Q&A with John Goldingay

1. What motivated you to provide the new translation that became the first part of The Bible For Everyone?

Well, SPCK asked me to do it, and I said yes without realizing how much time it was going to take me! But I got to be enthusiastic about making it more possible for people to get inside the actual text of the Old Testament in a new way.

2. What are the skills that a good translator needs?

A translator mediates between two languages and two cultures and therefore needs to be at home in both. It's easy for preachers to live between the Bible and the modern world and thus not really seem to be at home in either, and the same is true of translation.

3. What’s the most challenging element of translation?

Resisting the assumption that you know what it means and how it should be expressed in English. And understanding lots of obscure things about the architecture of the temple and the geography of Canaan!

4. What have you learned about yourself as a Christian through this new work?

I think the chief effect it had on me was to make me realize even more what a privilege it is to spend time with the Old Testament. It convinced me even more of the thing it says in 2 Timothy about it all being inspired by God.

5. What advice might you give anyone who would like to work in Biblical scholarship?

Focus more on reading the Bible than on reading the work of scholars. Don't let the lenses provided by scholarly theories become things that limit your vision rather than opening up the text