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The Bible and Jehovah’s Witnesses

The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, or the Jehovah’s Witnesses, is a millenarian religion within the Christian tradition tracing its origins back to late nineteenth-century America and the teachings of Charles Taze Russell (1852–1916). By millenarian in this context, I mean a religious movement that fixates on end-times themes including the judgment of the wicked and the vindication of the righteous, and I locate the group within the Christian tradition only in the loosest sense. In their own teachings, they are unambiguous about their independence from all other faiths: “We are an international organization unaffiliated with other religious groups.”1 Jehovah’s Witnesses stand apart from other Christian movements in many ways but three in particular deserve notice. First, Russell and a number of writers informing his thought believed most churches throughout history to be erroneous on matters of doctrine.2 For this reason, and because they reject the historical creeds and refuse to entertain any ecumenical dialogue, Watch Tower interpretation of the Bible is idiosyncratic in many respects. They are a reform movement, but they do not seek to work inside the Christian tradition to obtain their reformation. Theirs is a complete break with other religionists reading the Old and New Testaments. Second, a strong fixation on eschatological cataclysm characterizes the movement. There is a sustained energy and fervency to Jehovah’s Witnesses’ proselytizing efforts and a tendency to underscore “last days” themes, including a penchant for assigning dates to looming apocalyptic events. This sets Watch Tower biblical interpretation apart from most Bible-reading communities, with only rare equivalents in other contemporary Christian movements. Third, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society is “top down” and hierarchical with respect to organizational and doctrinal matters. Bible reading and exegesis for Jehovah’s Witnesses is not a matter of independent study by individuals or local communities gathered in neighborhood Kingdom Halls (their local places of worship). It involves, rather, engagement with scripture guided by the Society’s Brooklyn-based Governing Body through their prolific publishing efforts, which includes numerous books, pamphlets, web-based articles (see http://www.jw.org), and widely distributed magazines such as Awake! and The Watchtower. (p. 646) For these and other reasons, and given that the organization frequently defines itself over and against traditional Christianity, comparisons of Jehovah’s Witnesses with other Bible-based belief systems potentially mislead. There are overlaps with the beliefs of mainstream, traditional Christianity to be sure—God as creator, humanity’s sinfulness, the writings of the prophets and apostles as inspired scripture, the resurrection of Jesus, a coming judgment—but in many other respects their beliefs and praxis are quite distinct from Christianity as defined by the historic creeds and practiced by contemporary churches. The focus of this chapter is the place of the Bible in the belief system and worldview of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. A few pages is hardly space enough to do justice to more than a century of doctrinal developments, so I gravitate toward a few examples of where and how Jehovah’s Witnesses differ from historic, traditional Christianity in their understandings of the Bible. Before proceeding further, however, a brief caveat is in order.

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Scholarship There is a lot of excellent scholarly work discussing the Jehovah’s Witnesses from a range of disciplinary perspectives. For instance, historians naturally discuss the origins of the movement in the context of nineteenth-century American millenarianism, and legal specialists examine the implications of their disengagement from politics and refusal to serve in the military in terms of constitutional concerns centered on freedom of religious expression.3 Scholars interested in medical practice and ethics have focused on the Witnesses’ refusal to accept blood transfusions (especially when parents make decisions about the care of children), and sociologists study the makeup of the community and its behaviors within the societies where they congregate and proselytize.4 But when it comes to religious studies, and more specifically, biblical and theological studies, there is a conspicuous dearth of scholarly treatment. Studies in comparative religion necessarily include some treatment of the movement.5 It is not large compared to the major world religions (according to their own numbers, there are 8,220,105 Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide6). That said, they are well established in many countries and language groups, have an enormous publishing operation, a robust Internet presence, and an aggressive proselytizing culture that means their distinctive teachings