Page 202 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCY

can understand it without learning anything about that translator claims. If his translation is a perversion of
culture, you have perverted the Scripture. At this point God’s Word, I will not allow him to hide behind his
we need to note that dynamic equivalency proponents claim that he is faithful to the Bible!
inevitably claim their translations are faithful to the Let’s consider a second impossibility of dynamic
original text. They all say this. equivalency. It says translators can know how hearers of
The Today’s English Version claims this: “The Bible in the Bible centuries ago were impressed. One of the goals
Today’s English Version is a new translation WHICH of dynamic equivalency is to attempt to reproduce the
SEEKS TO STATE CLEARLY AND ACCURATELY THE same reaction in modern hearers of their versions. This
MEANING OF THE ORIGINAL TEXTS in words and is called impact translating.
forms that are widely accepted by all people who use How utterly impossible! We cannot know how men
English as a means of communication” (Foreword, Holy centuries ago were impressed by the Word of God
Bible Today’s English Version with Deuterocanonicals/ spoken to them. Further, there have always been
Apocrypha, American Bible Society, 1978). different reactions to that same Word by the different
The Contemporary English Version claims to be hearers. A glimpse of this is seen in Acts 17, following
faithful to the Bible text: “Every attempt has been made Paul’s message to the Athenians. All heard the same
to produce a text THAT IS FAITHFUL TO THE MEANING message from God that day, but some mocked, some
OF THE ORIGINAL and that can be read with ease and decided to put off a decision until a later date, and some
understanding by readers of all ages” (“Translating the believed (Ac. 17:32-33).
Contemporary English Version,” Bible for Today’s Family The Bible translator’s job is not to attempt to create a
New Testament, American Bible Society, 1991). certain reaction in the hearer of the Bible, but to
Ken Taylor, translator of the Living Bible, claims he is concentrate upon making a faithful rendering of God’s
faithful to the original text: “We take the original Holy eternal Words. The translator’s mind is to be most
thought and convert it into the language of today. IN especially upon the receptor language, not the receptor
THIS WAY WE CAN BE MUCH MORE ACCURATE THAN people. When the translation is completed and the
THE VERBAL TRANSLATION” (Evangelism Today, Dec. preaching begins, men will respond in the various ways
1972). they have always responded to God’s Word—some
All dynamic equivalency gurus claim this. In the mocking, some ignoring and putting it off, some
United Bible Societies publication Bible Translations for believing.
Popular Use, William Wonderly claims dynamic DYNAMIC EQUIVALENCY IS BASED ON HALF-
equivalency versions are faithful to the original: “In the TRUTHS.
translations mentioned above [the TEV, Living Bible, Like all error, dynamic equivalency is based on many
Spanish Popular Version, French common version, and partial truths. The writings of dynamic equivalency
the Today’s Dutch Version, etc.] various techniques have proponents contain many things with which we agree,
been used to produce a version that is more meaningful yet they go beyond the truth. Consider some of the half-
for the readers for whom they are intended, STAYING truths of dynamic equivalency:
WITHIN THE LIMITS OF FIDELITY TO THE ORIGINAL First, dynamic equivalency says an overly literal
ON ONE HAND and the use of an acceptable style on translation is not correct. Those who promote dynamic
the other” (p. 75). equivalency inevitably begin by using all sorts of
Wycliffe Translator’s publication Translating the Word examples of wildly improper translations, and use these
of God by John Beekman and John Callow also claims as justification for their paraphrasing methodology.
that the aim of dynamic equivalency is always Eugene Nida does this in Every Man in His Own
faithfulness to the original text: “The goal should be a Language:
translation that is so rich in vocabulary, so idiomatic in Literal translations—the easiest and the most
phrase, so correct in construction, so smooth in flow of dangerous—are the source of many mistakes. The
thought, so clear in meaning, and so elegant in style, missionary in Latin America who constantly used the
that it does not appear to be a translation at all, and yet, phrase “it came to pass” scarcely realized that it only
AT THE SAME TIME, FAITHFULLY TRANSMITS THE meant to the people, “something came in order to pass
MESSAGE OF THE ORIGINAL” (p. 32). there.” literally the story of Mary “sitting at the feet of
It should be obvious that such claims do not Jesus,” only to discover later that what they had said
necessarily mean anything! We have seen examples really described Mary as “on Jesus’ lap.” It is one thing
from each of these so-called faithful versions, showing to speak of “heaping coals of fire on one’s head” if one is
that they are anything but faithful. Even the general talking to an English-speaking congregation; but if one
meaning of the original is changed. I don’t care what a speaks that way in some parts of Africa, he can be badly

202 Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity