Review
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Title: The New Testament: A Translation
Author: David Bentley Hart
Publisher: Yale University Press, New Haven and London
Genre: Non-fiction
Year Published: 2017
Number of pages: 577
Binding: Hardback
ISBN: 978-0-300-18609-3
$35.00
Reviewed by Dale E. Luffman for the Association of Mormon Letters
In recent weeks a Fifth Edition, Fully Revised and Expanded New Revised Standard Version of the Bible has been published. Almost simultaneously David Bentley Hart’s translation of the New Testament has also appeared on the scene, touting itself as a literal translation, a translation produced “as if doctrine is not given.” But why? With so many acclaimed translations, produced by formidable guilds of scholars representing a degree of ecumenical consensus, why would one such as David Bentley Hart be inclined as a solo translator to produce yet another New Testament translation? Is it “a foolish venture”? [page xii].
Hart makes his case with a formidable argument. Reminding the reader that scholars and readers come to texts with hermeneutical prejudices he claims that the entire guild of New Testament scholars [or most] owe their allegiance to either a dogmatic tradition or to a critical interpretive theory which is imported into the translation of a text. Hart candidly declares, “I have come to be opposed to translation by mass collaboration on principle” [p. xiv], inasmuch as the doctrinal expectations guilds and communities have shaped [and continue to shape] the decision of translators.
Some translations are more extreme in this sense than others, with theological and moral distortions quite discernible — distortions which discredit the competence of the translation as in the case of The New International Version of the Bible. Hart suggests that in attempting to promote a correct theology of scripture [inerrancy] preposterous liberties are taken to accommodate the projected prejudice on the texts of the Bible. He names this “a kind of pious fraud” [page xvi].
This is a “formal” translation, meaning that an attempt to avoid theories is employed by Hart. He attempts to provide what he calls “an almost pitilessly literal translation” [xvii]. Literal meanings abound in the translation, with the preference being to avoid forms of consecrated theological tradition. All this in seeking to allow the provocative nature of the New Testament texts be voiced, revealing at times an utter strangeness. Hart desires that the texts speak for themselves, speak to us, and call into question our contemporary moral sensibilities.
The translation is written for those who have little or no knowledge of Greek, and little knowledge of the New Testament culture. Notes provided by Hart offer the reader information affording the opportunity to become aware of uncertainties of the texts being considered, issues, and idioms that may be involved in the reading.
New clarity comes to the witness of the New Testament as one encounter Hart’s translation. It is fresh. Stark. At times Hart’s approach evokes strong feeling, perhaps reactions. That being said, I wonder however, has Hart been overly critical of the guild of scholars? Particularly overcritical of scholarship that has produced the New Revised Edition or the New Jerusalem Bible? Has Hart too easily dismissed the ecclesial consensus in favor of “his preferred judgment”? The reader must decide.
Latter-day Saints might find all this rather peculiar given their institutional commitment to the King James Version of the Bible. Perhaps the value of this New Testament translation could be that it provides a clear encounter with the early Greek text in a way that the KJV does not and cannot. And for Latter-day Saints it could speak in a prophetically fresh manner in a way that tradition and traditional readings have not. Perhaps for this reason, among others, I would recommend this text.