When CBE member Peggie Roy began reading Today’s New International Version (TNIV) translation of the Bible, she was surprised by Jesus’ words in Mark 1:17: "Come, follow me, and I will send you out to catch people."

"As a woman I feel valued and affirmed instead of disregarded," she said, "which unfortunately I just got used to in reading the Bible."

While some critics prefer the ring of the phrase "fishers of men," the International Bible Society and Zondervan released the gender-accurate TNIV New Testament in order to have a translation that more accurately renders the meaning of the original texts in contemporary English. (The entire Bible will be available in 2005.)

The translation differs from the NIV by only 7 percent, but for people like Roy the changes are significant. About a third of the changes are updates of masculine terminology that is often misunderstood. For example, "men" has been changed to "people" when it is faithful to the original Greek and Hebrew texts. Other changes include replacing "brothers" with "brothers and sisters" and "sons of God" with "children of God." Masculine language for God and Christ has not been altered.

This goal is one that Roy can appreciate. "Reading the word ‘men’ where the original text reads ‘people’ is a gross inaccuracy that has the potential to be hurtful," she says. "Translations need to be true to the original text."

Mark Strauss, associate professor of New Testament at Bethel Seminary San Diego and author of "Distorting Scripture?", agrees. In an online chat about the TNIV, he explained that when Paul said in Romans 3:28 that "a man is justified by faith," he used the Greek word anthropos, which scholars agree means "person" in this context. The TNIV translates it this way.

While this change seems straightforward, many people have not welcomed the improved accuracy and clarity. Opponents have suggested that it is motivated by a feminist agenda.

To Strauss, this criticism doesn’t line up with the facts. He points out that many supporters of the TNIV, including himself, hold a conservative view of the role of women in the church. He also notes that over half of the members on the translation team were complementarians (who believe the Bible teaches different roles for men and women in the church and home).

"This debate is not about the role of women in the church," says Strauss. "The real issue is about translating the Word of God as accurately as possible."

Craig Blomberg, professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary, believes the TNIV is more accurate than the NIV. Also a complementarian, he believes gender-accurate language is essential to communicating God’s Word to many people in our culture, especially those under 30 years old. Language has changed over the years, according to many scholars. In the past, words like "men" were understood generically, but this is no longer true. In researching "Distorting Scripture?" Strauss found that studies overwhelmingly showed that "a large percentage of the population perceives masculine generic terms as … referring primarily or exclusively to men."

This evidence is true to Blomberg’s experience. "I have two daughters who understand generic masculine forms but do not relate to them," he says. "They don’t encounter them at school or very many other places; church and Bible reading becomes an eccentricity."

Some of the misunderstandings about the TNIV are linked to misunderstandings about Bible translation in general. Alan Johnson, emeritus professor of New Testament and ethics and adjunct professor at Wheaton College and Graduate School, says that every translation is "inexact" because languages are not exactly similar.

"Translation aims, as faithfully as the receptor language allows, to communicate the ‘meaning’ of the original language accurately, understandably, and without misleading the modern reader."

This means that a "word-for-word" translation isn’t necessarily more accurate. For example, Strauss reminds us that a literal translation of the Spanish phrase, "Como se llama?" is "How do you call yourself?" The closest English equivalent is "What is your name?"

"To say ‘word-for-word’ and ‘accurate’ together is something of an oxymoron," says Strauss. "No two languages are the same, so to simply replace words in English for Greek words does not produce an accurate translation, but gibberish."

With this understanding of the goal and purpose of translation, how does the text of the TNIV differ from the NIV?

The TNIV reads like the NIV 93 percent of the time. Changes were made to the other 7 percent primarily to improve clarity, gender references, footnotes and headings, and sentence structure and grammar. Some of the improvements are word changes reflecting contemporary English terms, according to IBS and Zondervan. For example, "sixth hour" is translated as "noon," and "with child" has been changed to "pregnant."

Because the TNIV changes some gender-oriented language, the translation has been erroneously called "gender neutral." The more precise term is "gender accurate" according to the TNIV Web site, because "the TNIV does not remove [specific male or female] attributes or ‘neuter’ any passages of Scripture."

"The TNIV uses generic language only where the meaning of the text was intended to include both men and women," according to the Web site. "These changes reflect a better understanding of the meaning of the original Greek and Hebrew."

The gender-related changes do not affect the translations of the passages related to gender roles.

This makes sense, says Craig Keener, professor of New Testament studies at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, because the translators have different perspectives on this issue. But he cites this as another example refuting the claims that this translation has a radical feminist agenda.

Gary M. Burge, professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and Graduate School, was glad to see a minor change in Ephesians 5. In the NIV, the passage included a break between 5:21 ("Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ") and 5:22 ("Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.") In the TNIV, the section begins with 5:21, and the heading now says "Instructions for Christian households" instead of "Wives and Husbands." This change in connecting the two verses together reminds the readers "that submission is the call God places on all of our lives, not simply wives," says Burge.

Over 20 revisions and new translations have appeared since 1985 that use gender-accurate language, according to John R. Kohlenberger III, an expert in Bible reference books and a member of CBE’s board of directors. These include the New Revised Standard Version, the New American Bible and the New Living Translation. So why is the TNIV causing so much fuss?

Mark Strauss points out that the NIV was the first Bible to become more popular than the King James Version (published in 1611). "Any changes are likely to inflame some people," he says, "especially in the context of a strongly anti-feminist Christian public."

New translations historically have always received criticism, he adds, pointing out that William Tyndale was killed for translating Scripture into the language of the people.

Some of the criticism is linked to the release of the New International Version, Inclusive Language Edition (NIVI) in 1996. Released in the United Kingdom, the NIVI included changes for gender accuracy, but not the other scholarly updates of the TNIV. The NIVI was met with such controversy that in 1997 IBS discontinued its plans for a revised NIV in the United States.

Under extreme pressure, leaders from Zondervan and IBS also signed the "Guidelines for Translation of Gender-Related Language in Scripture," a document created in Colorado Springs in 1997 by opponents of the inclusive language NIV. This document spells out the ways in which gender-related language can be translated, using a more restrictive approach than the one taken by the translators of the NIVI and TNIV.

In a February 12 statement issued by IBS and Zondervan, they state that prayer and consideration led them to determine that the guidelines were "too restrictive to facilitate the most accurate possible text in contemporary English idiom." Opponents of the TNIV perceived the withdrawn endorsement as a broken promise.

Language is important to Harriet Bicksler, a CBE member from Pennsylvania. After all, as a publications specialist, she makes her living with it.

"I believe that language both changes and reflects attitudes," she says. "If we believe that the gospel is for all people, men and women alike, our language ought to reflect that."

A recent editorial project emphasized this point for Bicksler. She was commissioned to edit a book that explains her denomination’s doctrine in easy-to- understand language appropriate for people new to Christianity and the denomination. Using a gender-accurate translation seemed essential for this audience.

Roberta Hestenes, international minister for World Vision International, has seen similar applications. For several years she has intentionally used gender-accurate translations in her preaching, teaching and oral Scripture reading.

"When translations use older and increasingly obsolete patterns of gender usage that obscure the presence of women in the text. This can lead readers into misunderstanding, misusing, and even sometimes mistakenly rejecting the Scriptures."

Gender-accurate translations are particularly useful for congregational life and evangelistic outreach, she says, especially among younger people and those for whom English is a second or third language.

"These translations remove an unnecessary barrier in sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ."

Craig Keener shares similar sentiments: "Translations are to help us understand the Bible better, not to make the task more difficult."