circulate widely and persistently. Standard textbooks and encyclopedias usually include at least a cursory overview.7 Most publications that do analyze their beliefs tend to be polemical and produced by ex-members or those wanting to convert Witnesses to other faith traditions (often Christian fundamentalism). There seems to be no end of such books, challenging the organization’s interpretations and often ridiculing parts of the movement’s story, particularly their date-specific eschatological speculations. The term “cult” often appears in such literature with all the negative baggage that term carries.8 With respect to scholarly research into the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ reading of the Bible, there is relatively little dispassionate enquiry. I suspect there are at least three reasons for this. First, Jehovah’s Witnesses rarely engage non-member biblical scholarship. There is no formal representation of the group within the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) or the (p. 647) American Academy of Religion (AAR), or within its affiliates. These are the largest professional societies of biblical and religious studies in the world, and the great majority of biblically based religious traditions participate in SBL or AAR, so the non-participation of Jehovah’s Witnesses is conspicuous. For the most part, the only time Jehovah’s Witnesses discuss the Bible with non-members is in the context of their proselytizing efforts. Second, publications produced by the Watch Tower reveal a deep suspicion of, and often open hostility toward, biblical scholarship outside the organization. They occasionally cite non-Watchtower scholarly works in support of arguments, though such choices for outside support show a clear preference for older publications. In general, Jehovah’s Witnesses are dismissive and condemning of outside scholarship, often calling it the work of “worldly commentators.”9 Finally, there is the challenge of examining the ideas of a group that is somewhat closed and secretive. Their publications, including their New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, do not identify the authors and translators involved, a practice started in 1942.10 A consequence of this anonymity is that any evaluative remarks by reviewers potentially come across as a criticism of the entire religion. This presents a dilemma for modern academic study because conventionally responding to, and dialoguing with, a signed paper or book amounts to a conversation with the author or authors. When the entire organization or at least its leadership is the de facto “author” of the magazine, pamphlet, book, or Bible translation in question, the perception of religious intolerance is inevitably a risk. A quick note about nomenclature is also in order. Although most know the religious tradition discussed here by the name Jehovah’s Witnesses, the legal names of the organization are confusing. Early on, as the movement grew, there was a need to formalize the association of like-minded congregations. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania (incorporated 1884) “long remained the primary publishing and administrative organization of the men who oversaw the affairs of the Bible Student–Jehovah’s Witnesses.” In 1939, The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Incorporated (note the spelling variation) “became the primary owner of Witness properties in the United States and was used to direct the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout the world.”11 For convenience, as this is not an attempt to tell the full story of the movement but rather a consideration of their use of the Bible, I usually use various terms interchangeably, without attempts to distinguish different periods of the group’s evolution over the last century and a half. These include Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, the Watch Tower, the Bible Student movement, the movement, or the organization. Furthermore, my approach is largely synchronic, focusing on teachings reflected in recent publications, as opposed to a more diachronic approach that would trace the development of their ideas over the decades.12

The Bible and the Jehovah’s Witnesses As noted, a comprehensive introduction to this topic is not possible in such a brief chapter, so what follows are a few specific illustrations of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society’s interpretation of the Bible along with general observations about tendencies within their exegesis. As much as possible I draw on material published by the organization and (p. 648) available at https://www.jw.org. Any publications listed without page numbers come from that website. Finding Its Story within Biblical Literature: The Appeal to Analogy and Prophecy Perhaps the best place to begin is with a deeply entrenched assumption that gives a distinctive shape to most biblical interpretation by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Jehovah’s Witnesses are adamant that they alone possess the