translation
Does a Literal Translation Matter with a Digital Bible?
By Hall Harris - Posted on April 30th, 2008
Over the past several decades there has been a lot of debate over the philosophy of translation of various recent English versions of the Bible. Generally this has centered around the two extremes of literal or word-for-word on the one hand (which has also been called "formal equivalence") and paraphrase on the other hand (formerly known as "dynamic equivalence," though today terms like "idiomatic translation," "closest natural equivalent," or "functional equivalence" are often used instead).
Talpiot tomb discussion shows need for knowledge of cultural background
By Hall Harris - Posted on January 18th, 2008
Today the vast distance between the cultural context of the 21st
century and that of first century Judea got emphasized all over again
as Time Magazine reported yesterday that the controversy from last
spring over the "Lost Tomb of Jesus" has been reopened again as Prof.
James Charlesworth of Princeton Theological Seminary convened the
"Third Princeton Symnposium on Judaism and Christian Origins: Jewish
Views of the After Life and Burial Practices in Second Temple Judaism:
Evaluating the Talpiot Tomb in Context" which met in Jerusalem earlier
A Bible translation is only as good as the reference tools used to produce it
By Hall Harris - Posted on January 15th, 2008
Today I taught my first class of the spring semester, a class in Introduction to New Testament Exegesis (interpretation). I realized this was the 30th year I have taught this course at Dallas Seminary, so counting fall semester sections and summer school, I have probably taught this same course around 60 times.
What does Yoda have to do with Bible translation?
By Hall Harris - Posted on January 9th, 2008
Some of you may be wondering about the tagline for this blog: "Understand Yoda perfectly well you can, even if natural English speak he does not." There's a story behind this, as you might expect, but it also raises some interesting and even highly debated issues regarding modern translations of the Bible. The background for the tagline was a panel discussion that took place at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Toronto in November 2002.
The NET Bible off and running
By Hall Harris - Posted on January 8th, 2008
After returning from Philadelphia it was not long until a formal proposal was ready for the new translation (which at this time had the working title The Internet Study Bible – the name NET Bible came along a number of months later), with the NT books of 1, 2, 3 John (with the full set of notes) done on my Mac PowerBook 165c as a proof of concept. This proposal was accepted by the sponsor in January 1996 and we were off and running.
Early origins of the NET Bible
By Hall Harris - Posted on January 8th, 2008
I was in Philly in November 1995 for the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, a professional society I have belonged to for just about my entire teaching career. It was cold and windy but without rain or snow, and I was just on my way from the convention center across the street to grab a cheesesteak sandwich for lunch at the 12th Street Deli. I was crossing the street in one direction and met Hampton and his friend crossing the street toward me. In the middle of the
For thirty years W. Hall Harris III has taught on the faculty of Dallas Theological Seminary in the New Testament Studies Department. Since 1995 he has served as Project Director and Managing Editor for the NET Bible at bible.org passionately steering this revolutionary Bible from inception to global impact. Dr. Harris has traveled extensively in Western Europe, especially in Germany and Italy. And as an ordained minister he has served over the years as pastor of single adults, elder, and adult Sunday school teacher.
