This Day in History: New Testament scholar Edgar J. Goodspeed died on this day in 1962. Professor Jason Beduhn declared that Goodspeed was one of the three greats in Bible Translation history (the other two being James Moffatt and Brooke Foss Westcott), and Goodpeed may have created one of the greatest Bible Translations ever. About 70 years ago, E.C. Colwell created an apparatus to determine the best New Testament, in his book "What Is The Best New Testament" [University of Chicage Press, 1951.] Colwell chose 64 Scriptures in the Gospel of John where there were slight differences between the weaker (later) Greek Text (Textus Receptus) and the better Greek Text based on older manuscripts. For instance, at John 5:2, the weaker texts have "Bethasda" while the texts based on older manuscripts have "Bethzatha." Colwell wanted to determine which Bible was the most faithful to the best Greek text. His conclusion was that Goodspeed's New Testament was the best New Testament, as it translated all 64 verses correctly. I then tested other Bible Versions that came out since then, and I discovered 2 other Bibles that did as well as Goodspeed's: The New World Translation, and the 21st Century New Testament (Vivian Capel). The New International Version scored 51 out of 64, and the English Standard Version got 52 out of 64 correct. Rotherham's Emphasized Bible and Byington's Bible in Living English were quite accurate as well.
Smith & Goodspeed's An American Translation is no longer in print, but a search on Ebay will usually help you find a copy.
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