Book Review | Translating Truth: The Case for Essentially Literal Bible Translation

Translating Truth: The Case for Essentially Literal Bible Translation by Wayne A. Grudem
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Good
This collection of essays does a good job of making the case for the “essentially literal” Bible translation philosophy. I found the arguments compelling. The first three essays are worth the purchase of the book. The strongest case for the “essentially literal” approach are clearly presented.

The Bad
Making the case for a word-for-word philosophy does not need to descend into accusations of malpractice on the part of those that do not follow this approach. Grudem’s essay (the first essay) did this a few times (four or five times). It was unnecessary.

The final two essays were a little more technical and not as helpful. While these two did tease out the practical implementation of an essentially literal approach, it was a little hard to follow.

That being said, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a clear and concise argument FOR the essentially literal translation approach.

View all my reviews