Last month in Los Angeles, a new Spanish-language translation of the Bible was unveiled. Sponsored by Colorado Springs-based International Bible Society (IBS), a group of twenty Bible scholars from throughout Latin America spent ten years translating the Christian holy text from the original Hebrew and Greek into contemporary Spanish. The result is hailed as a breakthrough by Christian leaders throughout the United States.
The magnitude of this project is expressed by the phrase "contemporary Spanish."
The most influential Spanish translation up until now has been the Reina Valera, which is equivalent to the archaic, non-contemporary language of the King James Version of the Bible. To grasp what the Reina Valera version is to most modern-day Spanish speakers, imagine if this newspaper's verbiage and syntax was closer to a John Donne poem ["Batter my heart, three person'd God!"] or Shakespeare's "A Mid-summer Night's Dream" than what you are reading now.
OK, some people would be glad to read a newspaper that employs Elizabethan English. The Advanced Placement English teacher who tortured me in high school comes to mind. But the great majority of people want a Bible with accessible language just as much as they want a readable newspaper.
This new Spanish translation, known as the Nueva Version Internacional (NVI), accomplishes this for Spanish-language readers of the Bible. IBS expects to sells millions of copies of the NVI.
The NVI is more than just a new translation for the faithful. It is part of a larger, worldwide investment into ancient texts.
In Yemen, workers in 1972 disovered perhaps the oldest Koranic fragments in existence, dating back to the seventh and eighth centuries, A.D., Islam's first two centuries.
The cover story of January's Atlantic Monthly examines the ramifications of this discovery. According to the article, textual and historical criticism that has been famously (or infamously) applied to the Bible is about to be utilized on Islam's holy text, the Koran. Both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars are involved in examining the Koran's place in history.
But not everyone is content with this development. According to the article, efforts to reinterpret the Koran are disturbing and offensive to many Muslims, just as attempts to reinterpret the Bible and the life of Jesus are disturbing and offensive to many conservative Christians.
In Egypt, the examination of the interior of the Sphinx in Gaza, Egypt is shedding new light on that civilization.
Forget for a moment the cheesy manner in which Fox TV "unveiled" the innards of the Sphinx during a broadcast this week. What is important to many is the increased access to the learnings and wisdom of ancient Egypt.
Egypt once housed the wisdom of the world in the libraries of Alexandria, which are regarded as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. These libraries no longer exist, but new "texts" - such as the hieroglyph-filled walls inside the Sphinx - offer those interested in Egypt the insights they seek.
The re-presentation of ancient texts - whether the Bible in contemporary Spanish, the historical veracity of the Koran, or encoded symbols of Egyptian hieroglyphs - is important enough for people and organizations to invest millions of dollars and countless hours. The reason is simple: At the dawn of the Third Millenium A.D., in a frenetically digital and mass migratory world, there is an ever-growing hunger for truth and meaning.
I myself am fascinated with the ancient biblical character Job. This guy pre-dates me by approximately four millenia. But something in me can relate to him.
Job tried to live right. He made sacrifices for forgivenness on the premise that his children might have sinned against God. Underserved catastrophes befell him, and he lost his enormous fortune and all his children. Yet the story ends with Job affirming his faith and receiving back everything he lost, and more.
Sometimes when I feel down, or don't understand what is going on around me, I think of Job.
His story doesn't exactly comfort me. What if I have have to sink to the depths that Job sank before I can rise up? What I get from Job's story is re-assurance that even my sufferings have meaning, and I do not take it for granted that I gain courage for life from what is essentially a very old story.
That's why, to me, the translation of the Bible into contemporary language is so important, because we all need hope and courage.
I don't know any group that needs hope and courage more than young people. They have inherited a fragmented and purposeless world. As they lose hope, they are more likely to turn to lawlessness, gangs, drugs, or suicide.
But the same movement that produced the new Spanish NVI has created contemporary English versions of the Bible that make ancient truths accessible to these new generations.
I know a junior higher who improved his behavior, as well as his reading skill, because the accessibility of the translation was no hinderance to him learning that venerable King David was a regular guy who made lots of mistakes, just like anybody else.
My experience with this youth makes me grateful for the Baptist church bus that rumbles down my street every Sunday morning. When the bus doors open, at least 10 kids pile in. The driver shifts gears and the bus lurches forward, taking the children to a place where, like my young friend above, they will access ancient stories that will give them hope and courage for living.
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