John Owen in English

[ChristianTrader]

http://www.gnpcb.org/product/1581346492

Of course all of his works are already in English but from what I understand (I have not read any of his stuff) it is unnecessarily difficult to read. The link above is to a "translation" of a couple of his works into more accessible language without abridging anything. My question is why has this not occured before? It seems that many people speak of how good Owen is to read, but there is no project to remove barriers to the consumption of his works.

CT

 

[DTK]

Originally posted by ChristianTrader
http://www.gnpcb.org/product/1581346492

Of course all of his works are already in English but from what I understand (I have not read any of his stuff) it is unnecessarily difficult to read. The link above is to a "translation" of a couple of his works into more accessible language without abridging anything. My question is why has this not occured before? It seems that many people speak of how good Owen is to read, but there is no project to remove barriers to the consumption of his works.

CT

Well, I suppose that apart from his Biblical Theology, all his works were written by him in English, and therefore need no translation, strictly speaking. Out of respect for his own methodology of expression, I suppose no one has before now, attempted to edit his own English, which for many has proven difficult. But the only work of his that really needed translating (having been written originally in Latin), has been translated, and (so it seems to me) is easier to read than his other works that were all originally written in English.

DTK

 

[Don Kistler]

One reason has to do with simple economics. The idea of redoing something that has already been done before isn't often cost effective. People don't want to pay for a new, easier to read version if they have already purchased an older version, though it may be hard to read. It's much easier to lithograph something at very little cost than to redo something at a substantial cost for typing, editing, proofreading, new cover, etc.

If you add to that the often heard complaint, "Why is this book so expensive?" it makes more sense to publish works that haven't been done already.

 

[Dave L]

When I had a problem with a particularly long sentence of Owen's, I found that reading it out loud helped me pick up the sense straight away.