I just discovered a clipping from an old New York Times article on the release of the first NWT volume. It was tucked inside a NWT volume I purchased on ebay. I thought it interesting and made a pdf of it. Handwritten on it is the date of the clipping--August 3, 1950:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/members/popestleo/NYTNWT08031950.pdf
It's got a few factual errors in it but is historically interesting.
New York Times article on first release of NWT
by cabasilas 6 Replies latest watchtower bible
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cabasilas
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compound complex
Dear Cabasilas,
I haven't yet accessed the link provided, but upon sighting your thread, a responsive chord sounded - vis-a-vis various theories surrounding the true origins/background of the NWT. I really do wonder about the title choice: NEW WORLD. May it or may it not have been influenced by motivation other than pure Biblical scholarship? Given the Society's predilection for the stuff of Greber, other "borrowings" from questionable sources, and putative alliances with entities forbidden to the ordinary JW, I simply feel uncomftable with the NEW WORLD appelation. Any thoughts?
Thank you,
Compound-Complex
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Disillusioned JW
compound complex, I think the phrase 'New World" in the title of the translation, has to do with the WT expectation (in the 1950s) of the great nearness of a paradise Earth in which righteous predominates, during a 1,000 year period of Christ reigning. Think of the NT verses about 'a New Heavens and a New Earth'.
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Disillusioned JW
compound complex, for example in 1955 the WT released the book called You May Survive Armageddon into God's New World. In 1953 they released a book called "New Heavens and a New Earth". They also released the following booklets in the 1950s.
Evolution Versus the New World (1950)
After Armageddon—God's New World (1953)
Basis for Belief in a New World (1953)
Can You Live Forever in Happiness on Earth? (1950) -
slimboyfat
Thanks for bringing this up. Interesting that the NWT committee was described as an “international committee”. I wonder if that was in the talk, or if that was an inference by the reporter. It could be either because George Gangas from Greece,or might be an inference from mention of “International Bible Students Association”.
The claim that phraseology “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” is common in the Bible and JWs replaced it seems a wildly off description of the Johannine Comma.
The concern about fission and fusion weapons seems particular to the time—and now ours.
The focus on sales numbers is a reminder that the NWT was a bestseller in its day and probably a source of significant income for the Society, as well as being theological and ideologically significant.
Yes the “New World Society” was the JW catchphrase of the 1950s, snd gave its name to the Bible version. When I was a JW it was more common to refer to the “new system” rather than the “New World”, apart from the very popular panda tract, which was referred to as the “new world tract”.
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dropoffyourkeylee
It has been commented on before, but there was a book by Marley Cole called 'The New World Society' in 1956 which was favorable to the JWs. I had read somewhere that it was sponsored by the WT, though published by a non-JW publisher. The phrase 'New World Society' was a JW buzzword at the time, as sbf noted.
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ozziepost
http://www.catholic-forum.com/members/popestleo/NYTNWT08031950.pdf
Looks to me more like a news release from the convention’s News Service dept.