In Discordance with the Scriptures: American Protestant Battles Over Translating the Bible (Religion in America)
As indicated by the title, this book chronicles the vicious debates between American Protestants over the translation and publication of different versions of the Bible, particularly the American Standard Version (1885) and the Revised Standard Version (1952). Limited to this topic, Thuesen does well. But the title is misleading; much of this book deals with other translations and with the Protestant/Roman Catholic controversy over the Bible. If the author had wished to write a longer history of problems with Bible translation, he could easily have found disagreement as early as the fourth century, when Jerome picked and discarded extant Latin texts as he prepared the Vulgate translation; or he could have given more detail about the work of the King James translators. The achievement of this book is that it demonstrates that the historical and literary discoveries of the 19th century became the theological controversies of the 20th century. Many new discoveries about biblical texts have been made in recent years; the information offered here about how the Bible has been translated to suit theological tastes and publishers' expectations of profits is shocking indeed. Recommended for academic and public libraries with large religion collections and for theological libraries.AJames A. Overbeck, Atlanta-Fulton P.L., GACopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.