Ronald F. Youngblood (August 10, 1931 – July 5, 2014) was an American biblical scholar and professor of

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

. In addition to being one of the original translators of the

New International Version The New International Version (NIV) is a translation of the Bible into contemporary English. Published by Biblica, the complete NIV was released on October 27, 1978, with a minor revision in 1984 and a major revision in 2011. The NIV relies ...

of the Bible, he was the general editor for ''Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', and on the editorial team for the ''Zondervan NASB Study Bible'', both of which earned the

ECPA Christian Book Award The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) is an international non-profit trade association whose member companies are involved in the publishing and distribution of Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres ...

for their respective publication years.

Background and education

Youngblood was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1931. He earned his

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

from

Valparaiso University Valparaiso University (Valpo) is a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana, United States. It is an independent Lutheran university with five colleges. It enrolls nearly 2,300 students and has a campus. The university is known for its Luthe ...

(1952), his B.D. from

Fuller Theological Seminary Fuller Theological Seminary is an Evangelical seminary in Pasadena, California, with regional campuses in the western United States. It is egalitarian in nature. Fuller has a student body of approximately 2,300 students from 90 countries and ...

(1955), and his Ph.D. from the

Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning or Dropsie University was a Jewish institution of higher learning in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was America's first degree-granting institution for post-doctoral Jewish studies. Funded by the ...

(1961). He was ordained in 1958 at Oxford Circle Baptist Church in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He died on July 5, 2014.

Career

Youngblood has been most closely associated with

Bethel Seminary Bethel University is a private university, private Baptists, Baptist Christianity, Christian university and seminary in Arden Hills, Minnesota, United States. It was founded in 1871 as a seminary and is affiliated with Converge (United States), ...

, first teaching at the St. Paul campus (1961–1978) and later at the San Diego campus (1982–2001). Youngblood first joined the

( NIV) translation team in 1970, and was invited to join the Committee on Bible Translation in 1976, a few years prior to its first complete publication in 1978. He continued to serve as a translator for the first major revision in 1984, and was executive editor for the

New International Reader's Version The New International Reader's Version (NIrV) is a translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Translated by the International Bible Society (now Biblica) following a similar philosophy as the New International Version (NIV), but written ...

(1995, 1998). Later, he played a significant role in the development of

Today's New International Version Today's New International Version (TNIV) is an English translation of the Bible which was developed by the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT). The CBT also developed the New International Version (NIV) in the 1970s. The TNIV is based on the N ...

. He has also served as chairman of the board of the

International Bible Society Biblica, formerly International Bible Society, was founded in 1809 and is the worldwide copyright holder of the New International Version of the Bible (NIV), licensing commercial rights to Zondervan in the United States and to Hodder & Stoughton ...

, and editor of the ''

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society The ''Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society'' (''JETS'') is a refereed theological journal published by the Evangelical Theological Society. It was first published in 1958 as the ''Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society'', and ...

'' (1976–1998). In 2003, a ''

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

'' was published in his honor. ''The challenge of Bible translation: communicating God's Word to the world : essays in honor of Ronald F. Youngblood'' included contributions from D.A. Carson, Dick France,

Andreas J. Köstenberger Andreas Johannes Köstenberger (born November 2, 1957) is an Austrian-American Biblical scholar, who was Research Professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Until 2018, he was Senior Research Professor of New Testament and Biblical Th ...

, Douglas J. Moo,

Moisés Silva Moisés Silva (born September 4, 1945) is a Cuban-born American biblical scholar and translator. Life He was born in Havana, Cuba, and has lived in the US since 1960. Education Silva holds degrees from Bob Jones University (BA, 1966), Westminste ...

, Mark L. Strauss, and Bruce K. Waltke.Glen G. Scorgie, Mark L. Strauss, Steven M. Voth (eds), ''The challenge of Bible translation: communicating God's Word to the world : essays in honor of Ronald F. Youngblood''.

Zondervan Zondervan is an international Christian media and publishing company located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States. Zondervan is a founding member of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). It is a part of HarperCollins, Ha ...

, 2003.

Selected publications

* ''The Heart of the Old Testament: A Survey of Key Theological Themes'' (1971, 1998) * ''The Genesis Debate: Persistent Questions about Creation and the Flood'' (1986) *

Books of Samuel The Book of Samuel () is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Book of Joshua, Joshua, Book of Judges, Judges, Samuel, and Books of ...

in the ''Expositor's Bible Commentary'' series (1992) * ''Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', with

F. F. Bruce Frederick Fyvie Bruce (12 October 1910 – 11 September 1990) was a Scottish Evangelicalism, evangelical scholar, author and educator who was Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at the University of Manchester from 1959 until 1 ...

and R. K. Harrison (1995) *In progress:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Youngblood, Ronald F. 1931 births 2014 deaths 20th-century American translators American academic journal editors American biblical scholars Bethel University (Minnesota) faculty Bible commentators Fuller Theological Seminary alumni Old Testament scholars Translators of the Bible into English Trinity International University faculty Valparaiso University alumni Wheaton College (Illinois) faculty