Sunday newspaper binge

[jenk]

An article in the WSJ talks about how technology is affecting religious observance. From timers that turn the lights and oven on and off on the Sabbath, to streaming-vid rituals, to IMing with Rabbis, to prayer emails. The Vatican has issued a warning about the dangers of online confession (security concerns).

Also in the WSJ,

[T]hese days, Zondervan/HarperCollins is also dealing with a self-made dilemma that would challenge Solomon: how to promote simultaneously both the most beloved literal translation of the Bible, the New International Version (NIV), and the most polarizing new rendering, the gender-adjusted Today's New International Version (TNIV).

The closeness of the acronyms is part of the story: In business terms, it's somewhat akin to trying to sell New Coke and traditional Coke to the same audience. And we know what happened to New Coke.

[...]NIV has managed to ensconce itself as the mainstay translation of the American evangelical Protestant community, which had been clinging to the 400-year-old King James Version.

But Zondervan couldn't leave well enough alone, apparently, deciding to make its own entry in the gender-corrected Bible sweepstakes that has been going on for at least a generation. It introduced the New Testament portion of TNIV early last year and plans to bring out the Old Testament in 2005.

In the TNIV New Testament, many masculine singular pronouns have become generic and plural. For example, here's how NIV renders Hebrews 12:7: "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?" But TNIV translates that passage this way: "Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their parents?" The new version, goes the critique, loses the crucial reference to God as Father. [...] Zondervan executives say they are only trying to reach young readers accustomed to gender neutrality in everything else. And they note that only 30% of the changes from NIV concern gender; the rest are generic improvements -- changing "tunic" to "coat," for example.

What outsiders really can't understand is why Zondervan decided to make the gender-corrected version a brand extension of NIV. As pure marketing strategy, it's schizophrenic. And, given the outright banning of TNIV by many evangelical independent bookstores and some chains, sales are off to an impeded start.