David Bentley Hart and John 1:1

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I am really enjoying my copy of David Bentley Hart's New Testament. In my estimation it is one the better translations of the New Testament in recent years. It is certainly better than its rival, NT Wright's Kingdom New Testament.

As my readers know, i am fascinated by John 1:1 and how it is translated, as I feel the traditional rendering leaves much to be desired.

David Bentley Hart's New Testament 2017 reads at John 1:1 "In the origin there was the Logos, and the Logos was present with GOD, and the Logos was god." (Notice the word "god" in small letters in the last clause.)

However, I discovered in his earlier work, "Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies" he actually writes:

"As a general rule, the 'articular' form ho Theos—literally, 'the God'—was a title reserved for God Most High or God the Father, while only the 'inarticular' form theos was used to designate this secondary divinity. This distinction, in fact, was preserved in the prologue to John, whose first verse could justly be translated as: 'In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was a god.'"

It's unfortunate that DBH felt he had to tone it down for his New Testament translation.

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