truth. They believe that God speaks directly to them through scripture as interpreted by the organization’s theocratic hierarchy. All other religions, including Jewish and Christian traditions relying on the Old and New Testaments, misunderstand or reject Jehovah’s message for the world. Although its history is relatively short, with 1879—the year Russell first published Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence, later renamed The Watchtower—usually identified as its beginning, the Bible Student movement of the late nineteenth century (as it was then called) and its subsequent growth represents the fruition, a latter-day response, to revelation signaling the approaching end of Jehovah’s work in the world. The prophets themselves anticipate the events culminating in the Bible Student movement and the teachings of its founding members, and here we find a key hermeneutical lens employed often by Jehovah’s Witnesses. We see it in two ways. First, if Jehovah’s faithful prophets and apostles embody appropriate responses to divine revelation and obedience within a sinful world, it follows that their true heirs ought to resemble them in various respects. For this reason, we find numerous appeals to analogy within the Society’s publications. Jeremiah was a faithful prophet called by Jehovah (Jer. 1:7) who suffered because of obedience to the divine mandate, so naturally the call and experiences of Jehovah’s faithful representatives in the modern world resemble Jeremiah’s life experience. As one study of this prophet succinctly puts it: “There are many parallels between Jeremiah’s assignment and the public ministry of Jehovah’s Witnesses today. Like him, you serve the true God during a time of judgment.”13 Presumably, the analogy reinforces a sense of identity among Witnesses, fostering a self-understanding that has them part of a faithful remnant reaching back to antiquity. Comments about Jeremiah’s faithful scribe Baruch provide another such occasion connecting past and present: If we were to cultivate a strong attachment to material things, it could be hard for us to apply Jesus’ words. But do not forget—Baruch took to heart God’s warning and stayed alive as a result. Consider the situation of the brothers in Romania during the Communist regime. While raiding the homes of Witnesses, government agents sometimes seized personal belongings . . . still, they kept their integrity to Jehovah.14 Such easy linkages between Bible stories and present-day experience, the constant paralleling of Witnesses with the ancients, serve a pedagogical end. Most if not all Watch Tower publications include leading questions that invite readers to draw out life lessons from biblical stories: “How did Jehovah kindly correct Baruch’s inclination to seek ‘great things’? Why do you feel that accepting divine correction is wise?”15 (p. 649) Along with constant appeal to analogy, the second way the Bible anticipates and links directly to Jehovah’s Witnesses is through passages referring specifically to events in the movement’s history. This phenomenon started early with some Bible Students concluding Charles Taze Russell was the “discreet slave whom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time,” mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 24:45. This reading changed in later years. They now understand Jesus’s words to indicate the 144,000, a group sometimes referred to as the slave class (Rev. 7:4–8, 14:1–3). As one publication puts it, the discreet slave is “a small group of anointed brothers who are directly involved in preparing and dispensing spiritual food during Christ’s presence,” which began, according to Watch Tower chronology, in 1914. Soon after that, in 1919, “Jesus selected capable anointed brothers to be his faithful and discreet slave,” individuals that are part of the 144,000 faithful servants. “In keeping with Jesus’ pattern of feeding many through the hands of a few,” the explanation continues, “that slave is made up of a small group of anointed brothers who are directly involved in preparing and dispensing spiritual food during Christ’s presence. Throughout the last days, the anointed brothers who make up the faithful slave have served together at [the Brooklyn] headquarters.”16 Another interesting example of reading the movement’s activities and history into the pages of scripture is their interpretation of the trumpet blasts described in Revelation 8:1–9 and 11:15–19. Their official commentary of John’s apocalypse aligns these passages with a series of Bible Student conventions held between 1922 and 1928: “When the sounding of the seven trumpets got under way in 1922, the Bible Students’ convention at Cedar Point, Ohio, featured a talk by the president of the Watch Tower Society, J. F. Rutherford . . . . The trumpet blast of the seventh angel was reflected in highlights of the Bible Students’ convention in Detroit, Michigan, July 30–August 6, 1928.”17 Visual Aids and Biblical Interpretation Most publications from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society