Date: November 25, 1998

Today’s Stories:

* COLORADO–Bible society reiterates commitment to original NIV
gender-specific style.

* KENTUCKY–2 churches take special interest in ministering to world’s
hungry.

* TENNESSEE–Plan to achieve God’s purposes, LifeWay leader tells pastors,
staff.

* KENTUCKY–Faith in Christ enables 14-year-old to endure agonizing brain
syndrome.

* ALABAMA–Alabama’s former top quarterback on sidelines, remains firm in
faith.

* TEXAS–Emptiness of carnal Christianity noted to seminarians by Jess Moody.

* WASHINGTON STATE–Retired engineer ventures into calling of ‘pastoral
relief work.’

Bible society reiterates commitment to original NIV gender-specific style

By Art Toalston

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (BP)–The International Bible Society, after a
critical article in the Nov. 21 issue of WORLD magazine, has reaffirmed its 1997
commitment to “forgo all plans” to revise the New International Version of the
Bible into gender-neutral language.

According to WORLD, the International Bible Society ordered a reprinting of
20,000 copies of a paperback edition of the gender-neutral New International
Reader’s Version (NIrV) New Testament for children, called New Beginnings.

That September order would violate a May 1997 agreement by IBS, the copyright
holder of the 1984 NIV and the NIrV, and Zondervan Publishing House, the NIV’s
U.S. publisher, to discontinue NIV-related gender-neutral, or “inclusive,”
revisions and to revise the NIrV into a gender-specific style.

In its statement, dated Nov. 19, the IBS noted that since completing the NirV
revision “to reflect the same treatment of gender as in the existing NIV” in the
fall of 1997, the society has “printed more than 340,000 Scriptures using the new
text.”

According to IBS’ statement, “Allegations stemmed from a September reprint of
Bright Beginnings, IBS’ only evangelistic New Testament for young children. IBS
Vice-president and Publisher Dean Merrill made a decision to reprint Bright
Beginnings to meet a short-term need pending the release of new children’s
Scriptures that use the revised text.”

The IBS statement quoted Merrill as saying, “We were phasing that particular
product out of our children’s line, so we didn’t want to invest $20,000 in
typesetting charges for a piece we no longer planned to print.”

The new NirV gender-specific revision, Merrill said, has been “very well
received.” and, according to the IBS statement, consistently ranks in the top 10
of best selling English-language translations.

Victor Oliver, chairman of IBS’ board of directors, echoed IBS commitment to
the 1984 NIV text, in the society’s statement. “It has served the Church for more
than 20 years and is recognized as one of the most accurate, reliable
translations in existence. God has used it mightily,” Oliver said.

The one-page IBS release did not recount the detail reported in WORLD’s
four-page Internet posting of its story.

WORLD, in its article, reported, “IBS vice president and publisher Dean
Merrill, interviewed twice by WORLD, said timing and format were key. He said
supplies of the children’s NIrV ran out in August, and orders — an average of
1,200-1,500 copies per month — were beginning to pile up. He said he planned a
new children’s edition, one that would be in a single-column format rather than
the double-column format of other editions, and would include new artwork. But
since that edition was not close to ready, Mr. Merrill said it would have cost
$20,000 to make an interim typesetting of the revised NIrV so that it would fit
the single-column Bright Beginnings — and he said he unilaterally decided to
reprint the gender-neutral version instead.”

WORLD responded in its article, “A bunch of questions pop up. Why didn’t IBS
simply borrow the typesetting from Zondervan? It ‘was not immediately available,’
Mr. Merrill said. Why, given his reputation for careful planning and
organization, had not preparations for the replacement New Testament begun much
earlier? Even though sales of the existing versions were fairly predictable, Mr.
Merrill said he had only 60 days’ notice before the old-edition stock ran out.
Why was the new project still not on the IBS publishing schedule as of early this
month? Mr. Merrill said there were delays in obtaining typesetting film.”

WORLD also noted, “Although the board had said publicly, ‘IBS is directing
the licensees who publish the current NIrV to publish only the revised NIrV as
soon as it is ready,’ Mr. Merill said there was nothing in the board’s
instructions to staff forbidding his actions. … ‘Under the circumstances, I
think I’ve done the responsible thing,’ Mr. Merrill said, adding that he acted on
his own without consulting the IBS board or CEO. ‘No one here is intending to
extend the old NIrV,’ he said.”

WORLD also raised a number of question in its article about the permanence of
IBS’ commitment to gender-specific translation and claimed, “No one on the board
seems willing, or able, to elaborate.”

In the spring of 1997, the NIV controversy erupted when WORLD reported on
plans for a gender-inclusive NIV revision to be introduced into the U.S. market
by Zondervan in several years.

After a story of controversy, IBS and Zondervan announced they were canceling
the NIV revision, after several deliberations by IBS directors.

Several Southern Baptist Convention leaders lauded the IBS decision at the
time. Morris H. Chapman, president and chief executive officer of the SBC
Executive Committee, for example, said, “The sensitivity of the IBS to the
concerns of the evangelical public is commendable, and we believe very wise. I
expect the decision to be applauded by all those who hold a high view of
Scripture. The NIV has enjoyed a very high level of confidence and acceptance
among evangelical Christians, and this decision should serve to bolster that
confidence.”

For numerous years, the NIV has accounted for 45 percent of all Bibles sold
in the United States. The NIV is used in many resources published by the SBC’s
LifeWay Christian Resources, based in Nashville, Tenn.

WORLD is a weekly Christian newsmagazine based in Asheville, N.C., with an
Internet site titled, worldmag.com.