Furuli seems to suggest that only a word-for-word translation can avoid to interpret instead of translate. And this brings me to the most problematic aspect of this work: Furuli simply ignores the real objections against the New World Translation: this translation is not consistent in following their own word-for-word-translation principle in those cases when this would be problematic in relation to their own doctrines. Bowman gives plenty of examples that Furuli not even mentions, let alone explains. As dr. Mark House said in 2010, this work should be renamed "The New World Translation defended." Ignoring the real objections against the translation by and for Jehovah's Witnesses can only be explained from the fact that Furuli is a Jehovah's Witness himself, as mentioned above: a fact he never discloses in this book. This is called dishonest scholarship.
    5 people found this helpful
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