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... but what's the use?

Both Ken Litwak and Vincent Broman have brought this otherwise seemingly
esoteric discussion of translation, paraphrase, DE, etc., to a more pragmatic
focus [the one from IBM and the other from .MIL -- surely, we're not being
rescued from our obscurities by the military-industrial complex, are we? --
sorry, but the Nixon funeral coverage re-ignited my long-dormant 60s
vocabulary, and I just had to let some of it out.  :)  ]
 
But, after the Broman suggestions of a "Parallel Bible" solution for the
typical non-specialized reader, I found myself asking:  "But what's the use?" 
In my congregation, people what to "read my Bible," for whatever motivations,
and I think that such is by far the greatest interest in approaching the Bible. 
Their intended use is to be exposed to what they regard as sacred scripture. 
and while the parallel text idea holds much merit for the
wannabe-better-informed Bible student, Litwak's question is, imo, the more
appropriate for solving the translation problem:
 
	> surely we can be approximately close enough for it to be usable
	> enough for it to be usable in communicating the basic gist of the
	> original author(s) can't we?
 
I think that the answer is "yes!"  Illustration/analogy:  My wife and five
children are far to bulky for me to carry in my wallet, but the pictures of
them which I do carry provide a substantial introduction of my family's
characteristics, so that someone who never me{ them could recognize them when
the entered the room, after that person had studied the wallet photos.
 
I think most of us believe that such a parallel result obtains from many of the
translations available to the English-speaking readership today.  Now, if we
can grant that, what properties of text, language, translation, etc., explain
that phenomena?  Perhaps, here is point from which to connect with both the
more academic and the more pragmatics concerns which have arisen on this
heretofore stimulating thread.
 
Rev. Robert W. Schaibley, Sr. Pastor
Zion Ev. Lutheran Church
Fort Wayne, Indiana