First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament. 483 pages. Published by Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2021.
Reviewed by Randy Klassen, former Bible teacher at Bethany College, Hepburn SK, and currently Indigenous Neighbours coordinator for MCC Saskatchewan, and adjunct instructor in Anabaptist history and theology, Horizon College, Saskatoon. He has written earlier for the MB Herald on Bible translations (Apr 2012, Mar 2015) and Indigenous theology (Jan 2013, Mar 2016, Feb 2020). He is a member of Lakeview Church in Saskatoon SK, in the heart of Treaty 6 territory.
The First Nations Version (FNV) is a recent translation of Scripture that many are discovering as a beautiful and important voice for the church’s worship and discipleship. It arose out of the work of Rain Ministries, a Native American organization founded by Terry and Darlene Wildman. The translation is now helping Christians of many backgrounds encounter God’s Word in fresh and powerful ways.
I first met the precursor to this version while teaching at Bethany College. In 2008 Rain Ministries produced a CD entitled The Great Story from the Sacred Book. This spoken word album presents the founding stories of the Old Testament and the core of the Gospel story, in a traditional oral narrative style that is culturally aimed at Indigenous listeners. That album became a seed that grew into a book, Walking the Good Road: The Gospels and Acts, with Ephesians (2017), supported by a translation council and partners such as Wycliffe Associates. The entire New Testament was published in 2021. (Plans for Psalms and Proverbs are in process; an audio book and an animation based on the text are also available, in partnership with Cru and The Jesus Film project.)
I am drawn to the FNV for several important biblical and theological reasons. (1) It successfully recreates the feel of communal story-telling, and thus reflects the original experience of hearing the Word better than the private book-reading more commonly practiced by modern North American Christians. The rhythms and cadences of the FNV’s voice tends to slow down the story. This slower tempo lends itself to a more meditative reading, and a deeper experience of the Word. Occasionally, the FNV adds a phrase or sentence to build a narrative connection or emphasize a cultural nuance. These notes are clearly marked as additions by the use of italics (a technique borrowed from the KJV) and sidebars.
(2) The FNV works hard to communicate key theological concepts in language that breaks through defenses. For First Nations people, those defenses are often erected to protect against the horrendous legacy of Indian Residential Schools, where Christianity was enforced and abusive. But for non-Indigenous folks who haven’t suffered those historic abuses, the gentle cadences of this version seem able to penetrate other defenses, like a tired or cynical faith that senses a disconnect between Jesus and contemporary North American Christianity.
Some examples of the FNV’s translation strategy: The gospel is “the Good Story.” No surprises there. “Messiah” and “Christ” become “the Chosen One.” Also easily understood. “Church” becomes “sacred family” — something which resonates strongly with Mennonite Brethren theology.
More startling is the FNV’s transposition of Jesus’ favourite self-designation: “Son of Man” (thus KJV, NIV, NLT, NRSV; even The Message doesn’t tweak this phrase). In the FNV we hear Jesus talk about “the True Human Being.” It takes some getting used to, but this is indeed good biblical theology.
So also is the FNV’s take on “Kingdom of God,” the centre of Jesus’ teaching and ministry. The English term “kingdom” rings with overtones of territory ruled, more than the power and influence of the ruler. And in the history of European Christendom, the emphasis on territory (and its conquest) has been a common practice and fatal flaw. The FNV avoids territorial language by linking the concept of God’s Reign more clearly to discipleship, i.e. following Jesus, via the biblical image of the path: “God’s Kingdom” becomes the “Good Road.”
One of the ways that the FNV carefully dismantles defenses is by honouring Indigenous ways of naming God. It will surprise most readers (and probably bother some) that the word “God” is not used, in favour of “Creator”, “the Great Spirit”, “the Great Mystery”, and so on. Yet these are theologically sound terms, which remind all readers of essential biblical aspects of the Deity. And — unlike “God” or “Jesus” or any variation on all things “holy” — I have never heard “Creator” used as an expletive. I find it refreshing to hear these untainted names for God.
(3) One specific dimension of the FNV’s Indigenous communication style that will strike the reader/ hearer most strongly is its practice of translating all names. This is, I believe, unique among English Bible translations. It is also one of the facets of the FNV that brings it closer to the experience of the original audiences than any other modern translation. Anyone who has spent time studying the Scriptures knows of the importance of naming. The FNV makes these connections beautifully clear, in ways that are theologically smart and well-grounded. Abraham is “Father of Many Nations”, Isaac is “He Made Us Laugh”; reading the gospel genealogies thus becomes quite a new adventure! But it is instructive to be reminded, for example, that God’s people is named “Wrestles With Creator” — as many Christians increasingly resonate with this dimension of the spiritual life. And most beautiful, in my estimation, is the One we come to know at the heart of the Good Story: Jesus is “Creator Sets Free” expressing the Hebrew “Yahweh saves” (Mt 1.21).
I said at the outset that the FNV is beautiful and important. I have spoken mostly of its beauty, as a vehicle of divine truth. But it is also important because it is, I suspect, the only English Bible that directly confronts its non-Indigenous readers in a way that Jesus also confronted his audience: with a challenge to hear and repent. The FNV’s dedication page includes this sentence: “We pray the FNV will bring healing to those who have suffered under the dominance of colonial governments who, with the help of churches and missionary organizations, often took our land, our languages, our cultures, and even our children.” It would be disingenuous for one to read the FNV without wrestling with this hard historical truth. I hope that the FNV might become a tool of renewal for Canadian churches, as we are called to practice the kind of repentance we regularly preach. And as the fruit of repentance, may we lean into the kind of reconciliation envisioned by our Master and Wisdom-keeper, and on that good road discover new ways that Creator sets us all free.