are readily recognizable by their use of pictures, something more important for understanding their engagement with the Bible than may first appear. On occasion, there are photographs of members from bygone days, but more often than not, publications include simple, cartoon-like (and rather unattractive) drawings that represent biblical characters and scenes, or illustrate various lessons taken from them.18 These visuals inevitably mediate the “experience” of the Bible for Jehovah’s Witnesses and reinforce certain values and interpretations. For instance, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the world to be evil and under the rule of Satan, so many of these pictures serve to underline this assumption. Representations of nonbelievers tend to involve markers of worldliness, such as alcohol, cigarettes, violence, and promiscuous behavior. If Witnesses appear in such scenes, they are objects of ridicule because they choose not to participate in sinful activities. These published drawings also reinforce the urgency to respond to the Gospel and remain faithful to it, so they are important for the organization’s proselytizing efforts and self-regulation. Pictures of cemeteries, war, poverty, environmental disasters, and the like remind readers that humanity is in desperate straits, unable to deliver itself from cataclysm, and in need of divine rescue. (p. 650) The drawings demarcate Jehovah’s Witnesses from other belief systems as well. Religious leaders in ecclesial regalia or other markings of the world’s diverse religions serve as indicators of demonic activity. They also highlight particular interpretive emphases that distinguish Jehovah’s Witnesses from other parts of Christendom. Pictures of Jesus’s crucifixion, for instance, always show him on a single post or stake, reinforcing their claim that the Greek word stauros in the New Testament does not indicate two pieces of crossed wood but rather an upright post. This curious detail arises from concern that the cross is an idolatrous symbol of pagan origin, and that use of it by Christians is a late development, originating in the days of Constantine. In support, they observe that the Greek word xylon (stick, timber, tree) also appears in some passages with reference to Jesus’s execution (e.g., Acts 5:30, 10:39, 13:29; Gal. 3:13; 1 Pet. 2:24), a word indicating a single piece of wood.19 This seemingly minor detail about the appearance of the device used by Jesus’s Roman executors deserves further comment because their rejection and condemnation of Christianity’s ubiquitous cross, combined with pictorial depictions of the single post in their literature, clearly demarcates Jehovah’s Witnesses from others in rather striking fashion. Disdain for the cross symbol emerged in the 1930s. Before that, Bible Students wore a badge with a cross in a crown, and the same symbol appeared on the front cover of some Watch Tower publications. This practice changed in 1936, however, when “it was pointed out that the evidence indicates that Christ died on a stake, not a two-beamed cross.”20 Furthermore, any executed man “hung . . . upon a stake” is “accursed of God” (Deut. 21:22–23), a passage Paul cites with reference to Christ (Gal. 3:13). Since this is the case, “it would not be proper for Christians to decorate their homes with images of Christ on a cross.”21 The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ unique New World Translation version of the Bible reflects this position by avoiding the term “cross”: Then Jesus said to his disciples: “If anyone wants to come after me, let him disown himself and pick up his torture stake and keep following me.” (Matt. 16:24) And again: So they took charge of Jesus. Bearing the torture stake for himself, he went out to the so-called Skull Place . . . . There they nailed him to the stake. (John 19:17–18) Regardless of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ assertion in these passages that there is “no evidence that the Greek word meant a cross,”22 the word “torture” in these and other passages of their New World Translation has no basis in the Greek text. This avoidance of the word “cross” and disdain for iconography using that symbol, serve to differentiate Jehovah’s Witnesses from Christian groups that do, particularly Roman Catholics. An Illustration of Watch Tower Society Interpretation: The 144,000 of Revelation Watch Tower Society exegesis is at times literal, at times allegorical, but it always appeals to a complex cross-referencing system. The Society makes this hermeneutical practice clear when it states: “If the surrounding verses do not make the meaning of a particular statement (p. 651) clear, compare that statement with others in the Bible that discuss the same subject. In this way, we let the Bible, not personal opinion, guide our thinking.”23 The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ interpretation, thus, has a certain leveling quality. It pays little attention to the distinctive message of, say, Matthew in contrast to Mark. All scripture speaks