From Christianity Today .… [Added: I’m confident, as I look over the CT piece now that it has been expanded, that the NIV Committee for Bible Translation will not squash the TNIV into history but will improve the NIV in light of gains from the TNIV.  I have every reason to think the new NIV will be the Bible I carry to class for years. Added Two: Did CT perhaps sensationalize this story a bit? See comments below.]

In announcing a major revision of the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible … CEO Keith Danby said decisions surrounding the release of the NIV inclusive language edition and the 2002’s revision, Today’s New International Version (TNIV), were mistakes.”

In 1997, IBS announced that it was forgoing all plans to publish an updated NIV following criticism of the NIV inclusive language edition (NIVi) published in the United Kingdom. Quite frankly, some of the criticism was justified and we need to be brutally honest about the mistakes that were made,” Danby said. “We failed to make the case for revisions and we made some important errors in the way we brought the translation to publication. We also underestimated the scale of the public affection for the NIV and failed to communicate the rationale for change in a manner that reflected that affection.”

Danby said it was also a mistake to stop revisions on the NIV. “We shackled the NIV to the language and scholarship of a quarter century ago, thus limiting its value as a tool for ongoing outreach throughout the world,” he said.

“Whatever its strengths were, the TNIV divided the evangelical Christian community,” said Zondervan president Moe Girkins. “So as we launch this new NIV [in 2011], we will discontinue putting out new products with the TNIV.”

“We are correcting the mistakes in the past,” Girkins said. “Being as transparent as possible is part of that. This decision was made by the board was made in the last 10 days.” She said the transparency is part of an effort to overhaul the NIV “in a way that unifies evangelicalism.”
“The first mistake was the NIVi,” Danby said. “The second was freezing the NIV. The third was the process of handling the TNIV.”