The New Covenant

by Willis Barnstone

Informed by original Semitic sources, a new literary translation of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and of Revelation reexamines Christianity in terms of its Judaic roots, offering new perspective on the Bible and its teachings. Reprint.

Genres: Religion, Theology, Christianity

592 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2002

About the author

Willis Barnstone is an American poet, memoirist, translator, Hispanist, and comparatist. He has translated the Ancient Greek poets and the complete fragments of the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus. He is also a New Testament and Gnostic scholar.

Reviews

[Benjamin Atkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barnstone's translation of the New Testament Gospels and Revelation converts much of the dialogue to free verse, attempts to delve closer to the source text and reverts common names to their Jewish origins. The first two items are reasonably successful, the third I found to be a major distraction. The purpose of changing the proper names (Jesus=Yeshua, Beit Lehem=Bethlehem-though I must admit I got a consistent chuckle from Yohanan the dipper) is to guide the reader to understand the Jewish nature of Jesus and the inconsistencies with the way he is characterized in the Gospels versus the way he is perceived through modern Christianity. For me the changes slowed down the reading pace as I “translated” back into our Anglicized names- “a rose by another name…” Though far from a biblical scholar, I am familiar enough with the text of the Gospels to note that there were no significant epiphanies related to the text.
Going in, one of my questions was why the Gospels and the Revelation of John? The answer is that the Revelation is kind of a counter-balance to the Gospels in terms of “blaming” the crucifixion on the Romans versus the Jews. Barnstone spent significant time exploring the development of this theme, which I found to be excessive. That being said the real strength of the work is the footnotes, Introduction and Afterword essays. The footnotes are very helpful in exploring the Greek and understanding the syntax. I found myself pulling out my Oxford Annotated NSRV as an additional resource-Barnstone generally stood up to the test and provided additional insight. I believe that is quite a compliment. The essays are well-written, focused and discerning, though I did find myself skimming some of the Jewish v Roman material.