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The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) the Southern Baptist Bible

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The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) the Southern Baptist Bible The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) Page 1 of 7 The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) The Southern Baptist Bible Laurence M. Vance, Ph.D. Vance Publications The great Baptist missionary, William Carey (1761 -1834), was even more well known as a Bible translator. He took an active part in the preparation of versions of the Bible in Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Maldivian, Kashmiri, Armenian, Malay, Hindustani, and Persian. The world owes a debt to Mr. Carey for his labors. Unfortunately, however, some Baptists have wasted their time and energy in trying to improve upon the Bible in English that God has already given to us: the King James 1611 Authorized Version. Back in 1836, the Baptist preacher, Spencer Cone (1785 -1855), resigned his position with the American Bible Society to become president of the newly formed American and Foreign Bible Society. The stated goal of this organization was to provide "immersionist" versions for Baptist foreign missionaries. However, a controversy soon arose regarding the desirability of making an "immersionist" version in English. In 1837, William Brantly (1787 -1845), a Baptist, published his "Objections to a Baptist Version of the New Testament" in The Christian Review , a Baptist periodical. And, while the Baptist missionary, Adoniram Judson (1788 -1850), had made an "immersionist" version in Burmese, he was opposed to making one in English. Dr. Cone, who wanted an "immersionist" version in English, left the American and Foreign Bible Society and organized the American Bible Union in 1850 for that expressed purpose. In 1851, Spencer Cone, along with William Wyckoff (1807 -1877), issued a preliminary "immersionist" revision of the New Testament. The American Bible Union soon afterward proposed a wholesale revision of the Old and New Testaments. For this they engaged the services of the Greek scholar A. C. Kendrick (1809 - 1895) and the Hebrew scholar J. C. Conant (1802 -1891), two Baptists of note. New translations of individual books of the Bible were soon issued: 2 Peter –3 John in 1852, Revelation in 1854, Job in 1856, John in 1859, and Philemon in 1860. The complete New Testament was published in 1864. This was followed by additional books of the Old Testament (Genesis in 1868, the Psalms in 1869, Proverbs in 1871, and Joshua–Ruth in 1878) and further revisions of the New Testament. The American Bible Union turned over its work to the American Baptist Publication Society of Philadelphia in 1883. After securing the services of the liberal Baptists William Harper (1856 -1906), Ira Price (1856-1939), and J. M. Powis Smith (1866-1932), all of the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, this organization finally released a complete Baptist Bible in 1913 under the title of The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments. An Improved Version (based in part on the Bible Union Version) . The new version came to nothing, and Smith went on to oversee a group of scholars who translated the Old Testament in 1927. This was combined in 1931 with the New Testament translation of Edgar Goodspeed (1871 -1962), also of the University of Chicago, and entitled The Bible. An American Translation . This version likewise came to nothing. http://www.av1611.org/vance/hcsb.html 2/ 1/ 2012 The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) Page 2 of 7 Baptists would never again produce their own version of the Bible. However, some Baptists did take an active role in other Bible translation endeavors. The American Standard Bible Committee, which translated the Revised Standard Version (New Testament –1946; Old Testament –1952), counted among its members the Baptist scholars John R. Sampey (1863 - 1946), A. T. Robertson (1863 -1934), and Kyle M. Yates (1895-1975), all of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. Baptists have likewise served on the committees that translated the NIV (1978) and the NASB (1971). The closest thing to a Baptist version in recent memory is the NKJV (1982), under the editorship of Arthur Farstad (1935 -1998). The NKJV counted among its Overview Committee members Truman Dollar, W. A. Criswell, Herschel Hobbs, A. V. Henderson, Tim LaHaye, Adrian Rogers, Curtis Hutson, Elmer Towns, and Jerry Falwell. The association of so many Baptists with the NKJV was obviously to aid in its reception among independent Baptists — the only large group of Christians at the time who were still using the original King James Version. Although Farstad was behind the NKJV, he still began working on another new Bible translation in 1984. This demonstrates once again that the translators of modern versions don ’t even believe that their product is inerrant or authoritative. Farstad