Committee on Bible Translation (Biblica)
1 book analyzed
Biography
The NIV has no single author. It is the product of the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT), a self-perpetuating body of fifteen evangelical scholars from multiple denominations and institutions, convened in 1965 and still operating today. Early central figures included Edwin Palmer (executive secretary through 1980), Kenneth Barker (longtime committee chair and editor of the NIV Study Bible), Ronald Youngblood (Old Testament scholar), Larry Walker (Old Testament), and Bruce Waltke (Hebrew scholar who later left over disagreements about the TNIV process). The current chair is Douglas Moo, a prominent Pauline scholar at Wheaton College. Mark Strauss has been among the most visible public defenders of the 2011 gender-language revision. The committee is licensed to Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society), which holds copyright, while Zondervan (now part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing) handles English-market publication. This tripartite structure — independent translation committee, nonprofit copyright holder, commercial publisher — is central to the NIV's institutional identity.