Our first thought on encountering The New Testament and Psalms: An Inclusive Version was “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Or perhaps we should say “Father-Mother, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” That, anyway, is how the half-dozen scholars and “educators” who edited and translated this volume for Oxford University Press have chosen to render the famous passage from the Gospel according to Luke.

“Educators”? “Re-educators” is more like it. What these latter-day scribes and pharisees have crucified in this “undeniably progressive” volume is not Christ but his words and the words of those who sought to commemorate him. One naturally hopes that God in his mercy will, in the fullness of time, forgive them; no honest biblical scholar will be able to. Nor will anyone concerned with intellectual accu ...

This article is available to subscribers and for individual purchase