Archbishop of Brisbane and Chairman of the Australian Catholic Bishops Commission on the Liturgy, Mark , formally launched the international edition of The New Community Bible (NCB) in Sydney on the feast day of Blessed James Alberione, the founder of the Pauline Family.
Welcoming the release of the NCB in Australia, Archbishop Mark Coleridge said, “Now is the time when we have to become a more biblical Church, a people more immersed in the word of God. This is the best way to know Jesus whose voice we hear and whose face we see on every page of the Bible. That is why The New Community Bible (international edition) is such a gift. May it find its way into many hands and hearts and homes in this time of grace and faith.”
The NCB published by St Pauls Publications is a revised edition of the popular Christian Community Bible translated by Late Bernardo Hurault, a French Priest, from original languages to Spanish in 1971. Since then it has been translated into many languages and millions of copies have been distributed with its unique feature of a pastoral commentary that accompanied the text which has helped the faithful to understand, assimilate and live the word of God in their day to day life.
The Preface and the Presentation of the NCB states that it is the fruit of a challenging project undertaken by the Society of St Paul who brought together a competent team of Bible scholars who worked hard over a decade and undertook the responsible task of “completely re-writing the introduction and the commentary of each book of the Bible based on sound exegesis and relevant pastoral application” and has done a ‘careful revision of the text’ wherever it was required. Another unique feature of the NCB mentioned is “its many references to the deep spiritual message and biblical values found in the scriptures of other great world religions”.
The international edition of the NCB is published for special promotion in the Year of Faith by St Pauls based in Sydney, London and New York. It is a great resource for all those who wish to have a deeper understanding of the scriptures and a great help for all those who make use of Scripture in daily prayer, in Bible study groups and in small communities.
** You can also read a review of the NCB at the Raking through the Ashes of Christendom.
** I do not think this translation has anything to do with the Lectionary revision of the ESV, that Bishop Coleridge is currently involved in. Perhaps some of our friends in Australian can comment on the NCB.
UPDATE:
You can check out a few renderings of the NCB here.
(HT: Servus Dei)
Psalm 23 (NCB)
A Psalm of David
1 The LORD is my shepherd, what more do I need?
2 In green pastures he lets me rest.
to quiet streams of water he leads me,
3 and revives my failing spirit.
He leads me along the right paths
ever true to his name.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
no harm would I fear, for you are there by my side.
With your rod and your staff you give me comfort.
5 You prepare a banquet for me
in the presence of my foes.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup is overflowing.
6 Only goodness and kindness will follow me
all the days of my life,
I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for ever and ever.
15 comments:
From what I have seen... "Yahweh" in CCB was replaced by "LORD" in the NCB. However, I am not sure if the arrangement of the books are of that of the Jewish canon. I hope the NCB follows now the traditional Catholic arrangement.
This sites are interesting for those want to compare CCB and NCB:
NCB: http://bibles.wikidot.com/sample-ncb
CCB:
http://bibles.wikidot.com/sample-ccb
I bought the CCB a number of years ago out of a sense of obligation, rather than desire (gotta catch 'em all!). In all honesty, I didn't much like it. When I compared the daily readings at the time, I found I even preferred the NAB Lectionary, which was already not my first choice. I found the commentaries to be hit-or-miss, but I've also heard that depends a lot on the edition.
I'll be interested to hear more about the NCB, though I wish they'd emphasize the fact that it is a Catholic Bible, so I didn't have to go all apologetic to my friends when they saw it on my shelf.
There's actually more than one way of ordering the books in the OT, sometimes 1,2 Maccabees are put after Esther with the 'historical' books, and sometimes they are put after Malachi....you'll see the different orderings in RSV CE compared to the NAB....both arrangements are common and neither one is 'the' traditional one.
Tim, thanks for the acknowledgement. I have been an avid reader of this blog, so for me, that's a gratitude.
Anyway, ordering by Common Catholic Bibles or at least those of the RSV and DR, can be considered the "traditional" arrangement.
I hope that they fast-track the distribution of the NCB to the different St. Pauls worldwide. That is because I look forward to using NCB as my daily Bible.
For those using CCB, am I correct with my assumption that CCB follows with the Vulgate lineage?
The NCB seems to be a revision of the CCB made for English speakers in India. This seems to be the translation's website. The FAQ makes it clear that the translation is from the original Greek and Hebrew texts, not the Vulgate.
It would be interesting to see if it ever makes it to the US.
The CCB (with its notes) is available on kindle for those whose who are interested.
Hello Timothy,
Thanks to you and your readers for the additional information. Try as I might, I couldn't find a place - other than Australia - to purchase a copy. So I guess, I'll have to wait and see if it ever shows up here.
I'm actually more interested in the commentary, which looks intriguing, than in the translation. Although, I do like that they replaced YHWH with the Lord. Personally, I never liked that rendering in the NJB.
Pax,
John
John,
I sent a request to see if I could order a copy from Australia. Have yet to hear back but will let you know when I do. The cost is only $11 Australian, so the major expense will likely be the shipping.
Hello Timothy,
Thanks for the information, I'm curious to see what it comes to. I thought about ordering one also, but figured the shipping cost would be quite high. So, I deferred. Hoping that it would be available here in the future.
Pax,
John
Australia to US shipping should be around $20 USD from most places, in my experience.
Indeed, just received this email from Pauline sisters in Australia:
Thank you for your email. We advise the RRP A$ 11.00, plus A$ 20.00
(postage).
If you wish to purchase, please confirm your order by return email, together
with your delivery address details and payment. Accept visa or master card
payment.
If they want the population to become more biblical, quit publishing the missalette and have us bring our own bibles to mass. If Catholics get more familiar and comfortable with their bible, they are more likely to read it outside of mass.
New community bible is dangerous Christian faith. This also can be called as Hindu bible.
http://ephesians511blog.wordpress.com/2013/03/07/indias-controversial-st-pauls-new-community-bible-now-sold-in-australia/
Please read more about this bible.
http://ephesians511blog.com/2013/05/08/the-indian-churchs-syncretized-st-pauls-new-community-bible-now-exported-2/
Really dangerous!!!
Even though if you have bible, please don’t read it because it is leaned to non Christian elements and spirituality.
Hindu the scriptural text as translated in English is acceptable, I find the. cross reference section absolutely appalling. There are even references to nonexistent chapters/verses of biblical cross- references.
Another thing, prospective buyers should be informed that this edition is addressed to Indian /Hindu readership, as the commentaries make references to materials unknown to non-hindu readers.
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