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ESV Lovers Unite (and Answer Me or Wayne)

So after I confessed to not particularly liking
the ESV and favoring my
NASB anyday over it I started to wonder: Why is it that so many people
online seem to be embracing it anyway? I mean, one person seems to
think my Bible preference is a "Satanic Roman Catholic perverted piece of garbage " while others think only the KJV
is perfect.

The question led me to various cross-blog readings. Jeremy gave a very good presentation on translation problems and also linked to the
genius of the English Bible Blog (which I actually put in my “Bible
Tools” section some time ago, Wayne is that good) who was also addressed the topic. I have been also going through Adrian’s
questions for the ESV blog (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 to date)

In one of his responses, Adrian states that the ESV is being embraced
by all types of Christians online. That also sparked my interest and I
started searching why this would be the case. He mentions that it could
be a form of pyromarketing (something I have stated on Tim’s board
after Tim highlighted the danger of Rick Warren’s marketing
approach
) and I think that could be part of it. The ESV has done a good
job of interacting with Bloggers while simultaneously employing a slick
CSS feel, easy linking to their bible verses and openness in
communication. My favorite translation, on the other hand, has a very
dated site, clunky searching capability and one finds it easier to
search verses on the Bible Gateway than anything Lockman has touched.

Be that as it may, I’m still not too sure how diverse the ESV
lovers-online are. I find it interesting that a lot of the ESV-pushers
seem to be from the Reformed camp. Yes, I know that the ESV Reformation
Study Bible came out and that may be part of the reason but there was
an ESV buzz long before the Reformation Study Bible came out.

Adrian mentioned that this Bible (presumably above other Bibles) has
such a scholarly clout that it should make some one sit up and take
notice. I personally think that it’s more pyromarketing at it’s best
(with a nice shining quote by Reformed golden boy John Piper displayed
proudly on the main page) to have publicly known names as part of their
committees because other Biblical translations have as much scholarly
clout. For the common Joe to sit up and take notice because Grudem and
Packer are part of the team sings too close a tune of “I am of Paul, I
am of Apollos” to me.

Sure there’s a few non-Reformer types who seem to enjoy the language of
the ESV. I can’t say that it’s because they were former NIV users and
now find something a bit more literal since there are hundreds of
thousands of NIV users.

So here’s my questions for you: Why do you like the ESV? What is your
theological leaning? (Reformed? Calvinist? Arminian?
Dispensationalist? Anything?)

-r-

FYI: Wayne (and Joe Missionary) asked the same exact question
over on his site. So if you want you can post your comment on
both of our sites or read what folk are saying over at Wayne’s much
more famous site. :)

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