Encouraging Results - OBT vs Audio Bible
Encouraging Results - OBT vs Audio Bible
Simple changes can lead to dramatic results. Our oral Bible translation of Luke 15 focused on highlighting the Bible’s artistry, which resulted in substantially higher audience comprehension, recall, and emotional engagement compared to a leading audio Bible recording of the NIV.
This third and final email summarizing my recent publication with Heather Beal (1) surveys the highlights of our test results and (2) highlights the implications the results have for Christian ministry.
Our testing method and participants
For testing our translation, we had a total of 47 participants ranging in age from 14 to over 55. We tested their comprehension of Luke 15 using two different surveys, one administered in person and another available online. In both surveys, we randomly assigned our participants to listen to our draft or to the NIV. Neither group knew whether they were listening to our translation or the NIV until after the test.
Here is a description of the two testing formats:
- In person, we tested Luke 15 with several groups, totaling eighteen people. We first played the recordings and sat silently, making note of their body language as they listened. We then asked them a pre-determined set of questions and recorded their responses.
- Online, the listeners listened to the recording, read our questions, and typed their responses.
(You can listen to our Oral Bible Translation draft of Luke 15 here)
We could not survey enough people to make statistical claims about their understanding. There were, however, enough participants to identify common trends.
Results
The results of our survey helped us answer our central question, namely, do people understand the message of Luke 15 better from our translation than from a leading audio Bible?
The answer lies in three factors:
- intellectual engagement,
- emotional engagement,
- and making key connections.
Intellectual Engagement
We measured our respondents’ intellectual engagement both by their self-reported focus levels while listening to the passage and by how well they could recall the passage in its entirety.
Even though the audio Bible reader was quite engaging, many participants still reported frequently “spacing out” for substantial portions of the passage. Those who listened to our translation reported only being distracted for short portions, and “only once or twice” at that.
How closely people could pay attention to the draft was also reflected in how well they recalled the passage. Many people who listened to the NIV audio Bible could not accurately retell even the main components of Luke 15. Most people who listened to our Oral Bible Translation accurately retold the whole passage. There was even a young woman who had never heard the story of the prodigal son before. Immediately after listening to our translation, she retold the entire chapter almost verbatim, using many of our translation choices. That young woman then articulated the passage’s main message more accurately than several seasoned Christians who listened to the NIV. While spectacular, her intellectual engagement was not unusual for our translation.
Conclusion: Our translation was a clear winner in the focus test and in the area of total recall.
Emotional engagement
We measured our respondents’ intellectual engagement through their body language while listening to the passage and how they responded to our questions.
We watched our participants as they listened to both the audio Bible and our translation. Blank stares characterized those who listened to the NIV audio Bible. Those who listened to our translation were fully engaged, smiling during the happy parts and looking horrified or disgusted when the older son rudely speaks to his father at the end. They also retold the story and answered subsequent questions with more passion than those who listened to the NIV.
Those who filled out the survey online also showed higher emotional engagement with our translation. When asked to describe the translation, their descriptions of our Oral Bible Translation were longer and contained more adjectives and adverbs. The descriptions for the NIV audio Bible were generally short and had few, if any, adjectives or adverbs.
Conclusion: Our translation was also a clear winner in emotion engagement, as evidenced by body language and verbal responses.
Key Connections
We measured whether our respondents made key connections by how frequently they mentioned central themes of the passage and the similarity between the older brother and the Pharisees.
Concerning key themes of the passage, people who listened to our version often spoke of “celebrating” when people came to know Christ. Those who listened to the audio Bible did not discuss this as much. They more often connected the passage to broader, and at times less salient, biblical themes.
Those who listened to our version were also much more likely to recognize that the older brother sounded like the Pharisees. Few who listened to the audio Bible made this connection.
Conclusion: Our translation was a clear winner in the area of key connections.
Total recall and emotional engagement graph
When plotted on a graph, the intellectual and emotional engagement looked like this:
Conclusion: Our Oral Bible Translation performed better than the audio Bible in every area we tested.
So What?
Why does it matter that people more deeply engaged with our translation and could subsequently recall more of it?
You can probably answer this question for yourselves.
Deeper intellectual and emotional engagement with the Scriptures results in the Scriptures more deeply shaping the heart and mind.
Capturing the artistry of the Scriptures in our word choice and performance can dramatically improve how deeply it impacts our audience.
This leads me to two conclusions: (1) the Bible should be publicly read with excellence, and (2) the English speaking world needs a good Oral Bible Translation.
Reading the Bible Excellently
Anyone concerned with discipleship should seriously consider how they publicly read the Scriptures to others. They should study the artistry of the passage, and the emotions in the passage, so they can read it in a compelling manner.
- Pastors could consider practicing how they read the Scriptures to their congregations.
- Bible study leaders could consider practicing how they read the Scriptures in their Bible study and encourage others to practice reading the Scriptures aloud themselves.
- Parents can play around with how they will read the Bible to their children and encourage their children to read (or act out) the passages of the Bible with feeling.
Resources that reveal the artistry and emotions of the Bible could be an invaluable tool in the hands of disciple makers in this generation.
According to a ground-breaking study of Gen-Z communication habits, this digital generation deeply values authenticity and relevance (De Witte 2022). Capturing the artistry of the Bible, especially through Oral Bible Translation, shows just how authentic and relevant the Scriptures are.
We need an English Oral Bible Translation
Finally, our test results also lead me to conclude that:
TL;DR
If the email was too long to read, here are the main points:
- We tested our translation of Luke 15 against the best audio Bible I could find (the NIV); 47 people participated.
- Our translation scored much higher in intellectual engagement, emotional engagement, and comprehension of key connections than the NIV audio Bible.
- English needs an Oral Bible Translation that highlights the Bible’s artistry.
Challenge for You
Switch up how you do your devotional time for a week or two.
- Study why the biblical author structured the passage the way it is presented.
- Read a commentary or two on the passage.
- Get to the point where you can communicate the purpose of the passage’s structure in your performance of the passage.
When you get to that point, the passage will come alive in a way you can never experience another way. You will also have a precious gift to share with others: a living expression of God’s word.
References
- Beal, H., & Frost, J. (2023). Leveraging Biblical Artistry for Performance and Fidelity in Luke 15. Journal of Language, Culture, and Religion, 4(1), 1–25. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370825235_Leveraging_Biblical_Artistry_for_Performance_and_Fidelity_in_Luke_15
- De Witte, M. (2022, January 3). What to know about Gen Z. Stanford News. https://news.stanford.edu/2022/01/03/know-gen-z/