with one voice and the particular nuances of individual authors or texts are a nonissue. To read one writer is to read them all. Interpretation of the Bible means fitting the individual puzzle pieces together so the larger picture emerges. The stress is always on the larger picture, not the smaller pieces. The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ interpretation of Revelation 7 and 14 illustrates some of these tendencies. Here one finds some of the most fascinating teachings of the movement and a window into the Witnesses’ understanding of the true community of faith. Their conclusions are so unlike other interpretations of these chapters that a closer look is rewarding. (a) As is often the way with Watch Tower Bible teaching, interpretation of one passage begins with another. Two important remarks by Jesus are critical to an understanding of the 144,000 mentioned in the Book of Revelation. The first is Luke 12:32 and specifically, the identity of those he addresses: “Have no fear, little flock, for your Father has approved of giving you the Kingdom” (italics added). The second is John 14:2 concerning Jesus’s promise concerning his Father’s house: “I am going my way to prepare a place for you.” There is, argues the Watch Tower, a small group, a little flock distinct from the larger community of those following Jesus. The disciples are among them. It is this “little flock,” a select few, that comprises the 144,000 mentioned in the Book of Revelation. The 144,000 who have the seal of God on their foreheads mentioned in Revelation 7 and 14 are “faithful followers of Jesus Christ specially chosen to rule in heaven with him.”24 The number is literal, not symbolic, and refers to an “actual heavenly government with a King—Jesus Christ—and 144,000 corulers.”25 Elsewhere the literature refers to them as “underpriests” and “the Israel of God.”26 Paul and Timothy are among this select group: “if we go on enduring, we will also rule together as kings; if we deny, he will also deny us” (2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 5:10). (b) The selection of the 144,000, a number that includes Jesus’s faithful apostles, began at Pentecost and continues through to the present. Speculation about when the gathering of the full number is to be completed is an ongoing question among Witnesses, with views changing over the decades. Russell taught the gathering ended in 1881 and later President Joseph. F. Rutherford identified 1935 as the critical date.27 Subsequent publications indicate the number of chosen ones remains incomplete: “Those few remaining ones of the 144,000 who die in our day are instantly resurrected to life in heaven.”28 However, 1935 remains significant in relation to the 144,000 because since that year, “a growing great crowd of other sheep has heard their triumphant song and been moved to join with them in publicizing God’s Kingdom.” More specifically, “at a historic convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . emphasis was shifted to the ingathering of a great crowd with earthly life prospects.”29 Here we see a distinction among different classes of Jehovah’s faithful witnesses; while the vast majority awaits resurrection to an earthly paradise, only a comparative few await a heavenly one. (p. 652) (c) The calculation of important dates based on biblical numbers is a long-standing tradition among Jehovah’s Witnesses. A number of claims regarding Jehovah’s work in the world attached to specific years illustrate the presupposition that the Bible is a book of hidden, but ultimately, decipherable meanings. These calculations are also pertinent to an understanding of the 144,000 because they are to be co-rulers with Christ in the anticipated new world. If scripture reveals the timing of the latter, it does also for the gathering of the former. The year 1914 is particularly important in Jehovah’s Witnesses’ eschatology. Their arguments about its significance stem from the meaning of Jesus’s words in Luke 21:24: “Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations until the appointed times of the nations are fulfilled.” In short, this verse indicates the time between the overthrow of the house of David and the coming of Jesus as King in 1914, a period of 2,520 years.30 Although Charles Taze Russell maintained 1914 would be the end of the present world, later Society publications necessarily backed away from that interpretation to one a little more defensible, namely that the year marked the beginning of the last days.31 The logic behind setting dates based on biblical writings is problematic for many reasons, but the calculations leading to 1914 as either the date for the end of the present world or the beginning of the last days rests on the (highly contentious) claim that the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in 607 b.c.e. This date appears constantly in Watch Tower literature,32 including the 2013 revision of The New World Translation.33 Much rests on assigning the fall of the city to this date: From the mid-1870’s, Jehovah’s