Posted on 03/12/2009 7:59:45 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
To millions of Americans fascinated by comic-book superheroes, Bill Jemas of Princeton is an industry legend who helped breathe life into Marvel Enterprises by pushing the wildly successful “Ultimate Spider-Man” series that rejuvenated the company.
These days, however, Jemas, a high-energy 51-year-old whose controversial four years as Marvel’s president remain fodder for comic-book blogs, finds himself engrossed in a task far removed from dialogue balloons.
Each morning before sunrise, for the last three years, the Rutgers and Harvard Law School graduate has labored over the Bible, specifically the Book of Genesis in Hebrew, the language in which it was first written.
His goal is to write an English translation of Genesis that is truer to the Hebrew text than are widely used English translations like the famed King James Version. He already has completed the first chapter, available online and in his book “Genesis Rejuvenated.”
By presenting alternative English definitions for Hebrew words to those chosen by KJV translators in 1611, he hopes that his internet-accessible “Freeware Bible,” as he calls his translation, will show readers that widely accepted Bible translations are inherently imperfect.
He acknowledges that this would be a gargantuan task even for a team of learned Bible scholars, let alone a man like himself without any formal theological training. And he knows that news of his endeavor will baffle comic-book fans who associate him more with Spider-Man and Wolverine than with Adam and Eve.
“People are used to the comics guy, the guy whose ideas just popped into (his) head,” Jemas said last month in the Princeton office of 360 Intellectual Equity, his five-year-old intellectual property firm. “This is a different discipline. … This is scholarly and detail-oriented. I haven’t done really detail-oriented work since I was a tax lawyer in my 20s.”
Training for Bible scholars typically includes many years of studying ancient languages like Hebrew, Aramaic and classical Greek, and involves study of whether translations should be verbatim or “thought for thought” so passages can be better understood by modern readers. Jemas’s language training is restricted to basic Hebrew and Aramaic learned since he began the project.
Yet his work on the first chapter in Genesis has won general approval of some religion professors who view it as a worthwhile endeavor even if it’s less groundbreaking than Jemas believes it is.
“There are already Hebrew dictionaries, and there are plenty of translations of Genesis,” said Bruce Chilton, a religion professor at Bard College in New York. “There are commentaries on Genesis. There are books on Genesis. But what Bill has done here that’s innovative is, he’s put the materials together in such a way that a beginning reader can see the Book of Genesis as being filled with possibilities of meaning, and not just limited to a single meaning.
“What he is doing here is opening up the world of Genesis so that the reader is encouraged to read word for word, understanding that we’re dealing with a major shift of language from Hebrew into English.”
Jemas, who was raised Roman Catholic, married a Jewish woman and now attends a Reconstructionist synagogue in Princeton. He said he makes no claim that his translation is more accurate than others. But he wants readers to consider the possibility that decisions of past English translators are not sacrosanct.
“This is really about a vision of divinity that is what I’ve been thinking about for most of my adult life,” said Jemas, who sent samples of his work to 200 scholars of religion. “People who want to believe that the only possible view of God is as a male human sitting up in heaven, it throws them. I’ve gotten a dozen angry letters.”
Jemas founded 360 Intellectual Equity after leaving Marvel Enterprises in 2004. Besides project creation, the firm also brokers licensing and sponsorship deals in the sports and entertainment businesses. It is the creative process, however, that he and his employees seem to find the most fun.
“Every day here is completely different,” said Farrah Gross, who holds the title of creative director. “I don’t know what to expect when I come in. (Jemas) comes in with some idea he came up with at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning and wants to go with it.”
Although Jemas has an eclectic work history, it was the Marvel job, from 2000 to 2004, that won him the most widespread recognition.
Before his arrival, Marvel faced a declining, aging fan base for its superheroes, who themselves had aged in storylines going back decades. Jemas pressed what became a financially lucrative effort to reimagine the superheroes as youngsters again, only with modern trappings.
