First off, though, an error on my part: I incorrectly ascribed this to a textual variation. There is a textual variation in this passage, but the translation question here occurs within one one of the variations. The variant is "...on Earth peace, good will to men" compared to "...on Earth peace to men of good will." The actual question here is, if we are using the latter textual variant, whether it should be translated as "men (or people) of good will" or as "men (or people) beloved by God".
However, in your discussion here regarding translations, you don't seem to actually offer an explanation as to why the "new" translation is actually wrong. A bit of research indicates that the literal translation is "men/people of good will", which is what it was translated as for a while. However, it seems that most translations switched to the modern "men/people beloved by God" due to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls indicating that was the more accurate meaning of the phrase.
I'm far from an expert on Greek/Hebrew but it seems extremely defensible as better expressing the meaning of the original phrase. I read that Benedict XVI actually advocated the new wording in his book on the infancy narratives, but I don't have a copy to verify.
However, in your discussion here regarding translations, you don't seem to actually offer an explanation as to why the "new" translation is actually wrong. A bit of research indicates that the literal translation is "men/people of good will", which is what it was translated as for a while. However, it seems that most translations switched to the modern "men/people beloved by God" due to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls indicating that was the more accurate meaning of the phrase.
I'm far from an expert on Greek/Hebrew but it seems extremely defensible as better expressing the meaning of the original phrase. I read that Benedict XVI actually advocated the new wording in his book on the infancy narratives, but I don't have a copy to verify.
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