A review of Dr. David Bentley Hart's translation of the New Testament (ISBN: 978030018609). Text in this book is formatted in a single column organized into paragraphs. The font is large and relatively bold. The paper is thick and show-through is not an issue, but the volume is large and does not lie open except near the center. The translation is literal and attempts "to make the original text as visible as possible." It is also unique in that it avoids words commonly used in modern English translations of the Bible. For instance, 'eternal' is replaced with 'of the Age'; 'Christ' with 'the Anointed'; 'the devil' with 'the Slanderer'; and 'repentance' with 'change of heart'. This New Testament does not feature gilt page edges, references, maps, a concordance, or ribbon markers.
Detailed Contents
00:00 Details (dimensions, margins, layout, font …), three charts
00:23 Book dimensions and size compared to the Eastern Orthodox Bible New Testament and the Orthodox Study Bible New Testament and Psalms
01:51 Page layout
02:34 The text is line-matched
02:58 Margins
03:20 The font in the text
04:38 Pronouns for deity are not capitalized
05:03 The footnotes
05:15 Paper qualities (thickness, texture, color, transparency)
06:01 The words of Christ (or the Anointed) are in black ink
06:09 Print non-uniformity is slight
07:45 The Concluding Scientific Postscript
08:43 No maps, concordance or ribbon markers
08:47 The white head and tail bands
08:53 The binding appears to be sewn, but no threads are visible
09:06 The book does not lie open or particularly flat
09:52 The copyright page
10:08 The quotation from The Gospel of Thomas (in Greek)
10:31 The table of contents
11:06 The introduction
11:44 The underlying Greek text
12:36 The translation is literal rather than dynamic (or free/loose)
13:48 Textual choices compared with those of other translations (two X-Y scatter plots that show percentage agreement with the Nestle-Aland 28th edition, the Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform, and Westcott & Hort)
14:49 The 1662 Book of Common Prayer’s “Comfortable Words” in David Bentley Hart’s translation
16:54 Titus 2.13, 2 Peter 1.1, the deity of Christ, and the Granville Sharp rule
17:52 Ephesians 2.8-10 - faith or faithfulness? observances or works?
21:16 John 6.48-51 - if anyone eats this bread he will live throughout the current age?
23:56 2 Corinthians 4.18 - ‘temporal/eternal’ or ‘for a season/of the Age’? Perhaps ‘for an age’ would have been better than ‘of the Age’ here.
25:35 2 Thessalonians 2.16 - perhaps it would have been better to transliterate aionian to preserve the parallel construction
26:42 Walter Bauer’s lexicon on aionios
27:14 How do translations of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom render aionios?
28:00 Matthew 25.46, the sheep and the goats, the chastisement of the Age, and the life of the Age
31:59 Romans 8.12 - we are indebted to the flesh, to live according to the flesh
32:46 2 Corinthians 5.21 - the great exchange
33:19 Hebrews 6.4 - ‘repentance’ or ‘a changed heart’? Are there multiple Holy Spirits?
34:34 Mark 3.29 - ‘has no excuse throughout the age’ or ‘can never have forgiveness’? And ‘answerable for a transgression in the Age’ or ‘guilty of an eternal sin’?
36:08 2 Thessalonians 1.9 - at Christ’s return, ruin comes from the face of the Lord
37:27 The textual note at Mark 16.9-20
38:16 The footnote at Romans 5.12 and Original Sin
39:33 Romans 8.29 and predestination
40.12 Matthew 16.16-19, Peter and the rock
40:58 John 21.15-17 - The Lord asks Peter three questions
41:23 Revelation 14.8-12 - ‘wrath’ or ‘vehemence’? ‘anger’ or ‘ire’?
43:36 Summary: pros and cons
43:47 The ISBN