Re: Conlang Website

On Mon, 16 Oct 2000, Adrian Morgan wrote:

> I would definately recommend William Barclay's commentaries on whatever
> New Testament books intrigue you the most - their whole purpose is to
> help the average human being to understand the Bible more thoroughly.
> They are a very famous series, and should therefore be easy to get hold
> of. In addition to the commentaries, there are titles like "Ethics in a
> Permissive Society", and, "The Plain Man Looks at the Apostle's Creed".
I'll add that to my already-huge list of books to pick up.  <wry look>

> It's fascinating to learn about the original Greek words used in the
> Bible. For example, in "Blessed are the meek", the word translated 'meek'
> is actually quite untranslatable. Aristotle defined it as the happy
> medium between a person who is angry all the time, and a person who is
> never angry at all. Barclay argues that this trait is characteristic
> of great leaders, and that "For they shall inherit the earth" is not
> as outrageous as it's sometimes made out to be.
Original Greek?  <puzzled look>  Are modern translations based on the
Greek versions instead of the Dead Sea scrolls...?  I don't remember much
from my required religion classes in high school but I would've thought
ancient Hebrew or Aramaic or Latin would have been more helpful....

> > I have a Good News Bible, which is so colloquial sometimes it worries
> > me. I really should acquire a NSRV copy.
>
> I have an NRSV. For general purposes I prefer the freer translation of
> the J.B.Phillips, but as I said, one really needs at least two different
> translations to get the most out of it.
I've read snatches from about 4 different translations since Bible
Studies in middle school often had 4 different versions of the Bible
lying around and we'd just pick up whichever was closest.  <laugh>

I would someday also like to read a translation of the Koran, more of the
Apocrypha...someday.  So much to read!

YHL