In a major, but not unexpected move, the SBC has taken an official stance against the NIV(2011) primarily for its use of gender-inclusive language. I don't doubt that some of their concerns are in fact legitimate. Anyone who doesn't have any concern about a given translation is either ignorant of the messiness of doing translation work or is simply hopelessly dogmatic (see the whole "KJV only" subculture within Christendom). That being said, the SBC's decision is silly. It seems as if our politics is showing. Because of a pervasive paranoia about feminism and liberal political speech taking over culture at large and our churches in particular, many have come to see gender-neutral language as a vast left-wing conspiracy. This strikes me as ridiculous. When Paul addresses the brothers of a church, are we to believe that he was only addressing the men of the church (or even men of a certain age and theological disposition)? The goal of translation is to faithfully take (in this case) an ancient text and allow it to speak to a new culture and a new time. The task of translation is never finished because culture and language is never finished changing. We must never stop critiquing our translations - especially those of us who preach/teach. But we should also be very careful that we don't turn or favorite translations (or even the Bible itself!) into an idol that actually gets in the way of Christ.
Here is the SBC resolution (with thanks to Scot McKnight):
WHEREAS, Many Southern Baptist pastors and laypeople have trusted and used the 1984 New International Version (NIV) translation to the great benefit of the Kingdom; and
WHEREAS, Biblica and Zondervan Publishing House are publishing an updated version of the New International Version (NIV) which incorporates gender neutral methods of translation; and
WHEREAS, Southern Baptists repeatedly have affirmed our commitment to the full inspiration and authority of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:15-16) and, in 1997, urged every Bible publisher and translation group to resist “gender-neutral” translation of Scripture; and
WHEREAS, This translation alters the meaning of hundreds of verses, most significantly by erasing gender-specific details which appear in the original language; and
WHEREAS, Although it is possible for Bible scholars to disagree about translation methods or which English words best translate the original languages, the 2011 NIV has gone beyond acceptable translation standards; and
WHEREAS, Seventy-five percent of the inaccurate gender language found in the TNIV is retained in the 2011 NIV; and
WHEREAS, The Southern Baptist Convention has passed a similar resolution concerning the TNIV in 2002; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, June 14-15, 2011 express profound disappointment with Biblica and Zondervan Publishing House for this inaccurate translation of God’s inspired Scripture; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we encourage pastors to make their congregations aware of the translation errors found in the 2011 NIV; and be it further
RESOLVED, That we respectfully request that LifeWay not make this inaccurate translation available for sale in their bookstores; and be it finally
RESOLVED, That we cannot commend the 2011 NIV to Southern Baptists or the larger Christian community
