In addition, the HCSB seeks to avoid what Gantt and Webster call "inappropriate simplification," and thus includes theological terminology like "propitiation," "redemption," "justification," and "sanctification." Further, in contrast to some more recent approaches to include gender-inclusive language where possible, HCSB translators (who represent some 17 Protestant denominations) have left much of the gender-specific language of scripture in place, except where the context clearly indicates the reference is to men and women alike.
I've had a copy of the HCSB at my desk for much of the past year and have used it frequently. I find it to be a readable and useful text. It hasn't yet replaced my NIV in preaching situations (old habits are hard to break), but it has become one of the two or three core translations I turn to when referencing a passage.
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As the HCSB becomes the standard translation used in much Southern Baptist Sunday School curriculum, it will become a more and more commonly-used translation among evangelicals. Don't be surprised if it enters the top five in Protestant usage within a decade.
In other Bible releases over the past year:
Kregel has published a new volume of James Moffatt's 1935 translation of the Bible, which the publisher calls "the grandfather of the modern-language Bible in English." While subsequent discoveries and study have made many of Moffatt's higher critical textual decisions untenable since its publication, the work is nevertheless an interesting attempt to communicate the scripture in more contemporary English language.
Once a translation is released, subsequent years see the release of variations and re-packaging of the text for different audiences. One of those in 2004 was the Every Man's Bible (Tyndale), which offers the New Living Translation along with a series of study and devotional helps aimed at men. In addition to co-creators Stephen Arterburn and Dean Merrill, the contributors include names like Chuck Swindoll, David Jeremiah, Henry Blackaby, and Stuart Briscoe.
Commentaries
One of the blessings of ministry in our era is the amazing availability of outstanding exegetical resources, both in print and on-line. (For more on Bible study software choices, check the survey in the September-October issue of Preaching.) Each year brings another assortment of useful commentaries.
For the pastor who can't purchase a wide selection of commentaries and needs to get the most for the dollar invested, the new Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible is a worthwhile choice. Edited by British scholars James D.G. Dunn and John Rogerson, this one-volume work includes a relatively non-technical discussion of each book of the Bible (plus the 18 apocryphal works) as developed by a team of outstanding biblical scholars. And at nearly 1,700 pages, the $75.00 price tag doesn't seem so onerous.