Editing English Standard Version (section)

==== Debate surrounding translation philosophy ====
At the 2008 annual meeting of the [[Evangelical Theological Society]], [[Mark L. Strauss]] presented a paper titled "Why the English Standard Version should not become the Standard English Version: How to make a good translation much better." In the paper, Strauss criticizes the ESV for using dated language, among other perceived issues, such as using gender-neutral language inconsistently in translation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Strauss |first=Mark L. |date=November 25, 2008 |title=Why the English Standard Version (ESV) should not become the Standard English Version: How to make a good translation much better |url=https://zondervan.typepad.com/files/improvingesv2.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213003912/https://zondervan.typepad.com/files/improvingesv2.pdf |archive-date=February 13, 2021 |access-date=February 13, 2021}}</ref> ESV translator Bill Mounce responded to Strauss's criticism:

{{Blockquote
| text = While the content of the paper was helpful, I am afraid that it only increased the gap between the two "sides" of the [translation philosophy] debate.{{Nbsp}}... He kept saying that the ESV has "missed" or "not considered" certain translational issues. While I am sure they were not intentional, these are emotionally charged words that do not help in the debate. They are in essence ''[[ad hominem]]'' arguments focusing on our competence (or perceived lack thereof) and not on the facts. He was not in the translation meetings and does not know if we in fact did miss or did not consider these issues.{{Nbsp}}... The solution to this debate is to recognize that there are different translation philosophies, different goals and means by which to reach those goals, and the goal of the translator is to be consistent in achieving those goals. In all but one of his examples, our translation was the one required by our translation philosophy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mounce |first=Bill |date=November 25, 2008 |title=ETS Day 2 by Bill Mounce |url=https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/ets-day-2-by-bill-mounce |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304201013/https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/ets-day-2-by-bill-mounce |archive-date=March 4, 2021 |access-date=May 18, 2021 |website=Zondervan Academic}}</ref>
}}

Strauss invited Mounce to engage further through participation at the following annual meeting. In 2009, Mounce presented his formal response paper titled "Can the ESV and [[Today's New International Version|TNIV]] Co-Exist in the Same Universe?" In the paper, Mounce describes various points regarding his view of the need for both formal and functional translations.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mounce |first=Bill |date=November 23, 2009 |title=ETS Paper on ESV/TNIV (Monday with Mounce 50) |url=https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/ets-paper-on-esvtniv |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518041649/https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/ets-paper-on-esvtniv |archive-date=May 18, 2021 |access-date=May 18, 2021 |website=Zondervan Academic}}</ref>

In October 2019, [[University of Oklahoma]] sociology professor [[Samuel L. Perry]] published a journal article titled "The Bible as a Product of Cultural Power: The Case of Gender Ideology in the English Standard Version." In the article, Perry attempts to demonstrate "how a more critical approach toward 'the Bible' can provide richer, more sophisticated [[Sociological analysis|sociological analyses]] of power and [[cultural reproduction]] within Christian traditions." Perry argues that Crossway's ESV translation committee made "intentional, systematic changes" into the ESV for the purpose of being able to "publish and mass-market a text more amenable to conservative, [[Complementarianism|complementarian]] interpretations." Perry further argues that the ESV translation committee "have engaged in more covert means of cultural reproduction, not only disseminating ''their interpretation'' of the biblical text, but manipulating the ''text itself''."<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last=Perry |first=Samuel L. |date=October 21, 2019 |editor-last=Marti |editor-first=Gerardo |title=The Bible as a Product of Cultural Power: The Case of Gender Ideology in the English Standard Version |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srz022 |url-status=live |journal=[[Sociology of Religion (journal)|Sociology of Religion]] |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] on behalf of the [[Association for the Sociology of Religion]] |volume=81 |issue=1 |pages=68–92 |doi=10.1093/socrel/srz022 |issn=1069-4404 |eissn=1759-8818 |lccn=93642782 |oclc=30932266 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726112202/https://academic.oup.com/socrel/article/81/1/68/5601910 |archive-date=July 26, 2021}}</ref> The ''ESV Study Bible'' often details in its study notes why a complementarian interpretation of the original text may have been rendered in translation.{{Efn|For example, the study notes detailing Genesis 3:16 (in the 2016 text edition; along with its relevance to 4:7), Romans 16:1 (also see note on 1 Tim. 3:11), Romans 16:7; and Ephesians 5:21–6:9 and Ephesians 5:21.<ref name=":15" />}}