For example, in “Ultimate Spider-Man,” Peter Parker worked part time as a webmaster for the Daily Bugle newspaper, rather than as a photographer as he did in the original Spider-Man series.
Iron Man, the Hulk and X-Men had similar remakes.
Jemas likened the initial response to the Ultimate series to responses by some readers of his Bible chapter who have been less than thrilled.
“When I announced we were going to turn the characters back into teen-agers, the response was vicious. Horrible. Angry. Childish,” he said. “If you pay attention to that, you lose sight of what you’re supposed to be doing.”
Each page of Jemas’ “Freeware Bible” so named because it is available to readers free online lists, in chart form, the Hebrew words of the first chapter of Genesis from the oldest known copy of the Hebrew Bible, corresponding English translations and synonyms, the word selected for the King James Version, and the word Jemas picks for what he says is a verbatim English translation.
Many of the differences between his and the King James Version seem subtle, but taken as a whole they lead to different understandings of well-known passages.
Take the first sentence of Genesis, for example. The first three words are widely translated as “beginning,” “created” and “God.” Jemas translates them as “principles,” “conceive” and “powers that be.”
Genesis in the King James Version starts out, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth,” whereas Jemas’s translation begins, “In principles the powers that be the universe conceive …”
To Jemas, choosing the word “principles” instead of “beginning” is significant, and lends itself to the ideas that principles are essential before moving ahead with anything, and the bottom-up idea, which he said he believes, that “God is the contribution of all of us.”
“Honestly, I’m nobody, but the word ‘principles’ is an inescapable translation of the first word of the Bible,” he said. “To see that was an immediate hit in the head. As far as anybody who’s had any scientific training, or has been involved in any serious organization, it’s always principles first, whether you’re writing music, whether you’re studying microbiology, when you’re doing an economic system, whether you’re writing a good comic book. There’s principles you follow. You follow principles and things work.”
Ann Marie Bahr, a religious studies professor at South Dakota State University, said that despite finding fault with some of Jemas’s methodologies, she finds his work worthwhile.
“Despite my qualms about whether he’s using the Hebrew language in the way a Hebrew scholar would,” Bahr said, “the product itself, to me, is unified philosophically and artistically, and that’s what makes me think he’s onto something.”
Whether the masses ultimately view Jemas as qualified or not, the project was something too fascinating to pass up. He hopes interest in it can finance future work translating future chapters, and eventually the entire Bible.
“I think I had to do it,” he said. “I don’t think you can find something that hits you that hard and not pursue it.”
God will be very happy...God said He would preserve His word forever...And finally, after thousands of years and hundreds of translations, God found someone who can get it right...
Genesis in the King James Version starts out,
“In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth,”
whereas Jemas’s translation begins,
“In principles the powers that be the universe conceive …”
Well let's see here...Which one is easier to undestand in the modern language???
And which one removes God from the bible??? What we have here is another anti-Christ...
Okay, I have finally toggled to what you meant.
"Before his arrival, Marvel faced a declining, aging fan base for its superheroes, who themselves had aged in storylines going back decades. Jemas pressed what became a financially lucrative effort to reimagine the superheroes as youngsters again, only with modern trappings."
Yes, I re-imaged my alter-ego central protagonist as a youngster again. It gave him a whole new set of problems to deal with, even though he still remembered his former life.
It gave me a chance to mull over the notions of life, death, and the possession of a soul.
That book, however, and the Bible, should never be on the same thread!
(Besides, she didn't walk on the water. She walked on the soap suds, slightly mashing them down before they sprang up again after her passage.)
I agree with this idea.
...the bottom-up idea, which he said he believes, that “God is the contribution of all of us.”
The word of God is whatever he wants it to mean. It's like shake N' bake chicken I guess - "An' Ah Helped!"
There are many Hebrew translations already extant within Judaism. It’s hard to think that what he’ll find is new.
I am in total agreement. With a plethora of English translations already available, where is there any need for another one?
Someday I fear having to give account to the Lord about why I wasn't more concerned for those people in the world that have no Bible.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.