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Eugene Nida dies

Dr Eugene Nida has died. You probably don’t know who he is but read on. Nida had a tremendous impact on Bible Translation during the 20th century. As a Bible Translator myself his work impacted me in my training and throughout the years in which I was involved in translation and in training others.

Eugene Nida dies

August 25, 2011 By comms

By Dr Philip C. Stine

Eugene Nida, the giant of Bible translation in the twentieth century, died at home in Madrid on August 25. He was 96. Conveying the news, his widow Elena said, “My adored husband has passed away 10 minutes ago. Thank you for your prayers. He was a saint. The Lord is with him.”

For more than 50 years Eugene Nida was the leader of the translation program of the American Bible Society, and subsequently the intellectual leader of the global program of the United Bible Societies, as well as consultant to that organisation.

Dr Nida will be best remembered for the revolution he brought about in the field of Bible translation in the mid-twentieth century. The resulting impact on the growth and development of the Church continues to be felt as millions of people in hundreds of languages around the world have access to the Bible because of the approach he developed and promoted.

Using concepts from linguistics, cultural studies, communication sciences and psychology, Nida developed a practical approach to translation he called dynamic equivalence or functional equivalence, the goal of which was to make the translation clear and understandable as well as accurate. He also influenced the emerging field of modern translation studies and is generally acknowledged as having set in motion the developments that led to that discipline. Through his numerous books and publications and extraordinary lecture schedule, he was able to help scholars, translators and specialists in Christian missions find new ways to think about effective communication.

[read more at United Bible Societies.]

Now he is with Jesus. How wonderful for him!

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