Holy Bible Catholic Edition: The New Revised Standard Version [Hardcover]

Thomas Nelson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 26, 2004

Nelson's unique Fan-Tab Index Reference System helps you find the books of the Bible in an instant. This edition contains the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, including the Deuterocanonical books. The New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition is a clear, vivid, and accurate translation of the Bible that today's Catholics can use with confidence.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1376 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (February 26, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0718006968
• ISBN-13: 978-0718006969
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,216 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent edition of the complete Catholic Bible, August 1, 2005

By 

Blue Bird (West Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Holy Bible Catholic Edition: The New Revised Standard Version (Hardcover)

This is one of the few (if only) available editions of the New Revised Standard Version that includes all the books in the Catholic Bible in the traditional Catholic order. Rather than separating the Deuterocanonical books in a section between the two testaments, they are included in the first testament. This is especially helpful when parts of some books would otherwise be out of their proper order. The NRSV is a very literal translation, akin to the RSV, with the noticeable exception that it uses inclusive language. Where the Hebrew or Greek text cannot be properly rendered inclusively, and the NRSV translation still uses an inclusive rendering, it clearly marks in a footnote the correct version from the Hebrew or Greek that is a male rendering. In other places, where traditional translations (such as the RSV) used a male rendering improperly (such as where the Greek "anthropos" is properly "person" rather than "man", which would be "aner"), the NRSV is truer to the original language than the "traditional" translations have been. What is particularly nice about the NRSV as well as the RSV is that they are consistent in their rendering of words, unlike some translations such as the KJV and the NIV. For example, the Greek "paradosis" is rendered properly as "tradition", but some other translations render it "tradition" when spoken of unfavorably and "teaching" when it is spoken of favorably (revealing a doctrinal bias, I think). In Greek, "teaching" is an entirely different word. I buy multiple copies of this NRSV-Catholic edition, and also the newly published pocket RSV-Catholic edition (ISBN 0-19-528852-1), and the Christian Community Bible Catholic translation (ISBN 0-89243-816-5, which includes a commentary) for distribution whenever people ask for a Bible. I recommend all three. Recently, I have been noticing that the New American Bible's New Testament is most often the closest literal rendering of the Greek. So that might be another recommendation.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NRSV is the translation used by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, September 24, 2005

By 

Jerry (Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Holy Bible Catholic Edition: The New Revised Standard Version (Hardcover)

The NRSV is a fine translation of the Bible -- more literal than the New American Bible, with more up-to-date scholarship (although the forthcoming update to the NAB is supposed to be very good as well). There seems to be quite a bit of confusion regarding whether it is an officially approved translation. I would only note that the NRSV is the translation used by the Catechism of the Catholic Church (yes it is -- check out the copyright page opposite the table of contents). Also, several conferences of Catholic bishops (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Canada) are developing lectionaries based on the NRSV.

19 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not An Approved Translation, March 30, 2004

By 

Parity (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Holy Bible Catholic Edition: The New Revised Standard Version (Hardcover)

Catholic readers should be aware that the only available translations approved for liturgical use are the Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition (ISBN 089870491X sometimes referred to as the Ignatius Bible) and the Jerusalem Bible (hard to find) although NOT the NEW Jerusalem Bible. These are the translations you SHOULD be hearing in Church. North American Catholics should be aware that many Bishops are ignoring directives NOT to use 'trendy' translations.

Any translation with the word NEW in the title can almost invariably be inferred to have modified the language of the translation for "gender-neutrality" or to 'update' terminology which makes it at once deliberately incorrect and often discordant with the meaning of the text. It might also cause you to question whether other areas of the text have been modified.

I would like to think we could assume that Bible readers are smart enough to know when words like 'man' are used in the generic sense and to use a dictionary to look up words they are not familiar with. The Catholic Church has stated that she (the Church IS referred to in the feminine, as in 'the Bride of Christ') does not approve of modifying these texts for reasons of 'political correctness' whose motivations are clearly human rather than divine.