Carson on authenteo

John Starke has published this segment of Don Carson's talk at the Different by Design 2009 conference. Here are some relevant points with reference to this video.

1. Carson says that "the verb authenteo in most instances has a neutral or positive overtone. But there is a handful of instances where you can at least make a case that it can have a negative overtone."

In fact, there are no cases near the NT in time, where authenteo has a positive overtone. I repeatedly asked John Starke to supply even one, but he declined to do so. ( I know he has a new baby, and I am very happy for him. However, he found time to make the clip of Carson on authenteo for CBMW.)

2. Köstenberger insists that both verbs must be either positive or negative.

Yes, most scholars agree with this.

3. All sides agree that "teach" by itself has a positive overtone.

I find this odd because Köstenberger on his blog has written the following,

A case in point is I. H. Marshall. In his 1999 ICC commentary on the Pastorals, Marshall at the outset indicates his acceptance of the findings of my study by noting that it has “argued convincingly on the basis of a wide range of Gk. usage that the construction employed in this verse is one in which the writer expresses the same attitude (whether positive or negative) to both of the items joined together by oude.”
Yet Marshall proceeds to opt for a negative connotation of both terms “teach” and “have authority,” because he says false teaching is implied in the reference to Adam and Eve in verse 14.

Two out of three of the points that Don Carson made about authenteo were not accurate. I don't think this video makes a good case for why women should not teach men.

Feminine language for God

Bloggers in this conversation are Damian, Kurk, Rachel, Joel, Doug, and Tim. I regret not having time to link to specific posts, but I have very much appreciated the dialogue. Forgive me, if a momentary mental block has caused me to forget someone. Please comment. I like conversations like this, where no one is obliged to declare a position on women in the church, blah, blah, blah.

Another great post, not to miss is by Molly of Adventures in Mercy. There are a lot of women blogging about the Bible, but so many of us have our plaints - we view the Bible through the "knothole" of our former misery. Too true, whoever you are who said that!

The minimalization of abuse

Waneta Dawn has another important post on Fireproof. She points out how the movie, and John Piper, minimalize abuse. She writes,

The writers of Fireproof did a good job of showing a textbook abuser in action. However, their choice of an abusive character, their minimization of Caleb’s abusive behavior together with their statement at the end that a wife can implement the Love Dare and save the (abusive) marriage, suggests to abused wives who view the movie, that they, too, should deny and minimize their husband’s abusive behavior, and if they use the Love Dare, their abusive husbands will start treating them right. As stated in Part 1, this is extremely dangerous. By using an abusive character, it suggests that divorce for abuse is totally unnecessary (possibly sinful) and that the failure of the marriage is the abused wife's fault because she refused to love and sacrifice enough.

Additionally, this movie tells anyone an abused wife goes to for help, that if she would just do the Love Dare and stick with it, no matter how long it takes, her whole problem would go away. Even worse, they may PRESSURE her to do the love dare and stick with it. If she refuses, they are likely to hold her at arms length, shun her, or even drive her out of their church.

How can someone hold someone else's life in so much disrespect? That is what I feel when conversing with some other bloggers. This is what I hear. "Oh, it is just your health and safety at risk - no problem, I am all right jack."

The Conservative Bible project

HT Exploring Our Matrix

Conservapedia has a new Bible translation project called the Conservative Bible Project. Deirdre Good analyses it here. A commenter on Exploring Our Matrix points out that this site is not a parody.

Kephale as "cause"

This is from Women in ministry: four views by Robert Clouse et al. (page 168) Here the Greek word kephale for "head" is interpreted as "cause." This is understood to fall under the same general category of "source."

The Greek writer Artemidorus (second century AD) yields numerous examples of head (kephale) meaning "source."In LIb. 1, Cap. 2. Paragraph 6, we read, "He [the father] was the cause [aitios] of the life and of the light for the dreamer [the son] just as the head [kephale] is the cause [aitios] of the life and the light of all the body." In another section (Cap. 35, Paragraph 36) Artemidorus writes, "indeed, the head is to be likened to parents because the head is the cause [or source] of life."

It is important to note that "source" or "cause of life" is not the meaning of kephale, but is one possible way of interpreting it.

Kephale as "source"

While I have often remarked on the poor attestation of kephale as "leader," "authority" or even "superior rank." I have not always been a strong supporter of kephale as "source." Kephale is the Greek word for "head." However, in English "head" can be used of a person who is in a leadership position. It can be used in this way directly and without comparison, metaphor or elaboration, as in "head of state." This expression does not exist in ancient Greek.

Some have suggested that kephale should best be understood as "source" instead, but others say that this has little legitimacy. I would like to review the literary evidence for kephale as "source." The first and most interesting example is from an Orphic fragment,

Zeus is the first. Zeus the thunderer, is the last.
Zeus is the head (kephale). Zeus is the middle, and by Zeus all things were fabricated.
Zeus is male, Immortal Zeus is female.
Zeus is the foundation of the earth and of the starry heaven.
Zeus is the breath of all things. Zeus is the rushing of indefatigable fire.
Zeus is the root of the sea: He is the Sun and Moon.
Zeus is the king; He is the author of universal life;
One Power, one Dæmon, the mighty prince of all things:
One kingly frame, in which this universe revolves,
Fire and water, earth and ether, night and day,
And Metis (Counsel) the primeval father, and all-delightful Eros (Love).
All these things are United in the vast body of Zeus.
Would you behold his head and his fair face,
It is the resplendent heaven, round which his golden locks
Of glittering stars are beautifully exalted in the air.
On each side are the two golden taurine horns,
The risings and settings, the tracks of the celestial gods;
His eyes the sun and the Opposing moon;
His unfallacious Mind the royal incorruptible Ether.

