Less gender-neutral Bible announced

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PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill., Sept. 2 (UPI) -- The publisher of the New International Version Bible has announced a revised edition that will "undo the damage" of an earlier effort at inclusive language.

The updated translation is scheduled to appear in 2011, USA Today reports. Biblica, formerly the International Bible, said Tuesday it will replace the 2005 "Today's New International Version" and a 1984 edition still used by many who do not like the 2005 attempt to use gender-neutral language.

"We need to undo the damage," said Maureen Girkins, president of Zondervan, an evangelical publisher working on the project with Biblica and the Committee on Bible Translation.

Gender-neutral terminology has been a hot issue for decades. A 1997 edition was abandoned after word got out that masculine pronouns would not be used except when referring specifically to men.

When the 2005 version came out, Wayne Grudem, a Biblical scholar at Phoenix Seminary in Scottsdale, Ariz., counted 3,000 places where translators had substituted gender-neutral terms for "he," "father" and "son."

"I'm delighted to see they have realized the TNIV was simply never going to be accepted by the Christian public who value accuracy in translating the word of God," Grudem said Tuesday. "I'm thankful for their

honesty."