A Closer Look at the Positive Comments about the NWT. They are NOT what they Appear to Be!

An article entitled, “Positive comments about The New World Translation from non-Witness Scholars” can be found if you go to JW.ORG then click on “About Us” then in the Search Box type, “Is the NWT Accurate” or simply click here.

The article quotes, well actually selectively quotes, nine (9) non-Witness scholars. This blog takes a SECOND look at what those scholars actually said or didn’t say. 

Click here for the definitive work on this topic. This work contains many scholars the WT has used over the years that appear to endorse The New World Translation. But appearances can be deceiving, as you will soon learn.

Edgar Goodspeed. This is reported to be a quote in a personal letter from Goodspeed to the WTBTS that appeared in the Awake! of March 22, 1987, page 14. However, the letter does not bear a written signature and appears to be a copy of the original, if such ever existed (to date, the Society has not produced a signed original). Also, though the letter was dated 1950, it was not used by the Society as an endorsement of the NWT until 1982. Goodspeed died in 1962 so when the WT started using this quote from a personal letter, Goodspeed was not alive to refute their claim.

Dr. Allen Wikgren does not go on to define which “independent readings” of the NWT he finds to be “of merit.” We do not know what Dr. Wikgren thought about the NWT’s more controversial renderings, such as John 1:1 or Colossians 1:16.

Alexanader Thomson, it should be noted had no formal training in Greek or Hebrew. His articles on the NWT in The Differentiator, cannot be found and The Differentiator was not considered a scholarly publication.

S. MacLean Gilmour was selectively quoted by the WT. He also said, “The New Testament translation was made by a committee whose membership has never been revealed. It is clear that doctrinal considerations influenced many turns of phrase. . . “

Thomas N. Winter’s positive comments are almost all directed towards the literal translation in the KIT – very little is said of the NWT. The literal translation in the KIT is generally very good and often may be used to demonstrate problems with the NWT. My series of blogs entitled Presto Change-O! (Part 1 is here) shows where the WT has deviated from the KIT.

Benjamin Kedar received his PhD from Yale in 1969, but not in Hebrew. It will be noted that he limits his comments to the Hebrew Bible. Few scholars have complained about the Watch Tower inserting its dogma into the Hebrew Scriptures.

Jason David BeDuhn received his Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. This degree requires an intermediate level of competence in Greek. BeDuhn’s PhD from the U. of Indiana is in Comparative Religious Studies, not in Biblical languages. He is not recognized in the scholarly community as an expert in Biblical Greek.

What do true Bible scholars think of the NWT?

Dr. Bruce M. Metzger, professor of New Testament at Princeton University, calls the NWT "a frightful mistranslation," "Erroneous" and "pernicious" "reprehensible," "If the Jehovah's Witnesses take this translation seriously, they are polytheists."

Dr. William Barclay, a leading Greek scholar, said, "it is abundantly clear that a sect which can translate the New Testament like that is intellectually dishonest."

British scholar H.H. Rowley stated, "From beginning to end this volume is a shining example of how the Bible should not be translated."

Dr. Julius Mantey, author of “A Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament,” calls the NWT "a shocking transliteration." "Obsolete and incorrect." "It is neither scholarly nor reasonable to translate John 1:1 'The Word was a god.'"

"I have never read any New Testament so badly translated as The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of The Greek Scriptures.... it is a distortion of the New Testament. The translators used what J.B. Rotherham had translated in 1893, in modern speech, and changed the readings in scores of passages to state what Jehovah's Witnesses believe and teach. That is a distortion not a translation." (Julius Mantey, Depth Exploration in The New Testament (N.Y.: Vantage Pres, 1980), pp.136-137)

The translators of the NWT are "diabolical deceivers." (Julius Mantey in discussion with Walter Martin).

I wrote a blog about the reliability of the NWT  here.