people had been anticipating that catastrophic events would start in 1914 and would mark the end of the Gentile Times. This is the period of ‘seven times’ (2,520 years) running from the overthrow of the Davidic kingdom in Jerusalem in 607 b.c.e. to Jesus’ enthronement in heavenly Jerusalem in 1914 c.e.34 In 1914, God’s heavenly kingdom commenced, with Christ established as King with his co-rulers at his side (Rev. 14:1, 4). John’s vision of the birth of a male child in Revelation 12 indicates “the birth of God’s Kingdom in 1914.” The removal of Satan from heaven (Rev. 12:9) accounts for the horrendous violence of that time (i.e., the outbreak of World War I) because Satan’s “ouster” from heaven means “woe for the literal earth.”35 (d) Somewhat unexpectedly for those not familiar with the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ worship life, the interpretation of Revelation 7 and 14 and the image of the 144,000 have implications for the practice of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus refers to the bread as his body and the wine as “my blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out in behalf of many for forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:26–28). This ritual of wine makes it possible to be clean in the eyes of God and enter the new covenant with Jehovah (Heb. 9:14; 10:16–17). But it is not for everyone: “This covenant, or contract, makes it possible for 144,000 faithful Christians to go to heaven.” Only those in the new covenant, “that is, those who have the hope of going to heaven—should partake of the bread and the wine.” This is an interesting, almost mystical way of thinking about the sacred meal because the Jehovah’s Witnesses maintain, “God’s holy spirit convinces such ones that they have been selected to be heavenly kings.”36 When the faithful gather (p. 653) at Kingdom Halls once a year to celebrate the Lord’s Evening Meal (as they call it), most if not all are there only as “respectful observers,” not partakers, as “only a few thousand worldwide profess to have the heavenly hope.”37 The Bible and the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Contemporary Society The Bible is the word of God for Jehovah’s Witnesses, so naturally it serves as the basis for questions of ethics and expressions of piety. While the previous section identifies a few ways their distinctive theological and doctrinal conclusions employ scripture, this section considers ways the interpretation of certain passages shapes the community’s interactions with the outside world. In a number of ways, these interpretations differ sharply from those of other Christian groups that read the same texts. The Jehovah’s Witnesses thus use their scriptural interpretations to separate themselves from those they consider to be of Babylon and the harlot of Revelation. Certain beliefs result in uneasy relationships between individual adherents and the wider, non-Watch Tower community. The historian of religion Joseph Zygmunt reflects on their determination to maintain a polarity between themselves and the world, and the organization’s practice of cultivating various “marks of distinctiveness, to put greater symbolic distance between itself and the world.”38 The interpretation of the Bible is simply one way they maintain their separation from society. There are numerous examples of Watch Tower biblical interpretations that have repercussions for the movement’s interactions with non-Witnesses. Witnesses do not recognize the Christian Calendar. They do not mark Christmas because the early church did not do so, the exact date of Jesus’s birth is unknown, and there was a pagan Roman festival associated with December 25. Similar reasoning applies to Easter (“It is rooted in pagan worship”), New Year’s celebrations, and Halloween.39 They do not celebrate birthdays either.40 The organization’s views on the sacredness of blood and their extension of prohibitions about consuming it (Gen. 9:3–4; Lev. 17:13–14; Acts 15:28–29, 21:25) to blood transfusions is highly contentious. This position often pushes the limits of religious freedom in certain jurisdictions, especially when children are involved. That said, despite repeated insistence on the importance of this issue, and frequent claims that “faithful servants of God firmly resolve to follow his direction regarding blood [and] will not eat it in any form,”41 there is no expectation that Witnesses be vegan. Consequently, the prohibition against the consumption of blood sometimes involves ambiguities in practice.42 Jehovah’s Witnesses view the state and patriotism with great disdain. Their theology identifies governments as instruments of the Devil. They refuse to salute the flag, sing national anthems, or participate in the military. Watch Tower exegesis reinforces this anti-state bias. This is particularly explicit in the oft-repeated claim that the beast with ten horns in the Book of Revelation (13:1, 17:3, 5, 11) is the United Nations.43 The reading of Revelation 17:8 (“The wild beast that you saw was, but is not, and yet is about to ascend out of the abyss, and it is to go off into destruction”) illustrates how Watch Tower interpretation allows for (p. 654) literal, specific, and identifiable fulfillments of the language of the apostles and prophets. Here, the beast that “was” refers to the League of Nations (established 1920), a union that dissolved during World War II. The beast ascending out of the abyss indicates a new satanic organization: “On June 26, 1945, with noisy fanfare in San Francisco, U.S.A., 50 nations voted to accept the Charter of the United Nations organization . . . . The UN, then, is actually a revival of the scarlet-colored wild beast.”44

