New Version of NIV Set for 2011

Representatives from the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT), Biblica, and the Christian publisher Zondervan met at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Ill., this week to announce the first update to the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible in 25 years.

Trinity was the site of the Christian Reformed Church's Synod 2009 and will host Synod 2010. Trinity is a non-denominational institution recommended for support by the CRC. Members and theologians from the CRC played a critical role in the initial translation of the NIV.

Keith Danby, global president and CEO of Biblica; Moe Girkins, Zondervan president and CEO; and Professor Douglas Moo, CBT chairman, were the speakers at this week's conference, which was also shown as a webcast,  and answered myriad questions from those assembled as well as from the webcast audience.

"We want to reach English speakers across the globe with a Bible that is accurate, accessible, and that speaks to its readers in a language they can understand," said Danby of Biblica, a ministry that includes the organization formerly known as the International Bible Society.

More than 40 years earlier, in 1965, 32 biblical scholars from a multitude of evangelical denominations gathered at Trinity for the purpose of developing a new translation of the Bible in modern English.

The effort had begun years earlier, initiated by Howard Long, a devout Christian businessman and a member of the Christian Reformed Church in Seattle, Wash. This effort was eventually carried forward by a committee of scholars including Calvin Seminary professors John Stek and Martin Woudstra, ultimately resulting in the publication of the NIV in 1978.

The NIV, revised once before in 1984, is the most-read, contemporary English translation today with more than 350 million copies in print worldwide. The revision is slated for completion late next year, with publication in 2011.

"It was a privilege to attend the conference announcing the NIV translation project," said Dr. Steve Timmermans, president of Trinity Christian College. "The depth of scholarship, the desire to make the Bible accessible to English speakers around the world, and the commitment to God’s unchanging Word was evident and encouraging."

Separate from the Trinity conference, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood issued a statement by Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He said that publication "of a new NIV update will attract special attention because of the controversy that surrounded the publication and release of what became known as the TNIV, or Today's New International Version, announced in 2002."

Release of the TNIV, he says, "led to a firestorm of controversy among evangelicals. Even as supporters of the TNIV declared the translation to be superior to previous contemporary English translations in terms of 'gender accuracy,' others saw the new translation as hopelessly accommodated to contemporary concerns about gender."

In the end, says Mohler, the update of the NIV to be released in 2011 will have to stand on its own. “Those of us who have had significant concerns with the TNIV should communicate these concerns respectfully, candidly, and directly to the Committee on Bible Translation, to Zondervan, and to Biblica.

"When released, the updated NIV will deserve and require the attentive study and review of all committed evangelicals. We must hope and pray that this updated NIV will be found both faithful and useful," says Mohler.

—Amanda Cleary of Trinity Christian College wrote about the announcement at Trinity and the comments of Mohler come from The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.