“Almost everyone is interested in the different translations of Scripture. Michael Straus’ The Word as word provides a stimulating and penetrating investigation into the art of translation through a canonical-hermeneutical approach. This book is important not only for exegesis, but for any translator of the New Testament. The translation of Colossians demonstrates the importance of translation on interpretation through history and tradition. Readers will be delighted by the history of English translations going back to Wycliffe.”
—Arthur Just, professor of exegetical theology, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne
“The Word as word is a gift: from an experienced translator of the New Testament comes a rich consideration of the art of translating Holy Scripture. The labor of and reflection upon the translation of ancient texts is often separated by specialization. In The Word as word, Michael Straus offers a rare and needed combination of philological and contextual precision, historical and theological awareness, and humane and pastoral sensitivity. Translation, as The Word as word explores it, lives with and moves from ancient words that have and continue to announce the Word.”
—Jonathan A. Linebaugh, Anglican chair of divinity, Beeson Divinity School
“Written with verve and élan, The Word as word challenges us to rethink the assumptions about language, culture, and revelation implicit in different approaches to biblical translation. Michael Straus sets forth a bold vision for Scripture translation that takes seriously the effective history of the text in tradition and the life of the church. The result is a provocative and important contribution to New Testament studies.”
—Susan Eastman, associate research professor emerita of New Testament, Duke Divinity School
“I heartily endorse Michael Straus’ book as a rare reflection in translation studies. As a translation theorist, Straus takes full account of the apostles’ and church fathers’ concept of the inspired word (including the Trinity). In a clearly structured sequence, he offers different perspectives on the range of other translation approaches, in a spirit of humility and immersive understanding. The result is a greater appreciation of how form, register, and even the use in later church tradition of theological language may be employed in translation, all without falling into the pit of ‘translationese.’”
—Stefan Felber, author of Zwischen Babel und Jerusalem: Aspekte von Sprache und Übersetzung
“. . . Himself a gifted translator of the New Testament, Straus assesses with much academic learning and a practitioner’s insight both the strengths and weaknesses of the three main current approaches before offering his own canonical-hermeneutical theory of translation. Future editions of the Bible and their readers will no doubt owe a great debt to Straus’ contribution to this important field.”
—Ashley Null, chair, Wittenberg Center for Reformation Studies, Wittenberg, Germany
