Translation choices in this course

No two English translations of the New Testament make the same choices. The translation a reader holds in their hands has shaped what they think the text says, often invisibly. This sidebar names what this course does with translation and why.

The hybrid

This course's scripture text is drawn from a hybrid sourced in Mark - Master Text.json. The components are:

A workhorse modern translation. For the pilot, this is the World English Bible British Edition (WEBBE), a public-domain modern English translation. The pilot uses WEBBE because it removes the scripture-text licensing question for the launch period; the full course beyond the pilot is likely to move to a licensed mainstream translation (most likely NRSVue, the Updated Edition of the New Revised Standard Version, or the Common English Bible).

A few pericopes from the Common English Bible (CEB). Where the CEB's translation choices land the political-pastoral reading the course is built on more sharply than the workhorse, those pericopes are taken from the CEB. Mark 8v21 is the clearest example: the CEB's And you still don't understand? lands the climax of Mark's bread-motif with the right tone where the older renderings have softened it.

Adrian Roux's own translation for 35 verses. Where the political-pastoral argument the course is making needs a tighter rendering than the workhorse allows, Adrian has produced his own translation. These are the verses where Ched Myers' reading or the structural-political argument depends on a particular Greek nuance that English-tradition translations have not always preserved.

The hybrid is not a stunt. Each component is justified verse by verse in the translation manifest (Mark - Translation Manifest.json).

Why not just one translation?

Four reasons.

First, the political-pastoral reading the course holds (sidebar: Reading Mark with Myers) needs Greek-aware translation choices at particular places, and no single English translation makes the right choice everywhere.

Second, the gospel was not written in English. Every English Bible is an interpretation; choosing one translation as definitive obscures the fact that what we are reading is a series of choices.

Third, exposing the seams pastorally matters. When the course names that "this verse is from the CEB, this verse from WEBBE, this verse is Adrian's own", participants learn that scripture comes to them through translators, that translators make choices, and that those choices can be examined.

Fourth, the audio readings and visual materials are produced from a single canonical master text. The hybrid is not chaos; it is a curated text with a manifest that records every choice.

What it does not mean

The course is not saying that any one translation is wrong, or that participants should not use their own preferred Bible. It is saying that for the course's particular argument, this particular blend is what lands the reading most faithfully.

The course is also not producing a new translation in any technical sense. Adrian's 35 verses are tightened renderings of the Greek for specific passages, not a full re-translation project. He stays close to mainstream conventions; he changes only what the political-pastoral reading needs.

The choices recorded

Every divergence from the workhorse translation is recorded in Mark - Translation Manifest.md. The manifest names the verse, the chosen source (WEBBE, CEB, Roux), and the reason for the choice. The course is transparent about what it is doing with the text.

Where this matters for the participant

In most sessions, the translation choices will be invisible. Participants who already have a Bible in front of them — NIV, NRSV, NLT, ESV, KJV, whichever — will recognise the passage; the translation differences will be small. In a handful of verses across the course, the translation will read differently from what the participant has at home, and the difference will matter to the teaching. The facilitator's job is to name those moments when they arise and to honour the room's range of translations.

The licensing question

For the pilot, the WEBBE workhorse is public domain and requires no licensing. The CEB and any future move to NRSVue require licensing; those conversations are in progress with the publishers (United Methodist Publishing House for CEB; the National Council of Churches for NRSV/NRSVue). The course's translation choice may evolve as those conversations land. The translation manifest will keep up.