In 2020, the Ireland-based [[Association of Catholic Priests]], an independent and voluntary association of Catholic clergy, criticized the ESV for its position on the use of gender-neutral language, perceiving the use of terms such as "mankind" and "brothers" to be "out of sync with modern usage [and] culturally regarded as diminishing and disrespectful of women."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mac Donald |first=Sarah |date=October 29, 2020 |title=Priests warn against language of new lectionary |work=The Tablet |url=https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/13521/priests-warn-against-language-of-new-lectionary |url-status=live |access-date=January 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106203928/https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/13521/priests-warn-against-language-of-new-lectionary |archive-date=January 6, 2021}}</ref>{{Efn|See the section regarding [[#Position on gender-neutral language|gender-neutral language]] for Crossway's philosophy regarding the translation of gender terms.}}

In June 2021, Samuel L. Perry published a journal article titled "Whitewashing Evangelical Scripture: The Case of Slavery and Antisemitism in the English Standard Version." In the article, Perry attempts to demonstrate how "the ESV editors, while modifying certain RSV renderings to establish transitivity for their text among complementarian/[[biblicist]] Christians, sought to establish intransitivity between the text and more pejorative social interpretations by progressively re-translating lexically ambiguous terms and introducing footnotes to obviate the Bible's ostensible promotion of slavery and antisemitism."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Perry |first=Samuel L. |date=June 23, 2021 |editor-last=Jain |editor-first=Andrea R. |title=Whitewashing Evangelical Scripture: The Case of Slavery and Antisemitism in the English Standard Version |url=https://academic.oup.com/jaar/article/89/2/612/6308111 |url-status=live |journal=[[Journal of the American Academy of Religion]] |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] on behalf of the [[American Academy of Religion]] |volume=89 |issue=2 |pages=612–643 |doi=10.1093/jaarel/lfab054 |issn=0002-7189 |eissn=1477-4585 |lccn=sc76000837 |oclc=1479270 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726111944/https://academic.oup.com/jaar/article/89/2/612/6308111 |archive-date=July 26, 2021 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In turn, Perry was interviewed by ''[[Salon.com|Salon]]'' regarding the content of the article.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rosenberg |first=Paul |date=July 10, 2021 |title=When evangelical snowflakes censor the Bible: The English Standard Version goes PC |work=[[Salon.com|Salon]] |url=https://www.salon.com/2021/07/10/when-evangelical-snowflakes-censor-the-bible-the-english-standard-version-goes-pc/ |url-status=live |access-date=July 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220714022700/https://www.salon.com/2021/07/10/when-evangelical-snowflakes-censor-the-bible-the-english-standard-version-goes-pc/ |archive-date=July 14, 2022}}</ref> [[Boyce College]] Professor of Biblical Studies Denny Burk points out that Perry makes "a significant error" in referring to Grudem as the general editor of the ESV.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Burk |first=Denny |date=January 23, 2023 |title=The Bible of 'Trumpists'? Hardly. |url=https://www.dennyburk.com/the-bible-of-trumpists-hardly/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230303225554/https://www.dennyburk.com/the-bible-of-trumpists-hardly/ |archive-date=March 3, 2023 |access-date=March 3, 2023 |website=Denny Burk}}</ref>{{Efn|J. I. Packer is the general editor of the ESV,<ref name=":2" /> whereas Wayne Grudem is the general editor of the ''ESV Study Bible''.<ref name=":11" />}} In July 2021, ''Bible Study Magazine'' editor Mark Ward published an article to his personal blog in response:

{{Blockquote
| text = Perry raises very important questions about Bible interpretation, and about the proper translation of fought-over words like "slave" and "Jew."{{Nbsp}}... So I carefully read not only the ''Salon'' interview but also the scholarly article in the ''[[Journal of the American Academy of Religion]]'' which gave rise to it.{{Nbsp}}... They [both] carry the same basic message. And that message is full of frankly cynical, acidic ideas about Bible study{{Nbsp}}... The first step in interpretation ''should'' be transitivity. You ''should'' try to fit what you read in the Bible in with your existing tradition. That's simple hermeneutical humility—as long as it's paired with a sincere desire to hold one's tradition up to the light of Scripture.{{Nbsp}}... I can be grateful to Perry for some sharp observations, even some warning shots, while still insisting that any view that muzzles God, that severs the link between his intentions and his words, is rebellion.{{Nbsp}}... To offer "establishing transitivity with existing views" as a wholly sufficient view of evangelical Bible use is to take a small truth and make it the whole truth. It is to say to God, "We can't hear you because other people are talking."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ward |first=Mark |date=July 19, 2021 |title=Did Evangelical Snowflakes Censor the Bible? |url=https://byfaithweunderstand.com/2021/07/19/did-evangelical-snowflakes-censor-the-bible/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726094725/https://byfaithweunderstand.com/2021/07/19/did-evangelical-snowflakes-censor-the-bible/ |archive-date=July 26, 2021 |access-date=July 26, 2021 |website=By Faith We Understand}}</ref>
}}