In the beginning was the Word. A comparison of two recent Bible translations into English and Norwegian and their reception

Abstract

This master’s thesis analyses and compares the two Bible translations New International Version 2011 (NIV 2011) and Bibel 2011, and their audience reception, with the aim of discovering what the differences are between the two translations. The thesis uses a three-pronged approach, as it analyses textual material, audience reception, and uses data from an interview about the translational process of Bibel 2011. The textual passages in the analysis correspond to passages that the audience has reacted to. The main difference between the two translations is that Bibel 2011 uses a more radically modern language than NIV 2011. In the audience reception, the main difference is that while people reacted strongly towards NIV 2011’s use of gender-inclusive language, this was hardly discussed at all in the reception for Bibel 2011, even though it uses gender-inclusive language as well. The reception for Bibel 2011 was also a lot more scattered than the reception for NIV 2011, as people focused on many different elements for Bibel 2011, like for instance the radically modern language and the change of the Lord’s Prayer, while the reception for NIV 2011 focused almost exclusively on the gender-inclusive language.