The Living Bible
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| The Living Bible | |
|---|---|
| Full name: | The Living Bible |
| Abbreviation: | TLB |
| Complete Bible published: | 1971 |
| Textual Basis: | Paraphrase of American Standard Version, 1901, with comparisons of other translations, including the King James Version, and some Greek texts; 43% deviation from Nestle-Aland 27th edition (NT) |
| Translation type: | 31% paraphrase rate |
| Copyright status: | Copyright 1971 Kenneth N. Taylor |
| Genesis 1:1-3 | |
| When God began creating the heavens and the earth, the earth was at first a shapeless, chaotic mass, with the Spirit of God brooding over the dark vapors. Then God said, "Let there be light." And light appeared. | |
| John 3:16 | |
| For God loved the world so much that He gave his only Son so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. | |
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| Old English (pre-1066) |
| Middle English (1066-1500) |
| Early Modern English (1500-1800) |
| Modern Christian (1800-) |
| Modern Jewish (1853-) |
| Miscellaneous |
The Living Bible is an English version of the Bible by American publisher and author Kenneth N. Taylor released in 1971. Unlike most English Bibles, the volume is a paraphrase. Mr. Taylor was quoted as having said that he paraphrased the American Standard Version as a project for several years, largely while commuting to his job in Chicago by train.
Taylor never intended for his paraphrase to be used as the reader's sole source of Biblical knowledge, or as an aid to serious, scholarly study, but rather to put the basic truths of the Bible in language which could readily be understood by the typical reader without a theological or linguistic background, and that he had never represented himself as a professional Bible scholar or his work as a translation.
According to "Ken Taylor, God's Voice In The Vernacular" by Harold Myra in a 1979 issue of Christianity Today, Taylor explained the inspiration for preparing the Living Bible:
"The children were one of the chief inspirations for producing the Living Bible. Our family devotions were tough going because of the difficulty we had understanding the King James Version, which we were then using, or the Revised Standard Version, which we used later. All too often I would ask questions to be sure the children understood, and they would shrug their shoulders—they didn't know what the passage was talking about. So I would explain it. I would paraphrase it for them and give them the thought. It suddenly occurred to me one afternoon that I should write out the reading for that evening thought by thought, rather than doing it on the spot during our devotional time. So I did, and read the chapter to the family that evening with exciting results—they knew the answers to all the questions I asked!"
The Living Bible was well received in many moderate Evangelical circles. Youth-oriented Protestant groups such as Young Life accepted it readily. In 1962 Billy Graham received a copy of the Living Letters – the title of the first-published portion of the Living Bible containing New Testament epistles – while in a hospital in Hawaii. He was impressed with it enough to order 50,000 copies of the Living Letters for use in his "crusades". Later, he ordered an additional 450,000 to 600,000 copies of Living Letters for his crusades.
The Living Bible was a best-seller in the early 1970s, largely due to the accessibility of its modern language, which made passages understandable to those with little or no previous background in Bible study. A year after the 1971 release, the Living Bible was the most popular Bible sold in America. In 1973 Taylor received royalties of roughly 8 million US dollars. By 1974, those royalties had swelled to more than 29 million dollars. By 1997, 40 million copies of The Living Bible had been sold.
It should be noted, however, that Taylor had assigned the copyright ownership to Tyndale House Foundation, thus he was not personally enriched by the world-wide sales of his paraphrase.
[edit] Criticisms of the Living Bible
With this level of acclaim and acceptance came criticism, especially from conservative circles. The criticism took several forms, but generally fit one or more of the following:
- The Bible is too sacred to be paraphrased. This shows a lack of respect for the text and is too likely to reflect the doctrinal biases of the paraphraser. This view is often expressed by proponents of literal translations.
- The paraphrase is too infelicitous of phrase in some instances.
- Taylor was devoid of linguistic, theological, or other qualifications sufficient to have his work taken seriously. (Michael Marlowe's review is typical of this attitude.)
- Among Calvinists, they are uncomfortable that Taylor's Arminian (which is at the opposite end of the theological spectrum from Calvinism) biases are reflected in this paraphase. In fact, the "Living Bible" became popular among Arminians because of the biases. The center of this controversy was on Romans 8:28.
- It was, at the time, simply too radically different from more literal translations, such as the King James Version and American Standard Version, to possibly be considered valid. This was similar to the sort of simply time-blinkered criticism suffered by Tyndale - just as nobody would now criticise Tyndale, many fewer today would criticise the Living Bible than did at the time of its first appearance.[citation needed] Nowadays, with other more accepted non-literal translations such as the Good News Bible, and ultra-modern translations such as The Message and The Word on the Street, the groundswell of defenders of literal-only translations has been greatly eroded.
Dr. Bill Ruhl, a minister from the Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee, wrote a tract containing most of these criticisms and several others. Other very conservative leaders followed suit in some instances. Supporters of Taylor accused these critics of smallmindedness and replied that many of their attacks were more of a personal nature than serious criticisms of the work.
Largely in response to the criticisms, plans were made to supplant the paraphrase with a translation that would incorporate the simplicity of language of The Living Bible and yet address some of the issues above. The result of this work is the New Living Translation, released by Tyndale House in 1996 and updated in 2004, which has effectively replaced The Living Bible.
[edit] Trivia
- In 1 Samuel 20:30, the Living Bible contains the phrase "son of a bitch". This angered many parents, especially since the phrase was also present in the children's version. The verse, where Saul is yelling at Jonathan, was toned down in later printings of the LB ("You fool!") and in the New Living Translation ("You stupid son of a whore!").
- A Catholic edition of the Living Bible was made available some years afterward and is still available.