In some occurrences of this prayer the Greek word arche is found instead of kephale. This is teh intial part of the Liddell. Scott, Jones entry for arche,

A.beginning, origin,νείκεος ἀ. Il.22.116 ; πήματοςOd.8.81 ; φόνου21.4 , etc.; opp. τέλος, Hdt.7.51, etc.; opp. τελευτή, Thgn.607, cf. Pl.Lg.715e, Hp.Morb.1.1; ἀ. γενέσθαικακῶνHdt.5.97 ; ἀ. ποιήσασθαίτινοςTh.1.128 , And.2.37, Isoc.12.120, etc.; ἀ. λαβεῖντινόςAeschin.1.11 ; τὰςἀρχὰςεἰληφέναιPlb.4.28.3 ; ἀρχὴνὑποθέσθαι lay a foundation,D.3.2, etc.; βαλέσθαιPl.Ep.326e (and Pass., ἀρχαὶβέβληνταιPi.N.1.8 ); ἀρχὴνἄρχεσθαίτινοςPl.Ti.36e ; source of action, [ὁἄνθρωπος]ἔχειἀρχὴνἐλευθέραν Plot.3.3.4 .

I suggest that one possible interpretation of kephale is as arche, origin or source. Perhaps Paul in writing 1 Corinthians, was more interested in creating a cosmogony than maintaining a gender hierarchy of human interaction. More on this later.

PS Thanks to those who commented on my googling difficulty with my school blog. It nows googles appropriately. Apparently I was not patient enough.

here and there

I have added Dr. Claude Mariottini to my sidebar. He frequently posts on women in the Hebrew Bible or other related topics. Browse his recents posts for some interesting discussions.

Another blog that I read frequently are Submission Tyranny. I highly recommend Fireproof: part 1 the faulty premise, and part 2. She writes,

I must add here that it is the voluntary submission of the wife—submission to avoid an ugly denigrating attack—that causes abusive husbands to attack their wives, either physically or non-physically. When the wife showers her husband with loving and submissive behaviors, many abusers consider that a weakness and "go in for the kill," to thoroughly establish their power and control. Other times an abuser begins to think she is doing it by her own choice, not because of his coercion. Therefore, if her actions originated from her own choice, he is no longer in control. Since she is being so perfect, he must change his rules for her, even if he has to resort to the ridiculous, in order to regain that sense of dominating her. If an abuser has any inner prompting to feel ashamed of himself and change his ways, he tends to quickly squash it and be even more vicious to silence that inner prompting.

This is the reality of submission. It is crazy making. Defending the subordination of women is utter crap.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

I really enjoyed reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Here is an interview with him about this book which I found interesting.

The most dramatic chapter was on the positive correlation between frequent airline crashes and a high power distance index,

Hofstede’s Power distance Index measures the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. This represents inequality (more versus less), but defined from below, not from above. It suggests that a society’s level of inequality is endorsed by the followers as much as by the leaders.

Gladwell recounts the discovery that those countries with frequent airline crashes also had a high power distance index. If the co-pilot had too much deference for the pilot, or if the pilot used deference and mitigated speech when addressing the air traffic controllers, then a crash was much more likely to happen.

It was chilling to read the transcription of terminal conversations between pilot and co-pilot in which the co-pilot demonstrates respect and a submissive attitude to the pilot to the detriment of the safety of everyone on board.

Many airlines now teach assertiveness training and a standardized procedure for co-pilots to challenge the pilot if there is a safety concern. The co-pilot is to express concern with increased assertiveness three times and then take over the controls from the pilot in an emergency which the pilot is not responding to.

This kind of assertiveness training is badly needed for those caught up in biblical womanhood. It is amazing to see how the cultural presuppositions about role caused the death of so many people. The vast majority of plane crashes could have been avoided it someone had taken over controls at the right moment.

Phoebe as defender

I notice that April has linked to Elizabeth McCabe's article on Phoebe, A Reexamination of Phoebe as a “Diakonos” and “Prostatis”: Exposing the Inaccuracies of English Translations I remember discussing McCabe's premise with Bruce Waltke. He was quite dismissive of the association between prostatis and proistemi. As one would expect.

However, I feel that it is worth pointing out that the masculine form of prostatis, which is prostates, was used in a prayer to Christ. Not only that, it was used alonside beothos, the Greek for ezer. In an earlier post, I wrote,

These two words βοηθος and πρστατης are used as titles for Christ alongside "saviour" and "high priest." Here is how the words were used in 1 Clement 36:1.

Αυτη η οδος, αγαπητοι, εν η ευρομεν το σωτεριον ημων, Ιησουν Χρστον, τον αρχιερεα των προσφορων ημων, τον προστατην και βοηθον της ασθενειας ημων.


This is the way, beloved, in which we found our salvation; even Jesus Christ, the high priest of our oblations, the champion and defender of our weakness. tr. Charles Hoole 1885


This is the way, dearly beloved, wherein we found our salvation, even Jesus Christ the High priest of our offerings, the Guardian and Helper of our weakness.tr. J. B. Lightfoot.

So here, in an old fashioned translation, we find that prostates, the word for Phoebe was translated “champion" and the word for Eve, boethos was “defender.”

I developed these ideas into an article which is posted here. Champion and defender: the other side of the word.

Evgeny Morozov on the spinternet

For all those people who assume that the internet is a medium which fosters a democratic environment, you need to listen to this. Evgeny Morozov studies how the Net is used as a means of repression, just as effectively as it liberates - ask him anything. We need to stop kidding ourselves and realize that the internet is a medium with positive and negative aspects.

The Gender Neutral Bible Controversy

Mike is reading The Gender Neutral Bible Controversy byVern S. Poythress and Wayne Grudem (you can download it HERE, if you’d like). I extend to him my sympathies. Mike makes the point that when reading the Liddell Scott Jones lexicon entry for aner, Poythress and Grudem cite "man as opposed to God" without recognizing that this is the normal indication of that the word refers to a generic human being, male or female. He then asks,

So, why do we claim that these sorts of generics are still understandable today, when we don’t understand them today?

I have certainly noticed that male generics are not understood today. Many readers will approach any use of "he" in the text and assume that it refers to men. Typically, if the word is used in the context of salvation then the reader assumes a generic meaning, but if it refers to someone who leads, teaches, protects, provides or bears responsibility then the assumption is often that it refers to males only. This was the case with 1 Tim. 5:8.

I work hard every day to lead, provide and protect my family, and I am insulted by the juvenile attitude of those who treat women who care for their families as if they did not exist. Yes, ideally it is nice to be part of a couple. I agree. But consigning single women who care for their own families to the round file, is simply not an indication of a Christian religion.

What I was going to say is that Ann Nyland wrote about Grudem's utter confusion with regard to the generic use of aner in this article. She had an email dialogue with Grudem in 2002. I had an email conversation with him in 2006 in which he stated that he was unaware of the generic use of aner. This is not possible because Nyland clearly provides it.

