Wondering what effect if any a publisher has on a translation?

[jeclark71]

I have been using the NKJV since 2007 and like the translation. Recently a friend through discussion shared a concern about the future of the translation. I learned Harper Collins bought out Thomas Nelson and now owns the rights to the NKJV. He suggested this was not a good thing. My question is what are your thoughts concerning this issue and should this even be a concern?

 

[DMcFadden]

In an ideal world, I would like Bibles to be free of ANY commercial interference. Quite apart from the debate over translation, the Trinitarian Bible Society will always have a soft spot in my heart.

However, capitalists will sell anything that will make a buck. As famed community organizer Saul Alinsky once boasted, "I feel confident that I could persuade a millionaire on a Friday to subsidize a revolution for Saturday out of which he would make a huge profit on Sunday even though he was certain to be executed on Monday."

I'm pretty sure that as long as Thomas Nelson turns a profit on the NKJV, it will continue to exist. If you are worried about a secular publisher changing it to be more "politically correct" form, don't waste your time. A popular "item" will continue to be sold by Nelson, rendering profits to its parent corp.

 

[jeclark71]

Thanks brother and I know the western world is all about capitalism. Saul Alinsky represents this as to well Still I do hold publishers like Cross Way in high regards for there defense of he faith.

 

[DMcFadden]

Absolutely! Since the ESV is my standard Bible (not to mention the other GREAT books), I LOVE Crossway.

They are on the side of the angels on the theological side. However, as MANY posts on the PB indicate, their . . . "aggressive" marketing has raised hackles on the part of some who feel that it is not seemly to treat the Word of God like the latest dishwashing soap.

I am fairly pragmatic about it all and do not mind the Crossway folks using modern marketing techniques to do a good thing. Still, those Trinitarian Bible Society people will also be high on my list.

 

[MichaelNZ]

King James Only folk like to point out that the NIV is published by Zondervan, which is owned by Harper Collins, who publishes the Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey. What they don't say is that Zondervan also publishes the KJV (I have a KJV published by Zondervan with a second commandment violation in the front).

 

[Jake]

To be charitable Michael, the NIV has a different relationship with Zondervan than the KJV does with Zondervan from what I understand. In the case of the latter, the translation is in the public domain the US and you can find scores upon scores of publishers of it (although certain versions or typesets of it may be copyrighted).

 

[One Little Nail]

King James Only folk like to point out that the NIV is published by Zondervan, which is owned by Harper Collins, who publishes the Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey. What they don't say is that Zondervan also publishes the KJV (I have a KJV published by Zondervan with a second commandment violation in the front).

To be charitable Michael, the NIV has a different relationship with Zondervan than the KJV does with Zondervan from what I understand. In the case of the latter, the translation is in the public domain the US and you can find scores upon scores of publishers of it (although certain versions or typesets of it may be copyrighted).

Jake is quite right when he says this in regards to the KJB, though Zondervan didn't concieve of the NIV either it apparently
is the brainchild of the International Bible Society which licences out the commercial rights to Zondervan.

So Harper Collins is trying to corner the "Bible" market with the NKJV & NIV which would give it a large market & sales share, money talks.

My concerns are that this publisher is owned by the notorious Australian Rupert Murdoch, who has contributed to a decline
in public manners through his rag trade (tabloid press), who is a God hater & wicked person, he is an Arch-Papist having received the Order of St. Gregory the Great from none other than Anti-Christ John Paul II & is also reportedly a Lenin Marxist, now I ask you, do you have any concerns with that?

 

[Pilgrim]

I have been using the NKJV since 2007 and like the translation. Recently a friend through discussion shared a concern about the future of the translation. I learned Harper Collins bought out Thomas Nelson and now owns the rights to the NKJV. He suggested this was not a good thing. My question is what are your thoughts concerning this issue and should this even be a concern?

I would say that it's not good, but I'm not too concerned about it either.

Over about the past 10-15 years, I didn't really view Nelson as being much (if any) better than Zondervan anyway. You never know, but I don't think there would be the impetus to want to update the NKJV text the way there was with the NIV. If somebody wants a trendy contemporary text for their generation, (or one that is in tune with the "latest scholarship") the NKJV isn't really the choice anyway and never was. They seem to be doing well enough with issuing Study Bibles left and right in the NKJV, which is probably a factor in the market share that it has. But if they were to conclude that some kind of revision were to be good for the bottom line, it would be cause for concern as there would be little hope that a change would be an improvement. With regard to the gender-neutral NIV, I don't know that Harper Collins' ownership of Zondervan really had anything to do with that decision. For what it's worth my guess is that it was not a significant factor and that it probably would have happened regardless.

The ESV has taken market share from the NASB, KJV, NKJV as well as the NIV. Some people (including preachers) who were not committed to the Majority or Byzantine text used to use the NKJV nonetheless because it had better literary quality than the NASB and was more literal than the NIV. When the ESV came along, many naturally switched.

Apparently there have been small unacknowledged changes to the NKJV text through the years, although I don't know how recently this has happened. Several years ago, Michael Marlowe, proprietor of the Bible Researcher website (or at least I think it was him) tried to get a list of changes from Nelson only to be told that all Bible publishers do that. They refused to provide a list. (If I'm not mistaken, Crossway also refused to provide a list of changes with at least one of the subsequent "text editions" of the ESV.)

I used the NKJV for the better part of a decade but have basically given up on it. This is due to the lack of quality editions that are available at an affordable price (red letters are not good for the eyes) as well as due to the fact that basically no one in my current circle uses it anyway. But I might get back to it in private reading at some point.