Rescuing a New Testament.

419210423_698411729028941_4440755472385169087_nA few years ago I bought this New Testament in a used bookshop in Huntly. I don't collect Bible translations, but this copy was a reminder of the excitement in the late 1960's when the first instalment of the Good News Bible was published.
 
It was called Today's English Version in its first printings. From the start this translation has featured the brilliant line drawings of Annie Vollotton, some of which are exegetical sketches without words.
Over my years of ministry I've moved from RSV, to NIV in its various updatings, then on my desk and most often used, the NRSV and the REB.
The choice of a Bible translation is quite personal, though our subjective liking or disliking should at least be qualified by the question of whether translational decisions are made on the evidence from the text, or at times shaped by theological presuppositions.
 
ThanksI still remember R E O White, our College Principal saying of the blurb about the NIV claiming it was the translation for evangelicals. I paraphrase, but he said it often enough for there to be a strong oral tradition about it! "I'm not sure we do the text, or its authors any favours by describing it as an 'evangelical' translation. Accurate, yes, faithful to the text, certainly. But that's a different matter."
 
Anyway, this small NT has its own story. It was presented in 1972 to the Newtongrange Gala Day Queen. I've no idea how it made its way through time and landscape to a wee book shop in Huntly. But here it is, in near fine condition, the original TEV dustcover, and one of my favourite Vallotton drawings.

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