As I have only just obtained my copy of the book, I have not read the whole work yet. So I shall be jumping around in the text, in order to highlight a few of the unique features of this translation that jump out at me. For one thing, Hart has avoided merely transliterating Greek terms such as Χριστος (Christos) or διαβολος (diabolos), which often appear in Bibles as "Christ" or "devil," choosing instead to render them with descriptive words like "Anointed" or "Slanderer." On the other hand, he has chosen not to assign a particular English word to a theologically rich term like Λογος (Logos), so in his opening one reads, "In the origin, there was the Logos..." An unusual sounding turn of phrase, to be sure, but not entirely without precedent. (James Moffatt's translation of the Bible in 1922 also left "Logos" untranslated.)
In the passage of Matthew's Gospel commonly known as The Beatitudes, the reader may be surprised to find Jesus saying these words: "How blissful the destitute, abject in spirit..." A footnote informs us that the Greek word (makarios) can mean "blessed," "happy," "fortunate," or "prosperous," but says the word originally had "a connotation of divine or heavenly bliss." In the following chapter, the Lord's Prayer is surprisingly familiar.
Our Father, who are in the heavens, let your name be held holy; Let your Kingdom come; let your will come to pass, as in heaven so also upon earth; Give us today bread for the day ahead; And excuse us our debts, just as we have excused our debtors; And do not bring us to trial, but rescue us from him who is wicked. [For yours is the Kingdom and the power and the glory unto the ages.]
Hart does not attempt to smooth out shifts in tense in the Greek text, as most modern versions do. A couple examples would be Matt. 3:1, where the chapter opens, "Now in those days comes John the Baptist..." Or in Mark 1:40, "And a leper comes to him..." I don't know about other readers, but I find this kind of style very refreshing. It is quite similar to what Robert Alter has done with his monumental translation of the Hebrew Bible, leaving phrases that sound odd to the English reader's ear as he finds them in the original language, more or less untouched, so the unfamiliar nature of the text draws the reader's attention.
It seem to me that, since Hart is not beholden to a religious community or a committee, he is free to approach gendered language in the text as he sees fit. So in Matt. 5:9 the peacemakers are called "sons of God," rather than "children of God." In Matt. 4:19, we see the phrase "fishers of men" and not "fishers of people" or some such wording. At a casual glance at Paul's epistles and John's first epistle, it looks like he uses "brothers" for the Greek αδελπφοι (adelphoi), rather than the more inclusive "brothers and sisters." That choice may anger some readers, and it may delight others. I find it to be, in general a faithful rendering of the text.
Footnotes throughout the text, while certainly not as extensive as, say, those found in the NET Bible, certainly seem to be quite helpful at explaining some of his translation choices. And there is a rather lengthy section at the end, after The Revelation of John, called "Concluding Scientific Postscript," which seems to describe some of his guiding principles of translation.
Overall, I am pleased with this purchase, and I shall be digging into it a bit more in the future. I may share some more of my thoughts in a later post.