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Re: Evangelicals and dynamic equivalence
On Monday, May 9, Prof. Sennett wrote the following:
>>Technically, a paraphrase is restatement of meaning from one form to
another *in the same language.* As I recall, the Living Bible claims
to be based on the Hebrew and Greek texts, with reference to earlier
translations -- a claim similar to that made by virtually every
English translation. The process of restating meaning from one
language to another is called "translation." I think, though I may
be mistaken, that the Living Bible being called a paraphrase
is based on the misunderstanding that only so-called "literal"
translations are really translations, and other attempts to transfer
meaning into more usable idiom must be "paraphrases", since that is
usually the task of paraphrase within a given language.<<
My strong recollection is that the preface to the earliest editions
of the Living Bible indicated that Gardner(?) was not a scholar of
Hebrew or Greek, and that what he (alone) had done was to take the
KJV and put it in language that his pre-adolescent daughter could
understand. I share your conern that we not rush to call a bad
translation a "paraphrase." However, the 3rd ed. of Simon &
Schuster's Handbook for writers says, "When you paraphrase, you
precisely restate in your own words a passage written (or spoken) by
another person"(564). It seems to me that this is precisely what
Gardner has done, and by his own admission. I hope to uncover my
copy of the earliest edition to verify my suspicion.
Barry R. Sang
Catawba College
2300 W. Innes St.
Salisbury, NC 28144
(704) 637-4354