From: CWestf5155@aol.com
Date: Wed Jul 23 1997 - 02:22:44 EDT
Carl & Jonathan:
I was out of the loop for some time. When I finally started reading the mail
again, the entire Stealth discussion had played out. I read all of the
correspondance in one evening.
I want to tell you that I am grateful that you both entered the discussion
and that you addressed the issues in the way that you did. I am not going to
thank you for your position, because you simply reflected what is in the
grammar--you didn't create new grammar to please anyone or to be
contemporary. And Jonathan--your logic and common sense was refreshing. It
was a relief and a pleasure for me to read your observations.
Needless to say, this whole thing is painful. And it is personal. Last week
my seminary's "Letters to the Editor" claimed that publishing one of my
articles was a "Stealth move." But the article had nothing about gender. It
was a discussion on John 14:6.
I am disturbed by the ethics and the power play that was involved in shutting
down the revised NIV. I am also disturbed that the IBS announced that the
NIV was "the people's Bible" and if the people didn't want it translated a
certain way, it would be translated the way they wanted it. Strange that the
conservatives liked that guideline for translation.
The biggest issue was that the misrepresentations and "witch hunt" tactics
have driven a wedge between the Greek scholars and the laypeople. My Greek
professors were traditional, but they graded us down if we failed to use
inclusive language. My hunch is that 75% of the conservative evangelical
Greek scholars either require or accept inclusive language in their students'
translations.
I am contemplating whether I should respond to this issue. I have considered
conducting a poll of Greek professors which included the disputed texts: do
you teach your students to translate James 1:12 inclusively? If not, do you
accept an inclusive translations from your students? Etc. I would guess
that the poll would reveal a consensus on the general issue, but a divergence
on issues such as whether a singular pronoun should be changed to plural to
maintain inclusive language. Even if it did not reveal a consensus, I would
personally like to know the results of a poll.
Cindy Westfall
Denver Seminary
application in route to Roehampton
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