Sunday, February 17, 2008

Karen Jobes Gets A (Man's) Dollar

What if some 2008 years later or so, Karen H. Jobes got to keep every penny she earned on her $1.00 (compared to the men)? Same question for Beth Sheppard.

Hats off to Zondervan, and IOSCS, and Logos Bible Software for hiring a woman translator for three respective teams of translators.

But did the twelve men on the translation team for the TNIV get their $1.00 while Jobes, the only woman, was only given 77¢ for the same work?

Did the twenty-eight men on the translation team for the NETS get their $1.00 while Jobes, the only woman, was only given 77¢ for the same work?

Did the thirty men on the translation team for the Lexham LXX get their $1.00 while Sheppard, the only woman, was only given 77¢ for the same work?

And yet, some of us are still curious what it would be like some day if things were completely reversed:

What if twelve women or twenty-eight women or even thirty women—but just one man—made up a team of translators of the Bible? Who would the publishers’ poster boy be? Would he get paid just 77¢ for their (woman’s) $1.00 for the same work? And would that man be assigned only the text or few texts of the Bible that only primarily focus on a male protagonist (but not at all the many many other passages that deal with the women of the Bible)?

And how differently would these texts or these texts or this text or this text or this phrase or this word be translated? How differently!

Wouldn’t we push for equality much more quickly?

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