Study Bibles

This is the my summary presentation from the Bangkok TO training workshop

Extracted text from Without_Note_or_Comment.pptx:

Without Note or Comment How do Study Bibles fit in the Bible Society Movements mission?16th Century Bibles Tyndale Bishops Geneva Copious (often polemic) notes1611 Authorized Version Set out not to include divisive notes Ended up with 17,000 notes Refined and revised up to 17691804 British and Foreign Bible Society BFBS laws and regulations to encourage a wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures without note or comment non sectarian, non-denominational 1806 Mohawk Gospel of JohnTeyoninhokovrawen (John Norton) Father a Cherokee from Tennessee Adopted as Mohawk Translated John into Mohawk for BFBS 1804- 1806 Introductory address To the Six Nations removed on BFBS insistance1816 American Bible Society Our object is to distribute the Holy Scriptures without note or comment. At this, no politician can be alarmed, no sectary can be reasonably jealous. We shall distribute no other book, we shall teach no disputed doctrine. Laying aside for this purpose the banners of our respective corps, we assemble under the sole standard of the great captain of our salvation. We endeavor to extend his reign, and in his name alone we contend. Peter A. Jay, Founding Member of ABS19th Century Objections A. OCallaghan. 1817. Thoughts on the Tendency of Bible Societies As Affecting the Established Church and Christianity Itself as a Reasonable Service. London: Walker and Edwards. There is, however, reason to apprehend, that the labours of the Society will produce at home less fruit than is expected, or fruit in abundance, but of a poisonous quality, and be almost unproductive abroad...OCallaghans objections The nature of the text The ability of the audience The common assertion, that the Bible is suited to all ages, capacities, and stations of life, is not true, or true only in a very restricted sense. Of all books, it is perhaps the most difficult. This is natural and unavoidable. It is the work of different men, writing in different ages, and all very remote. Some of its books are the most ancient compositions extant and none of a later date than the first century of the Christian era. They were written in a country far remote from western Europe, whose climate, soil, animal and vegetable productions are strikingly contrasted with our own; while the laws, manners, customs, civil and military institutions, opinions and forms of government of its inhabitants, discover scarcely any resemblance to those with which we are acquainted. All these circumstances powerfully influenced their language, and produced modes of speaking, allusions, and images, obscure or unintelligible to the peasantry of modern Europe. Besides, the glowing imagination of the eastern nations was delighted with a style highly figurative, and indulged without restrain in the boldest metaphors, allegories, hyperboles, and amplifications.OCallaghans objections The nature of the text Historical, geographical, cultural distance Linguistic distance CONTEXT!! The ability of the audience The natural effect on the uncultivated mind, of reading the Bible without note or comment, oral or written, is enthusiasm more or less sublimated, according to the temperament of the individual. Religious ideas and doctrines, presented to the understand, without explaining, through the gross medium of ignorance, are obscure and indistinct: but by those very qualities, added to their highly interesting and awful import, they astonish and confound the mind, stimulate the imagination to its wildest flights, and overpower the reasoning faculty, which becomes altogether passive, or lends itself to give consistency to delusion, and some appearance of regularity to the chaotic mass of loose feeling, unreal images, and wild conceptions.Letter to The Gospel Advocate Vol. 2 1822 If no comments are necessary, what is the object of the constant instructions of the pulpit? and if the bible alone, put into the hands of a heathen, be sufficient to lead him to embrace the Christian faith, what need is there of missionaries? Erroneous principles always come attended with a train of practical evils; and such has been the case with the position in question.Because the society had determined to publish the bible without note or comment, it was inferred that the translations in the margin out to be omitted; and accordingly the editions, published by the several bible societies, I believe without exception, omit them. But these marginal translations are an integral part of the text of the authorized English version. ...it will be seen that the construction put upon the words without note of comment has in fact led to a mutilation of our bibles. Another evil introduced by this erroneous construction, has been the omission of all the marginal references. These are of the greatest importance for the understanding of the scriptures because they enable toe reader to refer to the several passages in which the same expression is used, and which therefore often through light upon each other. They also point out the allusions to, or quotations from the old testament, contained in the new Either the naked text should be printed or the authorized version, as it came from the hands of our translators, should be preserved unmutilated.Without note or content takes into account neither the context of the text Internal External Nor the context of the reader1939 NBS 125th anniversary at Woudschoten Prof Hendrick Kraemer called for (the BS) movement to teach Bible and its use. And he wanted Bible stories published. The logic of what he was saying seemd to beleading to the proposal that Bibles should be issued with explanations.1950s Eugene Nida Eugene A. Nida, Marginal Helps for the Reader, BT 9/1 (1958), 1-21.1968 BFBS adds other than such aids for readers as shall have previously been approved by the General Committee 1971 ABS ..without doctrinal note or comment.. 1984 BFBS adds Scripture use to its aim of distribution1992 UBS Guidelines on Study Bibles 1.1 ...a study Bible is defined as a Bible published by one or more national Bible Societies, and containing, in addition to standard readers' helps, further helps intended to enable readers to understand more fully, and practically to apply for themselves, the meaning of the biblical text 1.2 Study Bibles, like other Bible Society publications, exclude doctrinal note and comment. "Doctrinal" in this context is understood to refer to contentious theological and denominational issues. Study Bibles accordingly should not include material which imposes post-biblical doctrinal formulations, expresses the distinctive tenets of a particular denomination or theological tendency, or prescribes any specific contemporary application. The study materials, however, should be written so as to allow the readers to discover applications to their own situations. 1.3 Study Bibles should reflect the broadest possible consensus among biblical scholars and in the believing community. Where no such consensus exists, various views may be concisely presented, only if relevant to the intended readers. 1.4 Bible Society study Bibles may be seen as an extension of the principle of functional equivalence in the sense that the study materials make explicit the implicit information needed for understanding the text. Such information could include linguistic, cultural, historical and geographical information which would have shaped the response of the original readers.4. The Translation 4.1 The content of additional study Bible material will partly depend on the type of translation used as the study Bible's base text and the standard readers' helps which accompany that translation. It is usually unsatisfactory to link study Bible material with a translation other than that for which it was originally intended. If for exceptional reasons this is done, the additional material should be thoroughly revised. 4.2 Study Bibles should preferably be based on a common language or other functional/dynamic equivalent translation. This procedure has the following advantages: l) A maximum of semantic content is clearly expressed in the text, thereby reducing the number of explanations required in the additional material. 2) Use of such a translation will encourage readers to study whole sections of the text, rather than concentrating exclusively on individual words.

