Let the Words Be Written: The Lasting Influence of Eugene A. Nida (Biblical Scholarship in North America) (Biblical Scholarship in North America)

212 Pages·2004·1.13 MB·English

by  Philip C. Stine

LET THE WORDS BE WRITTEN
Biblical Scholarship in North America
General Acquisitions Editors
Dennis T. Olson,
Old Testament/Hebrew Bible
Sharon H. Ringe,
New Testament
Number 21
LET THE WORDS BE WRITTEN
The Lasting Influence
of Eugene A. Nida
LET THE WORDS BE WRITTEN
The Lasting Influence
of Eugene A. Nida
by
Philip C. Stine
BRILL
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2004
LET THE WORDS BE WRITTEN
The Lasting Influence of Eugene A. Nida
Copyright © 2004 by The American Bible Society
This edition published under license from the Society of Biblical Literature
by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved.No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by means of
any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976
Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed
in writing to the Rights and Permissions Office, Society of Biblical Literature, 825 Houston Mill
Road, Atlanta, GA 30329 USA.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stine, Philip C., 1943–
Let the words be written : the lasting influence of Eugene A. Nida / by Philip C. Stine.
p. cm. — (Biblical scholarship in North America ; no. 21)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-13093-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Nida, Eugene Albert, 1914– 2. Bible—Translating—History—20th century.
3. American Bible Society—History—20th century. I. Title. II. Series.
BS450.S75 2004b
220.5'092—dc22 2004019327
ISSN 0277-0474
Printed in The Netherlands
on acid-free paper.
CONTENTS
Photographs....................................................................................................vi
Preface ..........................................................................................................vii
Abbreviations..................................................................................................xi
1. Introduction..............................................................................................1
2. Bible Translation before Nida................................................................11
3. A New Approach....................................................................................27
4. Implications of Dynamic Equivalence..................................................57
5. Spreading the Word................................................................................69
6. Taking the Bible Seriously ..................................................................105
7. New Relationships, More Access, Future Directions ........................119
8. Nida the Man and the Scholar............................................................139
9. Other Voices, Other Words ................................................................153
Postscript......................................................................................................179
Appendix: First-Time Translations into New Languages..........................182
Bibliography................................................................................................183
Index of People and Subjects....................................................................189
PHOTOGRAPHS
The Rev. Eugene A. Nida (1943) ..................................................................9
Eugene and Althea Nida (circa 1965)..........................................................33
Dr. Nida with Khoisan speakers in Africa ..................................................53
Althea Nida teaching typing to “indigenous helpers” in Africa ................63
Dr. Nida in offices at the American Bible Society (circa 1975) ................75
Dr. Nida teaching translators........................................................................76
Dr. Nida and the UBS Greek New Testament team ................................114
Photographs taken by Dr. Nida during his travels ..........................141, 142
Eugene Nida and Johannes Louw, authors of The Greek-
English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on
Semantic Domains (1988) ..................................................................150
Dr. Nida with ABS General Secretary, the Rev. Laton Holmgren............177
Dr. Eugene A. Nida (circa 2000)................................................................180
vi
PREFACE
It is entirely appropriate for the American Bible Society (ABS) to part-
ner with the Society of Biblical Literature to publish this book about
Eugene A. Nida. After all, Nida led a revolution in the ABS translation pro-
gram that did more to further the organization’s purpose and mission than
any other development in the past century. Millions of people speaking
hundreds of languages have access to the Bible in an unprecedented way
thanks to Nida’s work.
It is also appropriate in light of the ABS decision to name the schol-
arly unit of their organization the Nida Institute for Biblical Scholarship
