New World Translation
| Category | Jehovah’s Witnesses |
|---|---|
| Record type | Source |
| Editorial status | Documentary term explained from a Catholic standpoint |
| Authority | Definition only; inclusion confers no religious authority |
Definition and ordinary meaning
The Bible translation produced by the Watch Tower organization and shaped at contested Christological passages.
Historical setting
The term belongs to changing Bible Student and Watch Tower teaching under Russell, Rutherford and the later Governing Body. Earlier predictions and later reinterpretations must be compared rather than merged.
Meaning within the tradition
Within Jehovah’s Witnesses, New World Translation must be read according to the school, source and period that uses it. The same word may name a text, rite, institution or doctrine in more than one sense. This article therefore resists treating a later standardized definition as though it were present unchanged from the beginning.
Natural-philosophical and historical assessment
The text must first be dated, located within its manuscript and redaction history, and read according to its own genre. A source proves that a community transmitted a claim; it does not prove the claim true merely by asserting it. Earlier and independent witnesses carry a different evidential weight from later harmonising commentary.
Catholic judgement and necessary distinctions
Catholic judgement rejects the Watch Tower’s denial of the Trinity, the created-Christ doctrine, failed chronological claims and organizational claim to exclusive authority. The biblical name of God cannot be used to overturn the divinity of the Son, the personality of the Holy Ghost or the visible bodily Resurrection.
Primary texts and source control
Read the term first in the earliest available source and then in later school or institutional definitions. The following local routes keep documentary evidence separate from commentary.