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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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Throughout history, advances in communication technologies have been quickly adapted to spreading the Bible further across the world. And the Internet has been no exception. There are thousands of sites devoted to the Bible and promoting an incredible variety of Christianity—not all particularly helpful. A disappointing aspect of many Christian web sites is their failure to properly employ the available technology, simply replicating previously published material.
But check out www.netbible.com. It’s the complete, new and free translation of the Bible specifically prepared and presented for online use. NET is the acronym for “New English Translation,” with the secondary reference to its digital form.
The Biblical Studies Foundation (BSF) saw the need to exploit the ministry possibilities of the Internet.
The preface to the NET Bible highlights these opportunities: “The Internet represents the single best opportunity for ministry in history because electronic distribution via the Internet allows free delivery of unlimited amounts of biblical materials to anyone worldwide who could otherwise not afford or access them—for zero incremental cost. . . . It no longer needs to be limited by the number of copies of materials that it can afford to print and give away.”
Although many Bible translations are currently available, the copyrights to existing translations are owned by the publishing companies, who are often reluctant to distribute their product free-of-charge, so the BSF decided to create their own. The Foundation also saw the opportunity of creating an interactive Bible translation.
So a team of about 20 Bible scholars was assembled to begin the task. However, unlike other translation projects, their final draft is not the end of the process. Their translation has been made available online and opened up to comment by any who choose to visit.
A current total of 57,875 translators’ notes explain translation choices, providing an intriguing look into the translation process. These notes and comments—made possible by the unlimited space and hypertext of the Internet—can be useful aids in Bible study and form the basis for ongoing discussion, a discussion in which any site visitor can participate.
The initial translation was available on-line before what is referred to as the “Beta edition 2.0” was printed on paper. As such, the NET Bible preface points out, “More people have used and reviewed the working drafts of the NET Bible than any other translation in history.”
It is not only an intriguing Bible translation project, but it is also an interesting way of discovering the Bible. Navigation around the site is easy and there are many additional features to explore.
The NET Bible can be initially accessed and used online and the site is worth visiting. Should you decide it is a Bible you want to use more frequently, you can download the entire NET Bible to your computer for free. And if you want it in a form you can tuck under your arm and take with you to a Bible-study group or church, you can purchase online an “old-fashioned” but sometimes handy print format.
Extract from Signs of the Times, January / February 2003 .
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