This paper argues that Biblical Performance Criticism offers keen insights into issues of media and authority. Such issues directly affect Bible translation. Bible Translation for the past several centuries has benefited from various print technologies. It has only been in recent years that the effects of such a medium have been discussed openly. Even now, however, these effects are often neglected and latent assumptions based on the print medium persist. Primary to such assumptions is the notion of the location of authority within the printed text. Such an assumption shapes the methods and goals of Bible Translation today. This paper addresses historically this medium bias and suggests a more complex discussion of authority. Such an understanding permits pursuing translation activities and goals in fresh yet historic ways. Central to a more complex view of authority is the audience and the community’s tradition. If the first-century compositions and presentations of what we know today as the New Testament depended upon community tradition and authority, how might such knowledge affect the way we go about translating these compositions for communities today? Biblical Performance Criticism offers insights into this question.