The New World Translation As the organization’s very name suggests, scripture is central to the activities of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Jehovah’s Witnesses also recognize proclamation of the Gospel and proselytizing as their raison d’être: “Perhaps nothing distinguishes us as much as our extensive preaching work—from house to house, in public places, and wherever people are found.”45 Following from these two emphases, Jehovah’s Witnesses place high value on publishing Bibles and printing literature explaining God’s message to the world. The official website and numerous publications frequently highlight the numbers of magazines and other items produced and distributed, as an evidence of the organization’s faithfulness in fulfilling the Great Commission. Early on, the emphasis was on publishing and distributing Bibles as opposed to printing and binding them. They used many translations, “working out specifications, providing valuable supplementary features,” and then arranging with commercial firms to produce the books.46 In 1926, they began printing and binding their own materials in Brooklyn, New York. Whereas the earliest decades of the movement’s history focused on distributing the Bible, there was a growing awareness of the need to circulate a correct Bible. Suspicions of corruption in the text and the influence of paganism on Christianity (like the use of the terms “Trinity” and “cross”) are frequent themes in their literature, and this is no less true for the history of Bible translation as they see it. By the mid-twentieth century, the need for a Bible free of theological distortion was a priority: Was there really a need for another translation? Already at that time [the 1940s], the complete Bible had been published in 190 languages, and at least part of it had been translated into 928 additional languages and dialects. Jehovah’s Witnesses have at various times used most of these translations. But the fact is that most of these were made by clergymen and missionaries of Christendom’s religious sects, and to varying degrees their translations were influenced by the pagan philosophies and unscriptural traditions that their religious systems had inherited from the past . . . . Jehovah’s Witnesses wanted a translation . . . not colored by the creeds and traditions of Christendom.47 Although they continue to use other versions—the full text of the King James or Authorized Version (1611), the American Standard Version (1901), and the Bible in Living English (1972) are all available on the official website—their concerns resulted in a new, highly distinctive publication. Jehovah’s Witnesses now have their own Bible translation.48 The full New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures first appeared in English in 1961 and the latest edition in 2013.49 The Appendix A1 in the New World Translation outlines some of its general characteristics, (p. 655) although it does not mention a few emendations introduced to the most recent edition. For instance, the New World Translation omits the shorter and longer endings of the Gospel of Mark (16:9–20), whereas these verses appeared in previous New World Translation editions with notes explaining variants in the manuscript tradition as is typical of modern English Bibles. Earlier New World Translation editions also included the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53–8:11), though relegating the passage to a footnote with an explanation of manuscript discrepancies. The 2013 edition cuts the episode entirely. Such decisions indicate a high degree of confidence on the part of Watch Tower leaders in their ability to reconstruct an authoritative biblical text. There are frequent criticisms of other Bible translations in Watch Tower publications, as in the oft-repeated concern that modern Bibles “sacrifice faithfulness to God’s message in favor of following human traditions . . . by replacing God’s personal name, Jehovah, with titles such as Lord or God.”50 This use of the term “Jehovah” in both testaments is perhaps the most striking feature of the New World Translation. The convention of using LORD for YHWH in modern English Bibles has its origin with the Masoretes of the sixth through tenth centuries who introduced vowel marks to help preserve pronunciations of the consonantal Hebrew text. To avoid speaking the divine name, they applied the