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Randall Munroe summed Atlas Shrugged up as succinctly as can be: "I struggled with Ayn Rand because I found myself enthusiastically agreeing with the first 90% of every sentence, but getting lost at 'therefore, be a huge rear end in a top hat to everyone.'" On topic, if you ever find yourself surrounded by people who think of themselves as at least semiserious Christians and you want to watch most of them quickly devolve into a redfaced shouting match, just ask an earnest question about Bible versions and watch 'em go. In an interesting and amusing microcosm of Christianity itself, the few dedicated KJV zealots out there (I am not making this up, there are people around who wholeheartedly believe the English KJV--not the original Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek manuscripts--is the sole inspired dependable Word of God) have struck most others as so repugnant that there is now a sizable contingent of fervent anti-KJV zealots that will automatically dismiss you as a looney toon if you say anything complimentary about the KJV at all. Setting aside religious doctrine because who really cares, once you get used to the -eth's and thou's and such, the KJV is quite possibly the most grammatically and structurally pristine book ever written in English. The subject matter at times gets dull and repetitive, but as an amateur linguist I find the language admirably clean and elegant throughout (unlike the preceding paragraph). The NRSV is all right and as mentioned is the academic standard, but the NIV is a crime against the English language in my opinion. Eric the Mauve fucked around with this message at 05:15 on Oct 19, 2014 |
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Oct 19, 2014 05:12
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The KJV is not without translation problems, but I'm skeptical Robert Alter is likely to do better. Plus I personally regard any attempt at adapting Cormac McCarthy with a hearty dose of skepticism.Ms. Happiness posted:Could you expand on why you think that? The NIV, probably in its dual quests to (1) avoid stretching the reader's vocabulary or forcing the reader to accustom himself to unfamiliar turns of phrase and (b) avoid copying the KJV wherever possible, endlessly employs clunky language, often choosing four or five words to say what another translation will say in one or two. Much of it, especially in the New Testament epistles, reads like a high school student's World Cultures essay. Take any passage of a few verses and read them aloud from the KJV, then NRSV, then NIV; you'll see what I mean.
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Oct 20, 2014 17:47
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Rush_shirt posted:
Granted that neither the answer God gave Job ("Because I'm God and I said so") nor the actual answer (Because God and Satan had a bet) is very satisfying to most folks. That said, the very few Hebrew scholars I've met have told me Job is one of the most beautiful things ever written, and though the KJV translation takes an admirable stab at it it's impossible to really translate the poetry. Eric the Mauve fucked around with this message at 20:21 on Nov 1, 2014 |
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Nov 1, 2014 20:16
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Gideon (Book of Judges) is another guy who responded to The Call with, "I don't really want to do this. Do I have to do this?"
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Nov 4, 2014 01:25
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