New categories: backing up, to go forward

Continuing the thoughts begun Thursday in Recategorizing “KJV Only”, Friday in New categories for the Bible Versions Debates, and Saturday in Exploring some ideas for the Bible Versions Debates. On Saturday, I jumped too far ahead and left too many loose ends. This post attempts to back up and then go forward. I hope it helps.

For whatever reason most lists and their listers seem happy to focus on discussing King James Version views.[i] However, such lists usually commit a category error by lumping the person who likes the King James best and the person who thinks it is new revelation together in some “King James Only” category. Further, it is likely that we miss a lot of understanding of points of view when we focus only on that angle of the Bible Version Debates. For example, others who are not KJVO may have their own sort of exclusive view that goes unnoticed. Some Christians will only use a translation made from an underlying critical text – Textus Receptus or Majority Text “need not apply.”

Different views about Bibles and Bible versions can be examined on a spectrum from loose/open on one end to exclusive/closed on the other end. On the “open” end, there is generally the idea that it does not matter too much which Bible translation you use, or from which text it was translated.[ii] On the “exclusive” end, there is the idea that it does matter which Bible translation you use, as well as from which text it is translated. The most exclusive view says, “Only X Bible translation is the word of God.” Other views spread across the spectrum between the most open and the most exclusive.

How to better distinguish Bible version views might be arrived at by asking a series of questions that attempt to understand how each view approaches the Bible. These three would be the main questions. An answer, however, may require further investigation with other questions.

1. What do you believe about the Bible in its original or first writing?
2. What do you believe about the copies of the original writing?
3. What do you believe about the translations of the copies of the original writing?

Then the taxonomist (the person creating the categories) appraises the answers and decides where the view fits on the spectrum.

Consider two of the views I introduced on Saturday. I will use the first two that are in that post. Ultimately, the differentiation on the more exclusive end of the spectrum will be, I think, the more important.

An example of how an Open View might reflect various factors related to the Bible:

Question: What do you believe about the Bible in its original or first writing? Answer: The Bible is inerrant and inspired. Taxonomist: This answer is an exclusive view (i.e., that the first writings are inspired and inerrant is limited to a dogmatic view that is not open to negotiation).

Q: What do you believe about the copies of the original writing? A: We cannot know for sure what the original is, or that we have the first writing in an accurate or complete form. Also, the copies that we have contain scribal errors. T: This answer is not dogmatic or exclusive, but open to varying possibilities (i.e., even though they believe the originals are inspired and inerrant, they cannot be sure that they have been passed down to us).

Q: What do you believe about the translations of the copies of the original writing? A: All translations reproduce scribal errors and introduce other errors made by the translators. Therefore, Bible readers may choose any translation or translations that he or she prefers. T: This answer is not dogmatic or exclusive, but open to varying possibilities (i.e., the view will not prescribe one translation over another).

Considering the answers to the above questions, this Bible view belongs on the open end of the spectrum. It starts with an exclusive view, but moves to openness with the copies and translations. We might call it an “Open Text View” since its lowest common open denominator is at the textual level.

An example of how a Semi-Exclusive View might reflect various factors related to the Bible:

Question: What do you believe about the Bible in its original or first writing? Answer: The Bible is inerrant and inspired. Taxonomist: This answer is an exclusive view (i.e., that the first writings are inspired and inerrant is limited to a dogmatic or exclusive view that is not open to negotiation).

Q: What do you believe about the copies of the original writing? A: We do not have but can substantially reproduce the originals through collating and comparing manuscripts. Also, the copies that we have contain scribal errors, but the oldest copies are best. T: This answer is somewhat exclusive, but leaves open varying possibilities (i.e., even though they believe the originals are inspired and inerrant, they cannot be sure that they have been passed down to us complete or intact).

Q: What do you believe about the translations of the copies of the original writing? A: Translations can substantially reproduce the original word of God; a formal equivalence translation made from a critical text (such as the NASB) should be used. T: This answer is somewhat exclusive. It is open to some varying possibilities, but those variations may only come from within a limited range of possibilities (i.e., the view will prescribe some translations and reject others).

Considering the answers to the above questions, this Bible view belongs toward the exclusive end of the spectrum. It starts with an exclusive view, but accepts some variation in the copies and translations. We might call it a “Semi-Exclusive Translation View” since it retains some exclusionary features regarding translations.

I hope this explanation and visual below will help bring the concept into better focus.

The above chart is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather only a visual example of how charting this work might begin. Click to enlarge.

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[i] Not too many other views regarding Bible translations correspond to the way some believers regard the “King James Only” view, so it is true that it stands distinctively out from others. There certain peripheral groups who only use a Bible that they themselves have translated or revised (such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and some of the Sacred Name” groups). 

[ii] People might get to this place traveling on different roads – for example, one believing that all copies and translations contain the inerrant word of God, or another believing that none of them is the word of God.