"Our goal has been and continues to be to attract a new audience to the Bible, namely, people who have never read, are reluctant to read, or find the Bible a hard book to understand."
David B. Capes, The Story of The Voice
It is fitting that The Story of The Voice is a book about a book, much like the 'extras' that accompany motion picture DVDs, because the book it explains, The Voice, is a new translation of the Bible with dialogue written in screenplay format. Here is a selection from John, Chapter 3:
Nicodemus: Teacher, some of us have been talking. You are obviously a teacher who has come from God. The signs You are doing are proof that God is with You.
Jesus: I tell you the truth: only someone who experiences birth for a second time* can hope to see the kingdom of God.
Translating a book, moving from language-to-language, is somewhat of a mental wrestling match. As author David P. Capes puts it, "As scholars know, whenever you translate one language into another, something is lost; more often than not it is the form that is sacrificed. When possible The Voice team attempted to reproduce the literary form that shaped these ancient texts." Another translator from the Twentieth Century, Dr. E.V. Rieu, had this to say about translation:
"No great translation has ever been produced from a poor original."
From the Introduction to
The Story of the Voice provides insight into a process usually reserved for scholars and theology students, but in a manner comfortable for the layperson; this is a book I recommend to not merely those interested in The Voice but to all who are curious about Bible translation and the issues translators must deal with.
You can download The New Testament portion of The Voice by clicking here.
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