Will The Books of the Bible Be Cast Aside?

Last week the announcement that the TNIV and updated NIV are going to be scrapped to pave the way for a moderated 2011 NIV set off a round of shock, dismay, and, for some, pleasure as the news breathed fresh life into translation wars (see McKnight’s latest posts on Translation Tribalism 1, 2).

As a person who doesn’t care about translation issues as much as readablity issues (I fully agree with McKnight’s conjecture that the New American Standard Bible [NASB] is "for those who want straight Bible, forget the English"; the poetic nature of the Bible is destroyed in that translation, in my opinion), the announcement really upset me.  I don’t care about the TNIV translation issues and what the supporters and naysayers of the TNIV say about it.  I’ll let them battle it out.  What really upset me is that the TNIV is the translation used for The Books of the Bible, the most readable, useable, and literary publishing of the Bible in my lifetime.  It is not the Bible as textbook which almost all translations are set as, with notes, footnotes, crossreferences, numbers, asterisks, and all that.  Instead, The Books of the Bible (TBoTB) is set so that people can read and interact with the Bible as text.  

I had established contact with TBoTB crew earlier when they asked me for personal feedback on how I use the text, so I emailed one of the people working with that publication team about the current status of TBoTB due to the impending banishment of the TNIV translation.

Here is the response I received from Glenn Paauw, Director of Publication Development at Biblica (f.k.a. International Bible Society) as relayed by my contact:

"The launch of the 2011 NIV is two years away, so no specific plans
have been made for what will be included. But I can say that the
intention is certainly to produce our best and most fruitful Bible
editions in the refreshed NIV. And the feedback on TBoTB is the most
encouraging I’ve ever seen related to more and better Bible reading and
engagement."

While still vague, the positive tone of the response is welcoming news that the TBoTB format will remain no matter what translation is in use.  Honestly, I think that the format of TBoTB is far more powerful than any one translation, and I hope that it could be licensed out and used with several of the major translations.  

I will continue to check back and post the latest news concerning The Books of the Bible as I receive it.