(NIBS) in honor of Dr. Nida’s pioneering work in the development of trans-
lation studies.
This book envisions at least two groups of readers. Bible translators,
missiologists, church historians, some biblical scholars, and a general pub-
lic interested in the Bible form one group. How Nida influenced the Bibles
they read and how his work has impacted the direction of the church and
of world Christianity tell a fascinating story. When the history of the church
in the twentieth century is written, Nida’s name and the work of the Bible
Societies will figure prominently.
A second group comprises scholars and students from the fields of
translation studies, cross-cultural and cultural studies, linguistics, and com-
munication sciences. Before Nida there were many excellent translators,
and several scholars had begun to look to linguistics as a tool for describ-
ing some features of translation, but no one had really developed a sys-
tematic approach to translation. Nida’s approach had an underlying theory
based on several disciplines. It also showed a very practical way to tackle
the work. It set current scholars in translation studies on their path, open-
ing the way for more work, even though much of that work has now taken
quite different directions from Nida’s.
Writing a book for both groups seemed at times impossible. I eventu-
ally realized that translation scholars could not properly understand or
assess Nida’s work without understanding his commitment to the Bible, the
university studies that informed his whole theory, and the praxis that so
shaped all his subsequent writings. Similarly, Bible translators need to be
aware that translation studies has taken a number of new directions, many
vii
viii Let the Words Be Written
of which are relevant to the future of Bible translation. So although some
chapters will appeal to one group more than another, both groups will find
material of interest in the whole story.
I should mention what this book is not. It is not a biography in the
sense of giving all the facts and details of Nida’s life, although I have pro-
vided those that seemed relevant to the story. I hope that Nida himself
will offer more of that information in his memoirs. After all, he belongs
to those remarkable people most of us rarely if ever meet, and a detailed
book about him would be well worth reading. Rather, this book relates
the story of a revolution in translation that Nida and his colleagues in the
ABS and the United Bible Societies (UBS) brought about. It attempts, too,
to assess the revolution’s theory and approach as well as its impact on
the churches.
Throughout this project David Burke and Robert Hodgson of ABS’s
Nida Institute gave me wonderful support and encouragement. They also
offered helpful criticism of the first drafts, as did other Nida Institute staff:
Joseph Crockett, Mary Cordato, and Dorette Saunders. Maria Deptula and
Jacquelyn Sapiie helped me find materials from the ABS archives and
library, and Karen Munson sorted through much of that material to find rel-
evant data. I would also mention Andrew Seltz who traveled with me to
videotape a number of the interviews I conducted.
I am grateful to a number of Nida’s former colleagues who provided
much of the background for the book. I interviewed Euan Fry, Danny
Arichea, Norm Mundhenk, Barclay Newman, Robert Bratcher, Heber
Peacock, and Charles Taber. Johannes Louw, Jacob Loewen, and William
Reyburn answered questions by e-mail or audiotape. Laton Holmgren,
although not in good health, graciously shared information with me in four
long telephone conversations. Edesio Sanchez filled me in on some devel-
opments in Spanish Bible translation that Nida worked on or inspired.
Nicky Applegate of the British and Foreign Bible Society fielded sev-
eral of my queries and obtained the correct information for me.
Several academics consented to be interviewed. Darrell Whiteman and
Lamin Sanneh reflected at length on Nida’s contribution to the churches,
and the material they shared with me helped shape my assessment of his
contribution. James Sanders gave me the real story on the Hebrew Old
Testament Text Project, and Bruce Metzger did the same for the Greek
New Testament.
Walter Abbott shared a personal perspective on the working relation-
ship between the ABS and the Roman Catholic Church. I also found exten-
sive information on this relationship among the holdings of the ABS library
and archives.
Freddy Boswell and George Cowan of the Summer Institute of
Linguistics International helped ensure the correctness of data relating to
Preface ix
the early days of that organization. Don Deer obtained the facts about the
Baptist work in the Congo.
Mona Baker and Joy Sisley steered me to some current material in
translation studies, and the latter then helped tutor me in the issues. I am
grateful to both of them for this. Naturally, whatever I misunderstood is my
own failing.
Finally, I want to thank my wife, Veda Wilson, for her support. In par-
ticular, she read all the early drafts and critiqued them most constructively.