Have you heard about the Conservative Bible Project? This seemed like a joke when a friend mentioned it, but I guess it's not!
What do you make of this new interpretation of the old classic?
If you're interested in a bit of perspective on the matter, here's an article about it from the Associated Press -
LINK -
Quote:
Blessed are conservative in Bible translation
A new online project seeks to purge liberal views from the scriptures
The Associated Press
Fri., Dec . 4, 2009
CHARLESTON, West Virginia - The Gospel of Luke records that, as he was dying on the cross, Jesus showed his boundless mercy by praying for his killers this way: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
Not so fast, say contributors to the Conservative Bible Project.
The project, an online effort to create a Bible suitable for contemporary conservative sensibilities, claims Jesus' quote is a disputed addition abetted by liberal biblical scholars, even if it appears in some form in almost every translation of the Bible.
The project's authors argue that contemporary scholars have inserted liberal views and ahistorical passages into the Bible, turning Jesus into little more than a well-meaning social worker with a store of watered-down platitudes.
"Professors are the most liberal group of people in the world, and it's professors who are doing the popular modern translations of the Bible," said Andy Schlafly, founder of Conservapedia.com, the project's online home.
'Reworking scripture'
Experts who have devoted their careers to unraveling the ancient texts of the Scriptures, many in long-extinct languages, are predictably skeptical about a project by amateur translators.
"This is not making scripture understandable to people today, it's reworking scripture to support a particular political or social agenda," said Timothy Paul Jones, a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, who calls himself a theological conservative.
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The assumption that every scholar has a liberal agenda
bothers me. I suppose I should laugh shrug it off as yet another quaint example of the poorly-educated conservative movement bashing academia.
Ok, it's an interesting concept. But why not gather a group of educated conservative minds to translate the Bible, then see if you come up with something different than the accepted modern translations? Making the project an interactive wiki cheapens its validity.