More feminine language for God

Damian continues his quest for feminine language for God.

slaves to one another

The Hebrew and Greek words that are usually translated as "slave" in English, have a much broader range of meaning. This does not mean that a slave was not a slave in those days. In fact, slaves were owned and beaten and fucked. (Sorry, I can't think of a better word at this moment.) It wasn't a pleasant thing.

Of course, some slaves had very high status, and one of my favourite slaves was Tiro, after whom the Tironian notes shorthand system was named.

But back to the Hebrew word abad, and the Greek word doulos. The Hebrew word abad is used in Gen. 2:15. Adam was to "work" the garden and keep it. We believe that work is a good thing, but to be a slave is a bad thing. The Greek word doulos and its verb douleo are also used in negative and positive ways.

The first way that one can serve is as an involuntary or owned slave. The second is as a voluntary slave of a good and kind master. The third way one can serve is in a mutual relationship, to be slaves of each other. This way is found in Galatians,

For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. Gal. 5:13 NRSV

Sometimes the scriptures instruct people to submit to unjust slavery and oppression, sometimes they teach that one should submit to a loving master but we also see that the ideal of mutual service is taught.

In 1 Peter, we find that Christ submitted to death, slaves submitted to being beaten unjustly and wives submitted to patriarchal husbands.

Serving others is a healthy thing and working is a privilege, but slavery is worse than death. In a similar way, marriage is healthy and the commitments of family are a privilege, but being locked into an involuntary situation where you are mistreated by your spouse, husband or wife, is a misery.

We need to have a healthy view of human hierarchy as a pragmatic and fluid arrangement in which mutual service is expressed in participatory leadership and shared responsibility and accountability and where lines of authority are limited, skill based and task oriented. The scriptures are not obscure on this matter, but repeat it in several places.

The commandment of Christ is to love one another, to love your next one as yourself, to do unto others as you would have them do unto you, to be the slaves of one another, to submit to one another, to hold others in esteem.

It would be a funny Bible that said "some submit to others." "some love others," "some hold others in esteem," and "some of you become slaves to others." That would be a strange beast of a Bible.

It is interesting that most Bibles do not translate Galatians 5:13 literally. I find that the NRSV is better in this case with demonstrating the concordance that is found in the Greek. Cheers to the NRSV for a literal translation of this verse.

Beyond crazy

Frank Schaeffer - can Christianity be rescued from Christians?

Translating the word "sword"

Dr. Claude Mariottini has an excellent post on how the word "sword" is translated in the Hebrew Bible. He concludes,

In conclusion, let me say that no one should be shaken by the differences we find in English translations of the Bible. We have to remember that no translation is meant to be a word-for-word translation of the Hebrew and Greek. Rather, the intent of a translation is to provide an accurate understanding of the message of the Bible.

Every translation of the Bible is good and every translation of the Bible has its flaws. No translation of the Bible will translate a certain Hebrew word the way I think it should be translated, but in the end, a translation will carry the message that God cares for us and that he demonstrated his love for us by sending Jesus Christ to reveal the magnitude of God’s love. And that is all we need to know.

NLT: The gift of singleness is dead

In the NLT, in 1 Cor. 7:7, the text at Biblegateway.com (NLT 2004) says,

But I wish everyone were single, just as I am. But God gives to some the gift of marriage, and to others the gift of singleness.

However, at the NLT site, the text reads,

But I wish everyone were single, just as I am. Yet each person has a special gift from God, of one kind or another.

This change was in part a response to The Gift of Singleness blog. I met one of the writers, Gortexgrrl, last spring. She emailed me and we ended up getting together for supper.

Common English Bible

I guess I must have heard of this, but it didn't really register. The Common English Bible translation was started in 2008 and has its own wikipedia page. Here is a list of translators, among them a few I went to school with. Greg Bloomquist was in my first year Hebrew class.

I would love to see a sample of this. It sounds as if it will be about the same level of language as the NIV, and about a grade 7 yo 8 reading level. It is worth remembering that by some measures, the average adult reads at a grade 6 reading level.

Women's speaking justified

Mark Baker-Wright asked to be added to the friends of the TNIV, and I have found his post about Margaret Fell's Women's Speaking Justified. He writes,

About 7 years ago, when I audited David Scholer's "Women, the Bible, and the Church" class at Fuller Theological Seminary, I was actually somewhat surprised to learn that the debate about whether or not women should be ordained in Christian churches wasn't an entirely 20th century phenomenon. I had always assumed that it arose out of women's rights movements such as the suffrage movement that gave women the right to vote in 1920 (in the United States, that is). In fact, the question of whether or not women had the right to be church leaders (especially in ordained positions) has been going on for many centuries.

Indeed, I suppose that I shouldn't have been so surprised. Why would some of the ancient church "fathers" (and, let's face it, the earliest church leaders were primarily men) have engaged in such aggressive attacks against women as church leaders if there weren't in fact women who were arguing for their rights to such positions?

Of course, there have always been women in the church who have spoke out and taught.Hilda was the teacher of five bishops in the 7th century, and Margaret Fell wrote in the 17th century.

NIV 2011.com

Aberration blog brings our attention to the F.A.Q.'s on the www.nivbible2011.com site.

The happiness gap

There was a slew of blogs (NY Times excerpt available here) which reported that women's overall happiness has fallen with women's liberation.

Here is a language log post which may demsytify some of the statistics surrounding this issue. And here is Mark Liberman, Oct. 6 2007.

OK, so imagine coming into a door labeled "the room of unhappy people". You enter, and find yourself in a hall with 51 to 54 women, and 46 to 49 men. Do you think that you could decide which sex predominated, without lining everyone up and doing an explicit count?

Now imagine that you walk through two such rooms, where the first one is around 51-to-49 female, and the second is around 54-to-46 female. Do you think that you would notice the direction of difference in the sex ratios, without another pair of line-ups?

More to the point, do you think that you could spin differences like these into today's second-most-emailed NYT story?

If your answer is "yes", then you may have a future as a science writer. (Or, perhaps, as an economist...)

Not Only a Father

Tim Bulkley has uploaded his book Not Only a Father: Motherly God-Language in the Bible and Christian Tradition.