then joined forces with LifeWay Christian Resources, the successor to the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. LifeWay ’s publishing division, Broadman & Holman Publishing, is the publisher of one of the newest modern versions of the Bible: the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). The new HCSB is not exactly a Baptist Bible, since more than twenty Protestant denominations are represented on the ninety -scholar translation "team." However, one-third are Southern Baptists, and it is the Southern Baptist Convention that is publishing the new version. Although selected books of the Bible in this new version have been released by the publisher since 1999, it was not until last year that the complete New Testament was published. This seven -year, $10 million project to bridge "the gap between a literal translation and modern English version tailored for lower -level reading skills" is scheduled for completion in 2003, when the Old Testament portion is finished. The HCSB has one of the longest and unusual names of any recent modern version. The HCSB is one of the few, and perhaps the only, new version to include the name of the publisher in its title. The A. J. Holman Bible Company, which has roots that go back to 1738, was acquired by Broadman Press in 1993. Broadman Press, the official Southern Baptist publishing company, was named after two famous nineteenth -century Baptists—John Broadus (1827 -1895) and Basil Manly (1825-1892). After acquiring Holman, Broadman Press was renamed Broadman & Holman Publishing, although the single name Holman is still used on some Bibles and reference works. The word Christian has only been used in the title of a handful of modern versions, most recently the Christian Community Bible, published in 1988. The term Standard has been employed by several modern versions, most notably the American Standard Version, the Revised Standard Version, the New Revised Standard Version, the New American Standard Bible, the English Standard Version, and the International Standard Version. One interesting thing about the HCSB is that it calls itself a Bible instead of just a version. Thus, it joins the ranks of the New American Standard Bible, the Amplified Bible, the Living Bible, the Good News Bible, the New English Bible, the International Children ’s Bible, the Jerusalem Bible, the Modern Language Bible, the Easy Bible, and the New American Bible. http://www.av1611.org/vance/hcsb.html 2/ 1/ 2012 The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) Page 3 of 7 The translators of the HCSB include Arthur Farstad (now deceased); James Price, of Temple Baptist Theological Seminary in Chattanooga; Paul House, of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville; Kirk Lowery, of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia; Rick Melick, of Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in California; David Allen, of Criswell College in Dallas; Michael Rydelnik, of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago; Walter Kaiser, of Gordon -Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston; and Dennis Cole, of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Several other schools are represented, none of which have ever been known for producing Bible believers. Some women are also involved in the translation of the HCSB: Karen Maticich, of the International School of Theology; and Janice Meier, editor of the Adult Sunday School Ministry Department of LifeWay Christian Resources. The goals of the HCSB, as found on the opening page of its Introduction, are four: (1) to provide English -speaking Christians with an accurate, readable Bible in contemporary, idiomatic English, (2) to equip the serious Bible student with an accurate Bible for personal study, private devotions, or memorization, (3) to produce a readable Bible —neither too high or low on a reading scale —that is both visually attractive and suited to oral reading, and (4) to affirm the authority of the Scriptures as Gods ’ inerrant Word and its absolutes against the inevitable changes of culture. There is nothing unique about these goals. Similar goals have been stated in the prefaces, introductions, and promotional literature of many modern versions. Recognizing this, the Introduction to the HCSB then asks the question: "Why another new Bible translation in English?" Now that is a good question. Why —after the ASV, RSV, NASB, NEB, REB, TEV, GNB, NRSV, NASBU, NCV, NET, NIV, NKJV, NWT, ICV, RV, AB, JB, NAB, NJB, MLB, NIRV, CEV, plus translations by Montgomery, Young, Weymouth, Goodspeed, Moffatt, Williams, Stern, Barclay, Rotherham, Taylor, Ledyard, Norlie, Kerdrick, Smith, Harwood, Mace, Boothroyd, Fenton, Moulton, Ballentine, Clarke, Courtney, Darby, Noyes, Ainslie, Sharpe, Wilson, Spurrell, Bartlett, Weekes, Lloyd, Worrell, Spencer, Craddock, Green, Beck, Schonfield, Knox, Lamsa, Tomanek, Phillips, Wuest, and a hundred more —do we need another new Bible translation
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