Bible Translations
Churches across America are struggling with the debate over which Bible texts and translations one should use. The following available materials shed helpful light on this controversial topic.
Questions and Answers about Bible Translations
This list of questions and answers related to Bible translations was written by the late Ernest Pickering, who served as Senior Pastor of Fourth Baptist Church of Minneapolis and President of Central Baptist Seminary. To read it online, click here.
Sermon Series
From the Mind of God to the Mind of Man
This series of sermons preached by Mark Minnick addresses many of the issues in the current controversy.
Mount Calvary's Translation Decision
At a May 30, 2001 business meeting, Mount Calvary Baptist Church adopted an official church position regarding the use of various Bible translations.
Whetstone 2003 Session: The Text/Translation Debate
At a June 27, 2003, Whetstone Conference Session, Pastor Minnick spoke about the Text and Translation Debate.
From the Mind of God to the Mind of Man
The current controversy over the Bible's text and translations is creating confusing division within the ranks of Fundamentalism. A mass of misinformation fuels the debate. Scores of men realize the enormous errors being popularized but hesitate to engender further debate by speaking out. The confusion, however, is now so pervasive within Fundamentalism that the true, biblical, and historical facts on the text, transmission and translations of the Scripture must be restated in layman's terms. These facts argue eloquently for the unity, not the division of God's people on these issues. Pastor Mark Minnick is one of the authors of this book by the same title as the sermon series above.
Pricing information: $10.00
God's Word in our Hands
The central issue in the controversy over the text and translation of scripture is the issue of preservation. This book speaks to that issue from a scriptural and historical perspective. The book is a fitting sequel to From the Mind of God to the Mind of Man.
Pricing information: $18.00
Authorized
This recent title by Mark Ward is a brief and accessible book, explaining how changes in English in the last 400-plus years have made some words in the KJV unintelligible to modern readers. The KJV—through no fault of the KJV translators, but solely because of language change—contains both “dead words” and “false friends.” Dead words are words we know we don’t know (besom, chambering, emerod); false friends are words we don’t know we don’t know (halt, commendeth, remove)—words that modern readers won’t even know to look up. If, as Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 14, edification requires intelligibility, then English readers must be aware of the effects of language change on the KJV. Mark has also produced an entertaining DVD of Authorized that is available through our church bookstore.
Pricing information: $10.00
Trusted Voices on Translations
Some contemporary Christian leaders are contending that only one Greek New Testament (the Textus Receptus) or only one English translation of it (the Authorized or King James) is the preserved Word of God. This view is neither taught nor even implied by any verse of either the Textus Receptus or the King James Version. Furthermore, neither was it taught by the majority of past conservative Christian spokesmen. If you are searching for help on the translation issue, a sampling of testimonies from some of these trusted voices is available in this insightful 12-page pamphlet. In it, you will find chronologically arranged testimonials from the translators of the King James Version to the 1995 resolution of the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship. In between, you will hear from C.H. Spurgeon, D.L. Moody, G. Campbell Morgan, F. B. Meyer, Alexander Maclaren, C.I. Scofield, and more than 20 other such trusted voices.
You may order a single pamphlet free of charge by simply sending your mailing address. You are welcome to order these through the church office or info@mountcalvarybaptist.org.
Pricing information: $ .50