Date: Sat, 16 Aug 1997 06:54:09 -0400 (EDT) From: Darrell128@aol.com Subject: NR 97087: Three Denominations Oppose Zondervan/International Bible Society Inclu NR #1997-087: Three Denominations Oppose Zondervan/International Bible Society Inclusive Language Proposal In separate meetings, the Southern Baptist Convention, Presbyterian Church in America, and Conservative Congregational Christian Conference have all passed resolutions opposing the now-cancelled proposal by the International Bible Society and Zondervan Publishing House to issue an "inclusive language" edition of the New International Version of the Bible. NR #1997-087: For Immediate Release Three Denominations Oppose Zondervan/International Bible Society Inclusive Language Bible Proposal by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer United Reformed News Service (August 6, 1997) URNS -- In separate meetings, the Southern Baptist Convention, Presbyterian Church in America, and Conservative Congregational Christian Conference have all passed resolutions opposing the now-cancelled proposal by the International Bible Society and Zondervan Publishing House to issue an "inclusive language" edition of the New International Version of the Bible. The most pointed of the three resolutions were adopted by the 268,000-member Presbyterian Church in America at its June 9 to June 13 General Assembly in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Responding to a personal resolution offered by Rev. Skip Dusenbury of Christ Reformed Presbyterian Church of Laurel, Maryland, the PCA adopted virtually without dissent a resolution that the denomination "concurs in the decisions" by the NIV Committee on Bible Translation, International Bible Society, and Zondervan Publishing not to "pursue their plans to publish a 'gender inclusive' version of the NIV in the United States, believing that such a version is inconsistent with the Biblical doctrine of divine inspiration." While recognizing that "the institutions referred to in the overture are not under the jurisdiction of the PCA" and that "the General Assembly could not possibly be expected to review the vast amount of religious publications that appear annually, nor to advise publishers on their policies," the PCA also declared that "we believe the translation of the Holy Scripture to be a matter of public and ecclesiastical interest." According to Dr. T. David Gordon, professor of New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and chairman of the PCA overtures and judicial business committee, the PCA adopted the resolution to "concur in" the decision rather than Dusenbury's original wording to "commend" the NIV translators and publishers because of suspicions concerning their motives. "We weren't sure we wanted to commend a group unless we were sure we agreed with the reasons involved," said Gordon. "Some cynical people like myself were willing to say that they would translate the divinity of Christ out of the Scriptures if it would be for profit. Once you have for-profit societies selling Bibles you have a problem with translation principles." Many PCA churches use the NIV, and the editor and publisher of World Magazine, which carried the initial expose of the inclusive language edition proposal, are both PCA members. In its July 20-25 meeting in Greeley, Colorado, the 40,000-member Conservative Congregational Christian Conference passed a similar resolution to communicate its "encouragement and concerns to the Committee on Bible Translation, the International Bible Society, and Zondervan Publishing Company." Going beyond the PCA resolution, the 4C's voted to "applaud and commend" the decision not to publish a gender-inclusive version of the NIV. However, the denomination also declared that it "would encourage those involved in Bible translation to continue to clearly and faithfully preserve the distinction between men and women which our wise and gracious God has established in creation and revealed in his Word." A second concern was that "while we appreciate and share their desire to communicate God's truth as clearly as possible to the people of our own day, we would also urge upon them to continue to use time-honored historic principles of biblical translation, and to steadfastly resist the pressures of sinful human culture which would obscure, diminish, or subvert any aspect of God's inerrant truth." Unlike the PCA, the 4C's very rarely adopts resolutions, and last did so a decade earlier. According to 4C board of directors member David Williams, author of the resolution, the 4C action met initial opposition due to the fact that the denomination rarely passes resolutions. "Evangelical organizations tend to be reticent to criticize other Christian organizations, but when International Bible Society and others make statements like this I think they're fair game," said Williams. "It does not seem to me there was any change in conscience, they did not feel there was anything wrong with the path they were taking, but since the NIV is the Bible of choice for many evangelical Christians they will make the choices so as not to cause any problem. Sometimes we have to be forthright in our concerns." Williams said the resolution was directed both to the Bible translators and to the 4C membership, and was preceded by distribution of 300 copies of World Magazine to Annual Meeting delegates. "We wanted to put the 4C's on record, that's the first purpose and also it was an educational tool to the churches of the 4C's and to the delegates also at the annual meeting," said Williams. "I had provided at the beginning of the Annual Meeting copies of the World Magazine issue's synopsis; we put them on the registration table Monday and they had until Thursday to bone up on the issues." "The 4C's has a generally Reformed character, as were historically all Congregationalists, and I felt we had to apply our Reformed world and life view to all areas of life and also this is important as well," said Williams. "It is important to let these organizations know that the 4C's view with concern any ideological tampering with the Scriptures." In a less-specific resolution passed by the 16-million member Southern Baptist Convention at its June 17-19 meeting in Dallas, the denomination resolved to "urge every Bible publisher and translation group to continue to use time-honored, historic principles of Bible translation and refrain from any deviation to seek to accommodate contemporary cultural pressures, understanding that we are anxious to support the most accurate translations." The denomination cited as grounds that "Bible publishers and translators are consistently faced with the tension of accuracy and readability along with the pressure from those who do not hold a high view of Scripture to take license with the use of particular terms, including, but not limited to, the use of so-called gender inclusive language." The resolution clearly references the NIV controversy but does not cite the NIV, its publishers, or translators by name. Numerous Southern Baptist leaders had warned of a possible NIV boycott, and Baptist Press, the official Southern Baptist news agency, had reported prior to the decision to cancel reported that the Convention might pass an official resolution on the subject. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1997-082: Zondervan, International Bible Society Win First Round in Ethics Charges Against World Magazine Over Inclusive Language Bible #1997-085: Evangelical Press Association Apologizes for Initial Ethics Committee Report on World Magazine Contact List: Joel Belz, Publisher, World Magazine [For interview arrangements contact Matthew Worthington] PO Box 2330, Asheville, NC 28802 O: (800) 951-4974 * O: (704) 253-8063 * F: (704) 253-1556 Dr. T. David Gordon, Chairman, PCA Bills and Overtures Committee 13 Ayer St., Nashua NH 03060 O: (603) 595-8010 * H: (603) 886-1340 * E-Mail: TDGordon@compuserve.com Dr. Marvin Olasky, Editor, World Magazine [For interview arrangements contact Matthew Worthington] PO Box 2330, Asheville, NC 28802 O: (800) 951-4974 * O: (704) 253-8063 * F: (704) 253-1556 Jonathan Petersen, Director of Corporate Affairs, Zondervan Publishing House 5300 Patterson SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49512 O: (616) 698-3417 * F: (616) 698-3223 Dr. Eugene Rubingh, Vice-President of Translations, International Bible Society 2736 Westwood Blvd, Colorado Springs, CO 80918 O: (719) 488-9200 * H: (719) 598-7426 * FAX: (719) 488-0915 * E-Mail: IBSTrans@aol.com Prof. John Stek, Chairman, Committee on Bible Translation 2045 Ridgewood SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 H/O: (616) 949-4134 David Williams, Board of Directors Member, Conservative Congregational Christian Conference 3616 Bellaire Dr. N, Ft. Worth, TX 76109 O: (817) 924-9570 * FAX: (817) 924-3110 ---------------------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/reformed/archive97: nr97-087.txt .