Newer Testament
Another translation of the New Testament? Why? Don’t we have enough Bibles already? I would not have paid any more attention this book, except that I noted Lattimore’s other works.
Lattimore’s background was interesting primarily because he had a reputation as a translator of Greek classics. He has translated most the major Greek works, from Homer to anonymous Greek tragic poems - a quick search of Amazon’s store will show.
His approach to translating was to remain faithful to the original Greek as possible. Unburdened by dogmatic concerns, he was able to focus on the text itself. For those of us unschooled in ancient Greek, this is an unequalled opportunity to get closer to the writers.
Reading this translation was a very different experience from other translations. For one thing, the text is not printed with chapters and verse numbers - it flows as normal prose. Punctuation is kept to the minimum (in keeping with the ancient texts), so there is none of the “red-letter” versions of the Gospel that are popular among those who feel that Jesus’s words are of greater importance than the rest of inspired Scripture.
The writings are now made alive with Lattimore’s fresh perspective. I read Paul’s letter to the Phillipians and felt the warmth and closeness that the Apostle had towards this community. I found myself reading the letters as a whole, instead of reading them in parts. Traditional bibles are designed almost as reference material, neatly indexed and divided to facilitate skimming and readings of short verses.
This translation is an excellent complement to the Bible. Four stars.