I have discovered that there is far more mother language referring to God in Christian tradition than I had formerly thought. I will be reading through Tim's book.

Here and there

There are actually quite an amazing number of posts from the last few days on gendered language in the scripture.

Kurk has really brought to light for me that the expression "son of man" meant "son of the human" and that is Mary. Mary is the anthropos, the human, that Christ is the son of.

Damien continues to think about feminine language. Alan discusses Carson's book on gender language and the translation of aner. Joel H. writes about Girl things and Boy things. and Peter writes on the value of women, oxen and cows.

There are lots of other interesting conversations going on elsewhere that I wish I could mention, but my time is limited at the moment.

(I do have a bloggy, techy problem, however, if anyone thinks they have a clue how to help me out I would appreciate a note. I have a new blog here, not related to this blog, and although I did choose in the settings to have the blog open to google, I can't google it. It refuses to show up in any search results. Anyone have any idea what's wrong?)

Anthropos in the Peshitta

Kurk has collected some of the posts on anthropos and aner here. I wonder if he is aware of the posts on Café Apocalypsis.

The passage under discussion is Matt. 12:9-14. The NIV uses "man" every time that the Greek word anthropos occurs in the text.

I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. ⁷If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent. ⁸For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

⁹Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, ¹⁰and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"

¹¹He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹²How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."

¹³Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. ¹⁴But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

Perhaps we can learn something from the way that the Peshitta translated the words for "man" in this passage. In the Peshitta, a Syriac (Aramaic) translation from the Greek, written in Syriac script, uses bar anash for "Son of man," geber for "a man" with a shriveled hand, and enosh for how much more valuable is "a man" than a sheep."

Now I realize that this puts the Peshitta on the list of translations seriously affected by feminism. Which is very odd because the editors of this text scrupulously altered the text to eradicate the feminine gender of the Spirit. But they forgot to eliminate the phrase bar anash, the human Christ.

The point is not whether the ESV, NIV or TNIV is the definitive translation. But rather, we need to realize that they are all approximations. If you stifle one of the approximations of the original, then some of the truth is denied.

So far, I have discovered that the Peshitta, Luther, and Tyndale translations all go against the Colorado Springs Gender Guidelines. Personally I prefer to burn the guidelines and keep the translations intact.

enter anthropos, the woman

Have I sat by and watched the dehumanization of woman? I don't know, but so long and no more.

Anthropos is a Greek noun of common gender, a human creature, woman or man. That those who are male wish to alienate women from being classified as human, should come as no surprise to me. It is easier to dismiss the one who is less human. It is easier to excuse her absence, her presence elsewhere, so man can the paradigmatic human, the paradigmatic christian, the paradigmatic blogger, the paradigmatic reader of this blog.

(You know I mean the opposite of this - that the ideal reader of this blog is human - a woman. But a man, if he deems himself human also, may read this blog.)

Here is a story of six women. You tell me now if woman is "human."

Woman #1

There was in the Paeanian deme, a woman called Phya, three fingers short of six feet, four inches in height, and otherwise, too, well-formed. This woman they equipped in full armor and put in a chariot, giving her all the paraphernalia to make the most impressive spectacle, and so drove into the city; heralds ran before them, and when they came into town proclaimed as they were instructed:


“Athenians, give a hearty welcome to Pisistratus, whom Athena herself honors above all men and is bringing back to her own acropolis.”

So the heralds went about proclaiming this; and immediately the report spread in the demes that Athena was bringing Pisistratus back, and the townsfolk, believing that the woman was the goddess herself, worshipped this human creature(anthropos) and welcomed Pisistratus.

Herodotus, The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley) 1:60

Woman #2

Cratinus once had a dispute over a farm with the brother-in-law of Callimachus. A personal encounter ensued. Having concealed a female slave,(anthropos) they accused Cratinus of having crushed her head, and asserting that she had died as a result of the wound, they brought suit against him in the court of the Palladium on the charge of murder.

Isocrates, Speeches and Letters


Woman #3

Philoneos' mistress accompanied him to attend the sacrifice. On reaching Peiraeus, Philoneos of course carried out the ceremony. When the sacrifice was over, the woman (anthropos) considered how to administer the draught: should she give it before or after supper? Upon reflection, she decided that it would be better to give it afterwards, thereby carrying out the suggestion of this Clytemnestra here.


Antiphon, Speeches (ed. K. J. Maidment), Prosecution Of The Stepmother For Poisoning

Woman #4

While she was still living in the tenement-house, she had relations with a freedman whose name was Dion, whom she declared to be the father of these young men; and Dion did, in fact, bring them up as his own children.

Some time later Dion, having committed a misdemeanor and being afraid of the consequences, withdrew to Sicyon. The woman (anthropos) Alce was then installed by Euctemon to look after his tenement-house in the Cerameicus, near the postern gate, where wine is sold.

Isaeus, Speeches, On the Estate of Philoctemon

Woman #5

They said such things among themselves; and Pelias arrived, rushing headlong with his mule team and his polished chariot. He was instantly astonished, looking at the single sandal, plain to see on the stranger's right foot. But he hid his fear in his heart and said:


“What country, stranger, do you claim as your fatherland? And what woman, (anthropos) of mortals on earth, bore you from her aged womb? Do not befoul your story with most hateful lies, but tell me of your birth.”

Pindar, Odes, Pythian Odes

Woman #6

At first, I believe, they only tried to make her drink quietly and eat dessert; so Iatrocles told me the following day. But as the carouse went on, and they became heated, they ordered her to sit down and give them a song. The poor girl (anthropos) was bewildered, for she did not wish, and she did not know how, to sing.

Then Aeschines and Phryno declared that it was intolerable impertinence for a captive,--and one of those ungodly, pernicious Olynthians too,--to give herself such airs.


“Call a servant,” they cried; “bring a whip, somebody.”

In came a flunkey with a horsewhip, and--I suppose they were tipsy, and it did not take much to irritate them,when she said something and began to cry, he tore off her dress and gave her a number of lashes on the back.

Demosthenes, Speeches 11-20, On the Embassy

ἡ ἄνθρωπος:

A human creature,
statuesque and goddess-like,
mistress and murderer

She is the body-broken slave,
a captive to be whipped
because she cannot sing.

She loves,
has sex
and expels the child
from her womb.