vowels for adonai (lord) to the Tetragrammaton. Although the actual pronunciation is uncertain, it is conventional to read and spell the Tetragrammaton with the vowels of adonai as Yahweh, or, as Witnesses prefer, Jehovah. The use of this spelling and pronunciation in the New Testament (often rendering the Greek word kurios, lord, as Jehovah) is unusual and reflects foundational beliefs. Jehovah’s Witnesses are not Trinitarian and there are occasions when this theological presupposition determines their translation decisions. Acts 7:59–60 is a case in point: As they were stoning Stephen, he made this appeal: “Lord [Kurie] Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then, kneeling down, he cried out with a strong voice: “Jehovah [Kurie], do not charge this sin against them.” The translators assume these two uses of kurios (lord) in close proximity represent two different entities, the first Jesus and the second Jehovah. The first vocative unambiguously refers to Jesus because that name appears alongside it, but why translate the second Kurie as “Jehovah” instead of Lord? A note at this second Kurie in the 2013 edition of The New World Translation (but not the 1984 edition) directs readers to the Appendix titled, “The Divine Name in the Christian Greek Scriptures.”51 Here readers find the suggestion that “Bible scholars” and the “translators” of other versions of the Bible misunderstand “the original Greek manuscripts” of the New Testament. The misunderstanding in question concerns the history behind extant manuscripts of the New Testament. Earlier manuscripts, the Appendix claims, used the name Jehovah, not kurios (lord). Said differently, the appearance of the second Kurie in the passage above is a corruption of the (now lost) original form of the text. The New World Translation is thus a corrective restoration reflecting the biblical text’s original wording. Bible scholars acknowledge that God’s personal name, as represented by the Tetragrammaton . . . appears almost 7,000 times in the original text of the Hebrew Scriptures [i.e., the Old Testament]. However, many feel that it did not appear in the original text of the Christian Greek Scriptures. For this reason, most modern English Bibles do not use the name Jehovah when translating the so-called New Testament. (p. 656) The translators of the New World Translation, by contrast, introduce the term “Jehovah” 237 times to the New Testament on the assumption the Tetragrammaton “did appear in the original Greek manuscripts,” and that later copyists—those responsible for the extant manuscripts on which all translations depend—substituted “Lord” for Yahweh/Jehovah.52 Luke’s language in Acts 7:60 is one such example. Appealing to an “original” manuscript that no longer exists, of course, is not likely to convince many. It seems likely that changing kurios to Jehovah in Acts 7:60 helps safeguard against deifying Jesus by making it clear that Stephen is not praying to Jesus alone. In Watch Tower theology, Jesus is not divine, nor is the Holy Spirit. The non-Trinitarian theology of Jehovah’s Witnesses informs the language of the New World Translation in various other passages as well. Watch Tower publications frequently point out that the word “Trinity” does not appear in the Bible and that it is, in fact, a term that only appears later in the Christian Church’s (by then corrupted) history. Jehovah’s Witnesses maintain Jesus is a created being and so the translation reflects this in the much-discussed rendering of the anarthrous theos of John 1:1 (“the Word was with God, and the Word was a god,” italics added) and the presentation of Colossians 1:16–20: by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth. . . . All [other] things have been created through him and for him. Also, he is before all [other] things and by means of him all [other] things were made to exist . . . through him to reconcile again to himself all [other] things by making peace through the blood.53 I cite the latter from the 1984 edition of the New World Translation, which includes the brackets because there is no equivalent to “other” in the Greek text. It is interesting to find the 2013 revision omits these brackets entirely in these verses. Readers simply see “all other things,” the effect of which is to reinforce the view that Jesus is simply one of many things God created. Or consider the translation of Psalm 2:12, another instance of this preference for language that resists Trinitarian interpretation: Kiss the son, that He may not become incensed (Ps. 2:12a; New World Translation , 1984)

Honor the son, or God will become indignant (Ps. 2:12a; New World Translation, 2013) Translators of the newer version incorporate here a small change in order to prevent readers from making a theological misstep by confusing the created son with the divine God.54 This care to avoid possible Trinitarian confusions shows up in various places. Another example is 1 Peter 1:11 where the phrase “spirit of Christ” in the 1984 edition becomes simply “spirit” in the 2013 edition.