Cutter said:
As for when It began I would say 1971 with The Living Bible.
May I suggest you still might want do a bit more "correcting", in the Math Dep't.
The Cotton Patch" Version dates back into the 60s, which is before the time you mention (1971). Dr. Clarence Jordan, who did the "Cotton Patch" Version, died suddenly on October 29, 1969 of a heart attack.
Predates 1971.
And no one, so far, has mentioned Anglican clergyman J. B. Phillips, who did what is commonly known as the 'Phillips' paraphrase. He started work on this during WWII, and did much of this paraphrasing, at least of the epistles, when spending time in bomb shelters during the London Blitz. He published his paraphrase of the Epistles in 1947, the year before I was born, as
Letters to Young Churches. Incidentally, C. S. Lewis was a fan and one of his backers. And Christian notables including such as Os Guinness, Chuck Swindoll, and the late(s) Ray Stedman, and Corrie ten Boom are/were big fans of Phillip's paraphrase, as well. Phillips published the whole NT as
The New Testament in Modern English in 1958.
Predates 1971.
And if one actually wants to actually go back to 'paraphrase' (in the precursors of today's English), one can scarcely omit the paraphrased folk songs of Caedmon, probably the first to paraphrase Scripture stories into what would have been considered "folk language", all the way back in the 7
th Century. Nor should one overlook the paraphrases of the KJV by such as Daniel Whitby (1703) or Edward Harwood (1768). Certainly
predate 1971.
And I'll not even attempt to mention all the multiple renderings of Scripture into "modern language", in English, because I would undoubtedly miss some. I will mention six - Richard Weymouth (WEY- 1903), Charles B. Williams (Williams' NT- 1937), Charles K. Williams (NT in Plain English - 1952), Gerrit Verkuyl (Berkeley - 1959), William F. Beck (Beck - NT, 1963 ), and Robert G. Bratcher (NT, TEV - 1966).
More that predate 1971.
Or are you suddenly suggesting that all these are permissible and '"valid" versions, now??

C'mon, let's get the record straight.
Ed