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Rating: 
Summary: 5 for delivery, 4 for content, 3 for translation = 4
Review: I purchased this for several reasons, but mostly because I love Scripture. Having read most of the Bible at least once, and other parts numerous times, I figured that this would help me keep refreshed, as I listen to it during my frequent 2 and a half hour road trips in my car. Well delivered Scripture can be a better companion than even good music at times...Max McLean has a wonderful delivery, and the subtle, simple music in the background adds just the right amount of color. I especially liked his telling of the 4 Gospels. It sounded real, fresh, but never over-dramatized. As a Catholic, I do have two objections. One cannot however be considered an objection, as I bought this knowing that it was a Protestant translation, and therefore is missing the Deuterocanonicals. Alas, I won't have the pleasure of hearing Max recite those; I'll simply have to read the text to keep refreshed :) Third - and this is actually a criticism, is the translation used. While the choice of the NIV was logical for the producers, as its a popular and easily-readable translation, I do take issue with the way some things are inconsistently translated. I was actually not aware of a few finer points of translation until I heard this, my previous Scripture studies having used other translations (NAB, KJV, RSV, Jerusalem Bible). While I feel that the NIV is an accurate translation overall, and don't want to accuse the translators of intentional doctoring without a compelling case, there are two words that seem to have been inconsistently translated in order to de-Catholicize the Bible on the two foundational points of Catholic/Protestant contention. The two words are paradosis and ergon, which mean, respectively, tradition and works. In every single case where faith is stressed when discussing justification, the NIV translates the word ergon as "works." When works are being elevated, the NIV translates the same word - ergon - as "deeds" or "actions" (though we should have expected the Greek word poieo if it were correctly translated this way). See James 2:24. Regarding paradosis, the word is correctly translated as "traditions" when traditions of men are condemned, but mistranslated as "teachings" (which is actually didaktikos in Greek) when the adherance to Tradition is commanded (see 2 Thessalonians 2:15, 2 Thessalonians 3:6, and 1 Corinthians 11:2). However, to be fair, I did notice that in the printed edition of the NIV, the correct translation of paradosis is given in the footnotes here. Every translation suffers at least some from the inherent bias of the translators, but these instances seem too uncoincidental to be innocent. The entire Catholic/Protestant seperation rests on the issues discussed in these verses; why the need to doctor the text if the issues are as "perspicuous" as they're proposed to be by some? In any case, I see no reason to throw the baby out over 4 verses of bathwater :) I do VERY highly recommend this set, as it truly does bring Scripture alive and makes it very accessible to anyone. Its not hard to find time to listen to CDs, so no more excuses for not reading the Bible!
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