New International Version Inclusive Language Edition

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The New International Version Inclusive Language Edition (NIVi) of the Christian Bible was an inclusive language version of the New International Version (NIV). It was published by Hodder and Stoughton (a subsidiary of Lagardere Publishing) in London in 1995; New Testament and Psalms, with the full bible following in 1996. It was only released in the United Kingdom and British Commonwealth Countries.

In 1997, an article by World Magazine accused the NIVi of being "a feminist seduction of the evangelical church". This led to a protest in evangelical circles, led by James Dobson. A meeting led by Dobson released the Colorado Springs Guidelines, a set of guidelines on gender in Bible translation. Despite some evangelicals coming to the defense of the NIVi, Zondervan responded by not releasing the NIVi in the United States. [1]

One of the criticisms was that the word man was replaced by a variety of words in a very mechanical way ("anyone", "person" etc.) even in passages where clearly a man was indicated. This lent credibility to the criticism that this was a feminist translation with the need to strip the translation of as many occurrences as possible of the word man.[ citation needed ]

A modified edition was published in 1999. Typical of the changes was Leviticus 15:2-15, where "man" was restored in the 1999 edition,[ citation needed ] as the passage clearly concerned males. Also a John 17:6-26 speech of Jesus was indented in the 1999 edition, following the indentation of similar passages in the gospel.

In 2002 Today's New International Version (TNIV) was published for the English-speaking world as a replacement, but differing in its title with the addition of "Today's". This was also discontinued, with a slightly toned-down version of the TNIV being published as the New International Version in 2011.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Today's New International Version</span> Updated translation of the Bible

Today's New International Version (TNIV) is an English translation of the Bible which was developed by the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT). The CBT also developed the New International Version (NIV) in the 1970s. The TNIV is based on the NIV. It is explicitly Protestant like its predecessor; the deuterocanonical books are not part of this translation. The TNIV New Testament was published in March 2002. The complete Bible was published in February 2005. The rights to the text are owned by Biblica. Zondervan published the TNIV in North America. Hodder & Stoughton published the TNIV in the UK and European Union.

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The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1952 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. This translation itself is a revision of the American Standard Version (ASV) of 1901, and was intended to be a readable and literally accurate modern English translation which aimed to "preserve all that is best in the English Bible as it has been known and used through the centuries" and "to put the message of the Bible in simple, enduring words that are worthy to stand in the great Tyndale-King James tradition."

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Mark Lehman Strauss is an American biblical scholar and professor of the New Testament at Bethel Seminary San Diego, which is part of Bethel University, Minnesota. His areas of expertise include New Testament Gospels and Bible translation.

John Henry Stek was an American pastor, biblical scholar and translator, and Old Testament professor.

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References

  1. Bibles: Hands Off My NIV!, Christianity Today, June-16-1997