Customer Reviews

Holy Bible Catholic Edition: The New Revised Standard Version

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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.

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.

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.

I have already written my review of the King James versdion of this book. While the Catholic Version lacks the beautiful prose found in the King James version, all the escentials are here contained and many Catholis persons will find this version more comfortable for them to use. Still one of the best books ever written.

The NAB is indeed in use in the US, however, it is important to note that all presently available editions of the NAB have the "inclusivized" Psalms of the Revised NAB, that were rejected by the Holy See. The reader is correct in asserting that this is the version on the Vatican website but is perhaps mistaken in assuming that the website speaks for the Church. The Holy See has spoken regarding this matter (Liturgiam authenticam), the translation on the website would seem to be contrary to this instruction as is the case in North America.

I note from the response to my earlier post the references to the US. This is part of the issue. The word Catholic means universal and not American (Do not take from this that I am in anyway anti-American rather see 'Sacrosanctum Concilium' concerning local authority and need for approval from the Holy See). The US Bishops approved texts for liturgical use prior to their rejection by the Holy See. A revision to the Lectionary has been approved (subject to review) but is not the NAB version in print. The situation is worse in Canada where a different translation is in use that is definitively not approved (NRSV) although interim usage has been allowed because the new lectionaries were printed before approval was sought from Rome.

Updates to this situation can be found at http://www.adoremus.org/0204BiblesLectionaries.html
Please note in particular, "A most unfortunate anomaly in all this is that there is no edition of the Bible at present that corresponds to the Lectionary. All the current editions of the complete NAB contain the Revised 1986 New Testament (unamended) and Revised Psalms (1991) that the Holy See found defective."

Yes many would be surprised to find the NRSV quoted in many official church publications such as the catechism however what must be noted here is that quotes, verses, chapters or books can be approved for use in an official publication, but a single problematic verse can result in an overall rejection of the entire bible. The case with the NRSV is that it is rejected for liturgical use by the Holy See but parts of it may be quoted and have been. If you want to find official bibles then the modern versions are: New American Bible (for Americans), Revised Standard Version or Jerusalem Bible (for Europeans). Personally I own a New Jerusalem Bible because it is an update of the Jerusalem Bible and contains dead sea scroll translations, however the NJB is rejected by the RCC for liturgical use because it contains, what is called, inclusive language. I am sure inclusive language is the reason why the NRSV was rejected.

this is not a review, but a response to certain statements of the last reviewer--please disregard the above rating, as one was required to post this review...

it is my understanding that while the Ignatius Bible (Revised Standard Version) and the Jerusalem Bible are both approved for liturgical use in the US, the New American Bible is the official text of the Roman Catholic Lectionary throughout the States and the version of text provided under `Sacred Scripture' in the Vatican's own English-language website.