4.3 Where such a translation is used, it is sometimes appropriate to give a literal translation in the notes, so as to bring out formal or structural features of the original text.4.4 Where, for special reasons, a study Bible is based on a formal correspondence or traditional translation, the additional material should attempt to bring out elements of meaning obscured by the translation. 4.5 It is sometimes advantageous to combine the preparation of additional material with recommendations to the publisher for the revision of the text of the translation.5. Additional Material It is assumed that a study Bible will include standard UBS categories of reader's helps; namely, introductions; alternative readings; alternative renderings; explanation of proper names, plays on words, historical backgrounds, and cultural differences; cross references; and section headings. Study Bibles contain further relevant background material, such as information of a linguistic, literary, historical, cultural, sociological, and religious nature readily available to the original readers, but not to the intended readers of the study Bible. Much of this information may be more concisely and attractively given n the form of graphic features such as maps, tables, and illustrationsStudy Bible material should not repeat or rephrase the text Homiletical language should be avoided, but study material should allow the text to reach the mind, heart and will. Study Bible material should allow each part of the Bible to speak with its own distinctive voice Help should be given in understanding inconsistencies in the text, within a view of biblical teaching as a diverse but coherent and developing whole.Some questions that have to be asked when considering a Study Bible project. Who is it intended to communicate with? What is its purpose? What translation will it be based on? How will the paratextual material be produced? What kinds of paratextual material will be produced? How will this paratextual material relate to existing paratext (notes, etc.) in the translation?Ernst Wendland. Ten (possibly) Mistaken Notions about Producing a Study Bible: Some Things I Have Learned along the Way. BT Vol. 61, No. 4: 176-1901. You must have a team of PhDs My ideal editorial committee for a study Bible might consist of three scholars having Ph.D.s in Old Testament, New Testament, and the target language (TL), including a Catholic priest and at least one female university professor. 2. Mother-tongue scholars will automatically be able o generate contextualized BS notes for their people. 3. Editors representing widely divergent denominations will never agree on the working of SB notes 4. You can simply translate or adapt the notes of a standard study Bible 5. A good SB will cater for the entire TL community6. A SB project will quickly generate widespread support among the TL community, due to its perceived prestige 7. The national BS can easily organize and effectively administer a SB project 8. Setting strict goals and deadlines is neither necessary nor possible for so large, complex and sensitive a venture as a SB project 9. Paratext software makes the preparation of SB notes a relatively simple, straightforward process. 10. Research sampling and product testing becomes too complicated to carry out for a SB project.Harriet Hill. Relevant Study Bibles. BT Vol. 61, No. 4: 191-207 Based on Relevance Theory assumptionsTesting Interpretations