But some men
still deny
woman
the name
"human."

Bibliography

Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by C. A. Vince, M. A. and J. H. Vince, M.A. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University

Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1926.

Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920.

Isaeus. Isaeus with an English translation by Edward Seymour Forster, M.A. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1962.

Isocrates. Isocrates with an English Translation in three volumes, by George Norlin, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1980.

Pindar. Odes. 1990.

Aner: either male or female

Alan Bandy has been blogging about gender language and the generic pronoun. Today he posted on the gender implications of aner. Alan writes,

[Blomberg] posited that James 1:8 employs ανηρ as parallel to the generic “man” described as ανθρωπος in verse 7, and “a quick glance at all of the other uses of aner in this letter demonstrates that almost all clearly refer to men and women alike.”[3]

In response, however, it is possible that James could be using ανθρωπος as a specific reference to a male rather than humanity in general.[4] More importantly, it remains that BDAG does not include the possibility for a generic use of ανηρ and it is difficult to prove the existence of clear examples.[5] All references in BDAG clearly mark ανηρ as a distinct word for male, except entry six which indicates it as equivalent to τις (someone) in certain contexts.[6] A look at those references cited reveals that every one of the uses of τις refers to a man or men.[7] To translate ανηρ inclusively requires a liberty in translation that semantic range does not clearly allow.

In response to Alan, I offer this list,

Examples of aner in the singular being translated in a gender neutral fashion

a) ἀνήρ (singular) as ‘person’

i) εὐφήμει: οὐ μεντἂν καλῶς ποιοίην οὐ πειθόμενος ἀνδρὶ ἀγαθῷ καὶ σοφῷ.

Hush, hush! Why, surely it would be wrong of me not to obey a good and wise person. Plato. Hipparchus. 228b

ii) ἀλλ' ἴσως, ὦ βέλτιστε, φαίη ἄν τις ἀνήρ, ὃς ἐμοῦ τε καὶ σοῦ σοφώτερος ὢν τυγχάνοι, οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἡμᾶς, λέγειν, οὕτως εἰκῇ ψέγοντας ἄγνοιαν,

But perhaps, my excellent friend, some person who is wiser than either you or I may say we are wrong to be so free with our abuse of ignorance. Plato. Alcibiades 2. 143b

b) ἀνήρ (singular) as ‘everyone’

πᾶς ἀνήρ, κἂν δοῦλος ᾖ τις, ἥδεται τὸ φῶς ὁρῶν

Slave or free, every one is glad to gaze upon the light. Euripides. Orestes. 1523.

c) ἀνήρ (singular) as ‘they’

ὅταν ἀγασθῶσι σφόδρα του, σεῖος ἀνήρ φασιν, οὕτω καὶ ὁ θηριώδης ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις σπάνιος:

‘Yon mon's divine, ’they say--, so a bestial character is rare among human beings; Aristotle. Nic. Ethics. 1145a 25.

d) ἀνήρ (singular) as ‘citizen’, either male or female

ποτὲ ἀνὴρ ἀγαθὸς γίγνοιτ' ἄν, τὴν ἀνθρώπῳ προσήκουσαν ἀρετὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἔχων .... , εἴτε ἄρρην τις των συνοικούντων οὖσα ἡ φύσις εἴτε θήλεια, νέων ἢ γερόντων

… in which a member of our community--be he of the male or female sex, young or old,--may become a good citizen, possessed of the excellence of soul which belongs to man. Plato's Laws 6. 770d.

(In this sentence, the Greek word ανθρωπος is translated as "man" generic, "the excellence of soul which belongs to man", that is, the human, either male or female; and the word ανηρ is translated as citizen, either male or female.)

e) ἀνήρ as ‘individual’

ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν τοῦ χρυσοῦ τε καὶ ἀργύρου ἀπληστίαν πᾶσαν μὲν τέχνην καὶ μηχανήν ... ἐθέλειν ὑπομένειν πάντα ἄνδρα, εἰ μέλλει πλούσιος ἔσεσθαι

every individual, because of his greed for silver and gold, is willing to toil at every art and device, noble or ignoble, if he is likely to get rich by it, Plato's Laws. 8.831d.

Examples of aner in the plural being translated in a gender neutral fashion

a) ανδρες as 'people'

αὐτὸς δ', ἀργυρότοξε, ἄναξ ἑκατηβόλ' Ἄπολλον,
ἄλλοτε μέν τ' ἐπὶ Κύνθου ἐβήσαο παιπαλόεντος,
ἄλλοτε δ' ἂν νήσους τε καὶ ἀνέρας ἠλάσκαζες.

And you, O lord Apollo, god of the silver bow,
shooting afar, now walked on craggy Cynthus,
and now kept wandering about the islands

and the people in them. Homeric Hymns 3.142

b) ανδρες as 'race of men', which I note refers to human beings of both sex.

καὶ ἡμιθέων* γένος ἀνδρῶν

… and the race of men half-divine. Iliad 12:23

c) ανδρες as 'mankind'

ἐξ οὗ Κενταύροισι καὶ ἀνδράσι νεῖκος ἐτύχθη

From hence the feud arose between the centaurs and mankind. Odyssey 21:303

d) ανδρες as 'men' generic

τὴν δ' ἠμείβετ' ἔπειτα πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε:

In answer to her spoke the father of men and gods: Iliad 1.544

e) ανδρες as 'men' with the same referent as 'people'

ἀκίνδυνοι δ' ἀρεταὶ
οὔτε παρ' ἀνδράσιν* οὔτ' ἐν ναυσὶ κοίλαιςτίμιαι:
πολλοὶ δὲ μέμνανται, καλὸν εἴ τι ποναθῇ*.

But excellence without danger is honored
neither among men nor in hollow ships.
But many people remember,
if a fine thing is done with toil. Pindar Odes 6.9-12

f) ανδρες as ‘friends’

ὦ πάντων ἀνδρῶν ἄριστοι

Most excellent friends, … Plato's Laws. 5.741a.

g) ανδρες as ‘citizens’

νείμασθαι δὲ δὴ καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας δώδεκα μέρη

And he must divide the citizens also into twelve parts, … Plato's Laws. 5.745d.

This list is by no means exhaustive and was done without a sophisticated software search. It is just a smattering of examples of the gender inclusive use of aner.

