There’s been a lot of confusion recently about what is and what isn’t in the updated HCSB text. I think I can offer some clarifications that may be helpful. NOTE: These are my understandings from conversations with people at B&H. I’m not a representative of theirs in any official way, so don’t send an angry mob after me if any of these turn out not to be correct.
- The text in the Apologetics Study Bible for Students has some updates in it, but it is not the most up-to-date text.
- The most current updated version of the HCSB will come out in June with the release of the Minister’s Bible.
- The HCSB Study Bible is still scheduled for release this fall.
- The 1 Corinthians passages will have a footnote about tongues.
- The brackets will be entirely gone.
- All of the little things that you want to see in a perfect translation probably will not be there.
Regarding that last point, let’s face it: no translation will make everyone perfectly happy. But the HCSB will definitely continue to be one of the best English translations on the market.
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Will, thanks for these clarifications.
Will, this confusion was created by B&H not clarifying their revision plans and release dates. They are so hush, hush about things that they only leave us to guess and speculate. Did they not think us bloggers would find out and notice that there is a 2009 HCSB release with a revised text? They have a website dedicated to the HCSB, and that would have been a perfect place to help avoid this sort of confusion.
I hope that Zondervan is taking note and does a better job when releasing NIV 2011.
I understand. The problem is that B&H apparently didn’t want this to be billed as an “update” because it doesn’t have enough changes (in their opinion). My input was that they should make a big deal about it and build it up, but obviously I don’t have a lot of sway with my opinions.
Will, I totally agree that they should have made a big deal about it. Well if you ever need help putting pressure on them let me know I’ll be more than happy to help out. I can do it by blogging on it, that always seems to get publishers attention
Either way I can’t wait to see the latest revision! I wish it was here already.
I think we’re beyond putting pressure on them for this particular issue. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how responsive they’ve been to suggestions.
Nice job on the redesign!
Thanks!
Thanks for the update. I just bought the Apologetics Study Bible for Students just to get the updated HCSB. It must have been on your site that someone wrote that it has a 2009 date. I will probably return it to Books A Million and await the June release of the Ministers Bible.
I grew up in an independent, fundamental Baptist church. Guess which translation we used. When I was a senior in high school, I gave my mother a heart attack (not literally, but almost) when I joined a Southern Baptist church. My translation of choice then and throughout college and seminary was the NIV. When the ESV was published, I couldn’t adopt it quickly enough. I never liked the NIV because I thought (and still think) the translation was a little too loose. Perhaps that will be corrected in the 2011 update.
Two things kept me from adopting the HCSB when it was published, although I liked it very much from the start: 1) it had only been about 2 or 3 years since I changed translations and I didn’t want to do it again and 2) I didn’t want to think of myself as a SBC “fanboy.” I owned a few copies of the HCSB; I just rarely picked them up.
I hold to Reformed doctrine, so the fact that all of the modern “heroes” vociferously approved of the ESV gave me great comfort. But I always thought that Holman had done the best job of any Bible publisher at laying out the page. They simply hit a home run there with typography and textual aids. The ESV, on the other hand, was simply text (albeit good text) printed on the page with little visual appeal.
Still, the HCSB’s stigma as the Southern Baptist Bible held me back. Now, after about 48 hours straight of researching (much of which was aided by your site), I have made the decision that the ESV will move to the back burner as a comparative translation and the HCSB will be the translation I carry around with me and teach from.
I was unaware that there was an update coming. I’m glad to see it. I kind of liked the brackets (I understand your argument against them, but at least liked to have the information they provide) and I wish they had footnoted 1 Cor 13:8 (#4 above mentions that this would be the case, but unfortunately they decided against it; I would probably categorize that as one of the only “Baptist biases” in this translation). But the other updates seem to be a nice improvement.
Thanks for the help in making this decision. It’s not one I took lightly and it was a much harder decision than I thought it would be.