1. Would the contextual information our interpretation relies on have been shared by the original author and audience?
2. Does the contextual information lead to cognitive effects? If not, it would have been rejected by the audience.
3. Would the contextual information have come to mind quickly for the audience? Was it used recently or frequently? If it was difficult to access, it probably was not the intended context.Testing Interpretations
4. Is the interpretation something the author could and would communicate? Is it compatible with his abilities and preferences (Sperber and Wilson 1995, 270)? Interpretations that clash with what we know about the author are disqualified. For example, Jesus cannot intend us to understand the instruction to tear out ones eye (Matt 5.29) literally, as this calls for self-mutilation, which is incompatible with Jesus preferences shown elsewhere.
5. Does the interpretation account for the effort the author asked his readers to make? If an unusual construction or term is used that requires extra processing,does our interpretation show the added meaning this has communicatedLuke 10.13-14 13Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. NRSV 13How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you too, Bethsaida! If the miracles which were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, the people there would long ago have sat down, put on sackcloth, and sprinkled ashes on themselves, to show that they had turned from their sins! 14God will show more mercy on Judgement Day to Tyre and Sidon than to you. GNTWhat assumptions would the original audience have had to make to understand these verses? Which of these might be unavailable to todays audience? Do Study Bibles address these particular issues?Crafting Relevant Notes
6. Using biblical scholarship, do your best to identify the authors intended implications, how the text was to be filled out, and the context he expected the original audience to use.
7. Define your audience clearly.3. Identify and correct mismatches between the context that comes to mind for your audience and that of the original audience. a. Do they know the contextual information? If not, provide it. If so, would it come to mind quickly? Sometimes processing a reminder of known information takes less effort than recalling it from memory. b. Are there unintended contexts your audience might use that would lead them to unintended implications? Prepare materials to correct these, using whatever means are appropriate. Perhaps not all of this may be done in a study Bible format. Multiple meanssuch as topical studies, films, picture books, and so forthare often helpful4. Test your materials with a representative sample of your audience to see if the materials are relevant. Look for what is widely-shared and long-lasting. a) Do the materials help your audience understand the text better? b) Does your audience already know information you are supplying, and if so, can they recall it easily? If so, delete it. c) Is the bridge between the new information youre providing and their present knowledge complete? If not, identify what is missing and supply it.Finally...
8. Processing helps must lead the audience to infer more effects from the text than they could without the helps. If not, helps decrease relevance.
9. Repeating what is already clear from the text does not result in additional cognitive effects.
10. Ensure that all the information you supply contributes to the implications of the passage. Be especially careful for your own bias, sorting what is relevant for understanding the passage from what is relevant for another purpose.
11. Match the amount of information you give to what your audience is willing to process.
12. If you send people to the note of another passage, ensure that that note is relevant enough to offset the added effort. Provide the page number of that reference to reduce processing costs.Paratext in the authoring and checking of Study Bibles