Bibliography.

Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 19, translated by H. Rackham. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1934. Nichomachean Ethics. line 1145a 25

Euripides. Orestes. 1523 tr. E.P. Coleridge. 1938. (translated in 1898)

Homer. The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919.

Homer. The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.

Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.

Pindar. Odes. 1990. (accessed in the Perseus Digital Library)

Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 8 translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1955. (1914) Alcibiades 2. line 143b

Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 8 translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1955. (1914) Hipparchus. 228b

Plato. Laws. In Two volumes, tr. By R. G. Bury. Loeb Classical Library. 1926.

Plato. Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 10 & 11 translated by R.G. Bury. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1967 & 1968.

What would you send to Africa?

Would you send an ESV Study Bible or a microloan to a woman in Africa? April recently posted on the $100 million missing women in Asia. (Some girls are also missing in the school I teach in. 3 grades out of 7 have twice as many boys as girls. The other grades have a more even distribution. No grade has more girls than boys.)

Here is the article April linked to,

Contrary to popular assumption, “developed” societies don’t necessarily treat women any better than developing nations. The education level and economic success of a society do not guarantee high status for women. According to an article by Tina Rosenberg, the sole determinant for women’s low social status is patriarchy. No matter how wealthy or educated a society is, if men are privileged women will suffer.

The issue offers some good news. There is something that helps: microlending to women. Women who are loaned small amounts of money (sometimes the equivalent of $20) not only dramatically improve their own lives but also those of their families and their communities. From a sheer economic standpoint, lending to women is more effective than lending to men: women feed and educate their children and employ others. Several profiles of women put flesh on those statistics, telling moving stories of how women who are financially empowered are able to radically change their health and the power dynamics within their families. (Want to offer a microloan to a woman? Go to kiva.org.

Now for the other option. If you send an ESV Study Bible to Africa, the woman will be taught that she must submit to her husband, and he does not have to submit to her. Perhaps the loan will be wasted. The two are incompatible. So take your choice, but you can't have it both ways, either the loan or the ESV Study Bible.

Jesus Girls

Read this book review and the comments for some insight into how bizarre and painful it can be to be a woman in an evangelical Christian community. Some of the comments are to make you cry.

Citing blogs

Considering all the talk about whether blogging has legitimacy or not, I wonder if people have linked to webcite. Here is how it works,

The Problem

Authors increasingly cite webpages and other digital objects on the Internet, which can "disappear" overnight. In one study published in the journal Science, 13% of Internet references in scholarly articles were inactive after only 27 months. Another problem is that cited webpages may change, so that readers see something different than what the citing author saw. The problem of unstable webcitations and the lack of routine digital preservation of cited digital objects has been referred to as an issue "calling for an immediate response" by publishers and authors [1].

An increasing number of editors and publishers ask that authors, when they cite a webpage, make a local copy of the cited webpage/webmaterial, and archive the cited URL in a system like WebCite^®, to enable readers permanent access to the cited material.

What is WebCite^®?

WebCite^®, a member of the International Internet Preservation Consortium, is an on-demand archiving system for webreferences (cited webpages and websites, or other kinds of Internet-accessible digital objects), which can be used by authors, editors, and publishers of scholarly papers and books, to ensure that cited webmaterial will remain available to readers in the future. If cited webreferences in journal articles, books etc. are not archived, future readers may encounter a "404 File Not Found" error when clicking on a cited URL. Try it! Archive a URL here. It's free and takes only 30 seconds.

A WebCite^®-enhanced reference is a reference which contains - in addition to the original live URL (which can and probably will disappear in the future, or its content may change) - a link to an archived copy of the material, exactly as the citing author saw it when he accessed the cited material.

And here for archiving.

Who is a defender of widows?

When we hear that God is the defender, or judge, of widows we may think of a human judge - a man, who defends or advocates for the single woman. But, in 1 Tim. 5:16, it is the woman who cares for the widows in her family,

"If any woman who is a believer has widows in her care, she should continue to help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need."

In Psalm 68:5, God is,

"A father of the fatherless,
and a judge of the widows"

This sounds like the image of a male authority, a protector and defender. But before we assume that the reference is male, it is worth remembering that in this psalm there are several allusions to the song of Deborah, who was a judge and a mother of Israel.

There are, in fact, many women in scripture who fit the role of protector and defender. Rahab was the one who rescued all the members of her family who assembled in her house. Michal helped David to escape from her father, Saul. and Naomi and Ruth stood by each other. Other women who filled the role of protector are Miriam, Pharoah's daughter, Esther, Joanna, Phoebe, and Lydia.

In our tradition, Elizabeth Cady-Stanton, Catherine Booth, Catherine Kroeger-Clark and Susan Hunt are women who are known for being defenders of women. But I think that Miriam, Pharoah's daughter, Esther, Michal, Rahab, Lydia and Phoebe are more accurately defenders of men. Either way, in response to Damien's post, the image of judge and defender in the scripture is not a purely masculine image.

Compassionate Mother: part 9

A passage from this post by Dorothy Peters continues the discussion of God as mother and deliverer,

With minor apologies to my male colleagues and friends, my mind definitely has been running lately to more feminine metaphors about God, meshalim on childbirth, the labouring mother, and on midwives. In the latest meditation under construction for my book, I have been thinking about the delivering God and wondering whether he is more like the midwife or the labouring mother.

Although I love my God-as-Father, there are days when I just need a God-as-Mother more, someone who is little less the all-powerful military hero and a little more like a woman. Someone who, in her vulnerability, understands how to carry, deliver, nurse, and comfort a suffering child. One is seldom more vulnerable and helpless than when giving birth or being born. In this ancient song from the Dead Sea Scrolls, the writer first identifies himself as a labouring mother but then makes the shift to identify with the baby, the safely delivered one who is named as a “wonderful counselor.

The songwriter uses two different words for the deliverance accomplished by God and by the mother. That there is significant overlap in their meanings, however, can be seen in the way that these words are found in parallel in Isaiah 31:4-5. Here, the prophet first describes God as a great, growling lion and a masculine warrior “LORD of hosts” coming down to do battle on Mount Zion. In the next verse, the image of God shifts to a much gentler one. In this verse “birds hovering overhead” deliver and rescue Jerusalem. These words, “deliver” and “rescue,” are the same ones used by the Dead Sea Scrolls songwriter to describe both God’s delivering role and that of the mother.

