REB: secret vs mystery

Posted: January 16, 2008 in Uncategorized

A few days late now, but I wanted to mention a mention of the Revised English Bible in a post on MetaCatholic with regards to the translation of μυστήριον in the New Testament. Unlike most modern translations, the REB prefers to use “secret” to “mystery” in the majority of translation points. Doug then summarizes the REB:

It is, here as in many instances, a strength of the REB that (building and improving on its predecessor the NEB) it sees itself as a kind of anti-KJV and steers clear as much as possible of Bible English. Unlike the more commonly used dynamic equivalent translations, however, it draws on a wide literary vocabulary, and is often textually and theologically more daring than translations done in other circles. I find it worth consulting regularly for “is that what the text really means?” stimulation.

For additional discussion on μυστήριον, see Doug’s later post: “In two minds about tradition and translation“.

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