Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #896010 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-02
• Original language: English, German
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 176 pages

Customer Reviews

A Startling Re-Appraisal of the Gospel Message
In re-interpreting what Jesus meant, Professor Wills has obviously set out with the sole intention of debunking traditional "wisdom". While in some respects, this aim has its commendable side, there is always a tendency among "reformers" to throw the baby out with the bath-water. And this is exactly what Wills has done. Wills seems to resent the fact that Jesus chose to bring His message primarily to the common man. He chose the illiterate, rough talking, ill-mannered, slovenly, unrefined citizens of Galilee rather than the rich, powerful, upper classes of Rome. Why He did this, one can only guess. But in any event, it was to the common man that Jesus spoke. And it is a waste of time talking to the common name in the refined, poetic, philosophical language of Jesus Ben Sirach. Rough men demand rough speaking.

Professor Wills also makes much of the fact that the New Testament was largely written in rough, illiterate, market-place Greek. He feels it should be translated accordingly. I have a degree of sympathy for these thoughts. Certainly, as he says, the language of the King James New Testament is so far removed from what the various authors actually wrote, there is a definite danger of mis-interpretation. In my opinion, the modern translator has a duty to correct the excesses of the King James version, but at the same time he should avoid aping bad grammar and an impoverished vocabulary simply for the sake of reproducing the literary style (or rather absence of style) of the original. In my new translation of John's Gospel, for instance, I have tried to make it as easy to follow as possible. Essential Bible Wisdom: GOOD NEWS by John, the Beloved Disciple, and John, the Elder