Ryken vs Köstenberger

Here is an odd thing. Perhaps a few people could comment on this conundrum -

Leland Ryken defends a "word by word" translation here.

One of the clichés of the dynamic equivalent movement is “meaning based translation,” rather than “word-based translation.” But the dichotomy is a false one. Essentially literal translators believe that the meaning that the biblical authors intended us to grasp is embodied in the words that they used. The implication of “meaning-based” advocates is that essentially literal translations lack meaning!

and here,

All translation is lexical interpretation, and that is all that can be accurately said about “all” translation. All translation is the translator’s interpretation of what English word or phrase best captures the meaning of the equivalent word in the original text.

The other kind of interpretation is what we call exegesis and commentary. It offers an interpretation of the meaning of a text—not usually an individual word, as in lexical interpretation, but meaning of the broader content of an utterance. For example, to render Psalm 23:5a as “you anoint my head with oil” is a lexical decision as to what English words are the verbal equivalent of the words of the original. But when a dynamic equivalent translation renders that verse as “you welcome me as an honored guest,” we have moved beyond lexical interpretation to commentary.

What happens if we apply this principle to 1 Tim. 2:12. Andy Naselli writes in the JBMW journal,

After exhaustively studying authenteo in extrabiblical literature, he [Henry Baldwin] concludes that four meanings are possible: (1) to control, to dominate; (2) to compel, to influence; (3) to assume authority over; and (4) to flout the authority of.

But lower down Naselli writes, with reference to Köstenberger,

His thesis is that didaskein and authentein (two infinitives joined by oude,) both denote either positive or negative activities; since didaskein must be positive, authentein is a positive activity and thus must mean "to have or exercise authority" and not "to flout the authority of " or "to domineer."

Why does Köstenberger so strongly disagree with translating the word authentein according to its lexical meaning? (While I agree with his analysis of oude, my understanding is that didaskein does not necessarily have to denote a positive activity, but authentein is found with a uniquely negative connotation, so both verbs must be negative in this verse.)

Grudem also strongly disagrees with any attempt to translate the word authenteo according to its recognized lexical meaning,

in 1 Timothy 2:12 the TNIV adopts a highly suspect and novel translation that gives the egalitarian side everything they have wanted for years in a Bible translation. It reads, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man”

Ryken seems to be saying that altering the word due to an exegetical analysis or an appeal to context, would be commentary rather than translation. I wonder if either John Starke or Andy Naselli would care to clarify why authentein should not be translated with a "verbal equivalent" in this passage.

Roundup of Female Biblical Scholars

Thanks to Mike Koke of the Golden Rule, we now have a list of influential female biblical scholars. In another post, Mike tallies the results to see which scholars are most popular. I think readers here will enjoy this list.

Compassionate Mother: part 8

PETITION (A PRAYER FOR SELICHOT)

Compassionate One, remember

we are your children

help us to know again
that we are cradled

during these awesome days
of changing light

we want to return
to your lap, to your arms

remind us how to believe
that we are loved

not for our achievements
but because we are yours

as the moon of Elul wanes
and the new year rushes in

hear us with compassion
enfold us, don't let us go

from Rachel Baranblat of Velveteen Rabbi

Compassionate Mother: part 7

I have been exploring the mother imagery in referring to the different members of the Godhead. Doug has posted on Jesus our Mother,

Jesus, like a mother you gather your people to you; •


you are gentle with us as a mother with her children.

Often you weep over our sins and our pride, •
tenderly you draw us from hatred and judgement.

You comfort us in sorrow and bind up our wounds, •
in sickness you nurse us, and with pure milk you feed us.

Jesus, by your dying we are born to new life;
by your anguish and labour we come forth in joy.

Despair turns to hope through your sweet goodness; •
through your gentleness we find comfort in fear.

Your warmth gives life to the dead, •
your touch makes sinners righteous.

Lord Jesus, in your mercy heal us; •
in your love and tenderness remake us.

In your compassion bring grace and forgiveness, •
for the beauty of heaven may your love prepare us.

A Song of Julian of Norwich

God chose to be our mother in all things •
and so made the foundation of his work,
most humble and most pure,
in the Virgin’s womb.

God, the perfect wisdom of all, •
arrayed himself in this humble place.

Christ came in our poor flesh •
to share a mother’s care.

Our mothers bear us for pain and for death; •
our true mother, Jesus, bears us for joy and endless life.

Christ carried us within him in love and travail, •
until the full time of his passion.

And when all was completed and he had carried us so for joy, •
still all this could not satisfy the power of his wonderful love.

All that we owe is redeemed in truly loving God, •
for the love of Christ works in us; Christ is the one whom we love.

Damien hopes to collect these references in one place. I will post Rachel's poem next. It deserves a post of its own.

Bet Avot

I had discovered some time ago that the expression bet avot meant old people's home in Hebrew. No, it is not a place for men only and cannot be translated into English as the "house of fathers."

Here is Joel's full post on this topic, Gender in Modern Hebrew - An Example,

I think it might be informative to look at how av (usually translated “father”) and its plural, avot, work in Modern Hebrew. Even though we can’t directly conclude anything about ancient Hebrew or Greek from Modern Hebrew, we can learn more about how gender — at least potentially — works in human language.

In no particular order, here are some facts about av and avot in Modern Hebrew:



• When people talk about their literal father, one word they use is av.* (When they talk about their mother, one word is em.)
  
• The word av is grammatically masculine.
  
• The plural avot is grammatically masculine, even though it ends in -ot which is often reserved for feminine plurals.
  
• When Lucy, the “first human,” was discovered, she was called av kadmon in Hebrew, literally “original av.”
  
• When people talk about how “fathers” are different than “mothers,” the words they use are avot and imahot (the plural of em).
  
• The Hebrew for “old-age home” is bet avot, literally, “house of avot.” (The phrase applies equally to men and women.)
  
• When people talk about their “ancestors,” the word they use is avot. (Again, the phrase does not have specifically male connotations.)

It seems to me that if a theory of gender and language doesn’t allow for the possabilites above, it’s probably inaccurate, or, at least, incomplete, so we shouldn’t use that theory to try to understand ancient languages.

