Bible Translator

2007 was a hectic year. My publishers released, "Study New Testament for Lesbians, Gay, Bi and Transgender" to great controversy. This article by Linda Morris appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age (Melbourne), and sparked off a lot of articles:

Christian bookshops refuse to stock gay study Bible

Linda Morris

November 26, 2007

CHRISTIAN bookshops are refusing to stock copies of a new Bible study guide that challenges standard New Testament translations that describe gay sex as sinful. A US distributor, God's Word to Women, has banned the Australian publication, and withdrawn another Bible translation published by the same NSW publishing house, Smith and Stirling, for promoting a lifestyle in contradiction of the scriptures. Two American academics have asked that their endorsements be removed from other works by a classical Greek lexicographer, Ann Nyland, because of her authorship of the gay study Bible.Australia's largest Christian retailer, Koorong, said it was unlikely to carry the Study New Testament for Gay, Lesbian, Bi, and Transgender if the content proves controversial.Mainstream Christian churches claim practising homosexuality is a sin based on several biblical verses and stories. One is the Old Testament story of Genesis, while the ancient story of Sodom is taken as exclusive support for heterosexual coupling, and Leviticus 18:22 reads: "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination."In 1 Corinthians 6:9 and Timothy 1:10 Paul sets out examples of Jewish law including admonitions against fornication, idolatry and drunkenness, as well as the much disputed word "arsenokoites" which has been taken to mean homosexuality.But in her study guide, Dr Nyland says the word has been wrongly assumed to mean homosexual. Its range of meanings includes one who anally penetrates another, whether female or male, a rapist, a murderer, or an extortionist. When used with the meaning anal penetrator, it does not apply exclusively to males, Dr Nyland says. The word does not appear in any Greek literary source until the poets of the imperial period, when the Greeks wrote at length on male-male sexual relationships. The reference in Romans, and the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, were about angels having sex with humans, and not about homosexual acts, she says. Most New Testament translations are based on a lack of understanding of Greek word meaning and context, and disregard academic research, which shows passages in earlier translations are wrong, she says.

END OF ARTICLE.

The publishers received a lot of not nice mail, some of it from so-called Christians. Here is one example from hardrode@hotmail.com (obviously a false address as the person did not have the guts to sign their name): "It is one thing to condemn yourself to HELL. It is much worse to lead other people to HELL with you. I hope there is a special place in HELL for all of the people like yourselves that try make THE BIBLE say what they want to make themselves feel better about their unrepentent sinfulness."

There were many other emails of the same ilk, but not as succinct as the above!