Barclay Newman, Ph.D., a distinguished biblical scholar who had provided several decades of service as a translations consultant in the Asia Pacific Region of the United Bible Societies, first began to apply his considerable knowledge to his own first language-English. Habecker describes the origin of the version thus: We got it by their language, the way they speak, and do our translating accordingly." (1) In the Forward to the book Creating and Crafting the Contemporary English Version (1996), ABS President Eugene B.
We did a lot of research with persons who were not familiar with traditional biblical jargon, persons who are almost street people as a matter of fact, and then we tried to simply listen to the way that people speak. Newman explained in an interview that he and his assistants "did a lot of research with children. It was produced by employees of the American Bible Society (ABS) working under the direction of one of the Society's officers, Dr. It is similar to the Good News Bible previously published by the American Bible Society, though at a lower reading level. The Contemporary English Version is a simplified version of the Bible designed for children and uneducated adults (at a fourth grade reading level). Newman, ed., Holy Bible: Contemporary English Version. Contemporary English Version Bible Research > English Versions > 20th Century > CEVÄ«arclay M.