(*) In addition to av, there’s a less formal word aba in Hebrew. The two words approximate the difference between “father” and “dad.”

Here and there

Chris Heard posts his thoughts on the bibliobloggers kerfuffle. Phew. I can relax now. The whole idea of being a biblioblogger was never intended to be official.

Cheryl Schatz has posted her contribution to the Women in Ministry blog conference, and you can see the most recent post here.

April DeConick has developed a marvellous Women and Religion Blogroll. Fantastic. I will continue to update my list and post a permanent link to it soon.

I am adding God didn't say that to my blogroll. Joel is providing some background to stuff I have seen before but couldn't articulate as well. I think that it would be interesting to compare Joel's ideas about translation with those of Leland Ryken.

Bible translation tribalism

Scot Mcknight is hosting a discussion on bible translation tribalism. I hope that I don't give the idea that we are the TNIV tribe here. We support many different translations and we also want to express out support for the TNIV.

Dutch Biblioblogs

April writes,

I just received a very kind e-mail from Jan Pieter van de Giessen who has been watching the positive and negative reactions on the blogs regarding my postings about what we are going to do about the gender gap. This became the starting point for some Dutch biblical bloggers who write only in Dutch to notice that there is a "gap" for Biblioblogs written in non-English languages. So they have just created BiblioblogNED to represent Dutch voices. Jan also noted that this collection of voices is different from other lists because it does not make distinctions between male and female bloggers or the churches from which they come.

Compassionate Mother: part 6

I have been exploring the use of gendered pronouns for the word, the spirit, the exemplary Christian, and so on. In spite of the fact that the spirit is grammatically feminine in Hebrew, Aramaic and early Syriac, I am not suggesting that the spirit is essentially feminine, but rather that the spirit is not essentially masculine.

God, the creator, and God, the spirit are without sex; but in a gendered language they must be referred to as either masculine, feminine or neuter. The spirit is all three in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. As Doug writes,

I think we need to address the tendency that creeps into some prayer forms (especially) to make the Spirit the feminine side of God. Doing so seems to me to not only introduce the concept of gender into the Godhead (which is beyond gender), but to have the unfortunate side effect of reinforcing Father and Son as essentially masculine terms. I think that a careful use of feminine language about God has its place, who like a mother feeds us with the milk of the word. I just think that we should not confine such language to the Spirit.

Here is the very next segment from Fire from Heaven by Sebastien Brock, page 255,

As was observed earlier, female imagery is by no means restricted to the Holy Spirit, and on occasion the term 'Mother' is applied to the Godhead, without further specification, as in the following beautiful passage from Jacob of Serugh.


(God) created creation, and like a compassionate mother (yaledta)
he carries it, his hidden power acting with strength;
just as a mother does not grow weary of her son, so God never gets weary,
for a mother's compassion is bound up in love for her child.
The Godhead is indeed a compassionate mother (emma),
and he carries the world like a child, in great love.

Update: Damien contributes to the discussion here linking to Rachel Barenblat on this topic.

It is not good for print to be alone

I think my readers will love this introduction to the PodBible. The translation used in the PodBible is the CEV.

Disposing text on a page inevitably interprets it. So written bibles are good, but they are not good alone. It is not good for print to be alone. Enter PodBible.

The predominant voice is Kiwi - which may explain why I am wondering which book of the Bible is called Jerry Mayer. Help, anyone?

Friends of the TNIV

The TNIV is an evangelical translation, I would say, and as such has its best friends among the evangelicals. Here are a list of blogs which love the TNIV,

Aberration Blog - They’ll get my TNIV only when they pry it from my cold dead fingers!
Just After Sunrise
This Lamp - On a more personal note, I love the TNIV because I am a pastor
New Leaven - unwavering love
συνεσταύρωμαι: living the crucified life - The only Christian public who was refusing the TNIV was you and your cronies
Scripture Zealot
Gentle Wisdom
Eugene Cho
Wesley Report
Sojourners
Jesus Creed
Evangelion
TNIV Truth
Evepheso
Sansblogue
Jack of all Trades
Classical Arminianism
Apprentice2Jesus - I have retained the use of the TNIV in preaching,
New Epistles - I am currently reeling from my deep disappointment with this decision.
Emerging Women - since it’s publication have used the TNIV
Tomorrow's Reflection - I was one of the apparently small minority of people that really enjoyed the TNIV
Unrelated Ramblings - The TNIV is the only conservative gender-accurate bible on the market right now and it will be sorely missed
Inquiring Minds - dear old friend
Tim Chesterton -I still think it's one of the best translations of the Bible on the market today.
Sundry Times - will do my own word-of-mouth advertising for it. I will encourage other people to buy it and use it.
Brad Boydston - the TNIV is already the best balanced translation on the American market
Ian Hugh Cary - t’s sad that a good translation is going the way of the buffalo
Headsparks - I have found the TNIV to be a faithful, accurate and scholarly update
Reflections - I love the TNIV. I believe that it is a balanced view of translation and biblical scholarship and also takes out previous gender biases.
Strangers and Aliens - I rather nailed my colours to the mast, pointing out in passing that I have purchased a TNIV and that is going to be my preaching Bible.
Mark Stevens
Clobberblog
Mannaword
Disciplus Scripturae
Mark Baker-Wright - my favored translation for some time now

I will keep this post active and add citations as I am able. Please spread the word and I will add more names. If I link to you unadvisedly I will happily remove your name. Thanks for your patience.

Update: This post will have to be followed by a list of scholars who support the TNIV. As well as its own translators, Fee, Waltke and others, I have just read quotes by Wallace, Bock, Carson, Blomberg, Strauss, ...

Female Biblical Scholars Meme

• Linda Belleville for demonstrating that one can never, ever be too careful with language data. Her work on Junia was ground breaking but possibly too little read.
  
• Carol Meyers for writing everything there is to know about women in the Hebrew Bible. I first ran into her ideas in Richard Bauckam's Gospel Women.
• Elizabeth Schussler-Fiorenza for In Memory of Her
• Catherine Booth for being a pioneer of women preaching.
• Karen King for opening the door to a new way of thinking about other religions.
• Elaine Pagels for turning things on their end and giving permission to ask fundamental questions.
• Katherine Bushnell for pioneering the work of challenging male dominated translations.

Mike, thank you very much for starting this meme. Sorry I am a little late.