In every religion there is a holy book that is regarded by its followers as un-disturbed and accurate word to guide ones faith. The Islamists have the Quran, the Jewish people have the Torah and the Christians have the bible, which has not been un-disturbed through the centuries. In Peter J. Thuesen’s book In Discordance with the Scriptures, The study presents the debate concering the translations of the bible amongst Conservative and liberal Protestants in America, specifically, over translations in the RSV (Revised Standard Version). Thuesen writes a phenomenal work of research breaking down the battlefield of arguments between the Protestants by expounding the chain of events that led to the, as Thuesen puts it, “conservative embrace of
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This specific bible had multiple different stages of release throughout the twentieth century, but the importance is rather the reaction, and content of the RSV as a whole, rather than the formation and its members. The New Testament version of the RSV was released in 1946, and its translation had erased many of the old style writings of the thee’s and thou’s of the King James Version to more modern versions of English language. In essence they committee wished to make the RSV as easy as possible to read aloud in congregation so that an ecumenical version could be successful. Such minuscule battles erupted amongst conservatives and liberal Protestants, specifically the changes made to the verse of Isaiah 7:14, in which the word virgin, when referring to Mary, is replaced with young woman, an idea to conservatives that almost questioned the birth of Jesus (Thuesen, 4). Many priests across the country would form congregations that would burn only the page containing the revised verse of Isaiah. This small yet innocent translation in scripture led to many out cries and anti RSV movements throughout the United States, and even led to outrageous accusations outside of the realm of …show more content…
In California, an “alleged” debate was published between evangelist radio operator Dan Gilbert and Professor George Stevenson, an avid supporter of the RSV and its Communist tendencies, that led to the Red Scare of the RSV (Thuesen, 104). Such actions spread commotion amongst left and right Protestants across the country to the degree that The U.S. Air force Reserve published a training manual that warned of the Communist Red Bible, or the RSV (Thuesen, 104). To add to the ever growing controversy between Protestants FBI director J. Edgar Hoover even stated in an article of Christianity Today that, “Communists were attempting to co-opt Christian clergy by appealing to their sense of economic justice.” The Red scare of the RSV became the marker in bible history where the translations over scripture converted in political manners. The meaning of scripture was still very important to conservative and liberal Protestants, but many had forgotten the native language of bible manuscripts, rendering their interpretations useless for modern twentieth century bible interpretation
This specific bible had multiple different stages of release throughout the twentieth century, but the importance is rather the reaction, and content of the RSV as a whole, rather than the formation and its members. The New Testament version of the RSV was released in 1946, and its translation had erased many of the old style writings of the thee’s and thou’s of the King James Version to more modern versions of English language. In essence they committee wished to make the RSV as easy as possible to read aloud in congregation so that an ecumenical version could be successful. Such minuscule battles erupted amongst conservatives and liberal Protestants, specifically the changes made to the verse of Isaiah 7:14, in which the word virgin, when referring to Mary, is replaced with young woman, an idea to conservatives that almost questioned the birth of Jesus (Thuesen, 4). Many priests across the country would form congregations that would burn only the page containing the revised verse of Isaiah. This small yet innocent translation in scripture led to many out cries and anti RSV movements throughout the United States, and even led to outrageous accusations outside of the realm of …show more content…
In California, an “alleged” debate was published between evangelist radio operator Dan Gilbert and Professor George Stevenson, an avid supporter of the RSV and its Communist tendencies, that led to the Red Scare of the RSV (Thuesen, 104). Such actions spread commotion amongst left and right Protestants across the country to the degree that The U.S. Air force Reserve published a training manual that warned of the Communist Red Bible, or the RSV (Thuesen, 104). To add to the ever growing controversy between Protestants FBI director J. Edgar Hoover even stated in an article of Christianity Today that, “Communists were attempting to co-opt Christian clergy by appealing to their sense of economic justice.” The Red scare of the RSV became the marker in bible history where the translations over scripture converted in political manners. The meaning of scripture was still very important to conservative and liberal Protestants, but many had forgotten the native language of bible manuscripts, rendering their interpretations useless for modern twentieth century bible interpretation