The Emoji Bible!!!!!! :)

Thanks to Eric for passing the link to this article.  Enjoy!  :)

An adaptation of the King James Version Bible featuring emojis is scheduled to be made available on iTunes Sunday.

The book is called Bible Emoji: scripture 4 millennials. Its book cover features several emojis, two of which have halos. 

The book's online description online says: 'A great and fun way to share the gospel. Explore all 66 books chronicling the the stories of Abraham, Noah and Jesus like never before!'

Read more here.

Douay-Westminster Bible (1958)

A Catholic Bible that I have certainly heard about, but have never actually seen with my own eyes is the Westminster Version.  The New Testament was completed in 1936, while portions of the OT were either worked on or completed in the years that followed.  As many of you know, I have concerned myself most often with the other Bible that was worked on during that period, the Knox Bible.  Yet, that changed a day ago.

Yesterday, a good friend of mine gifted me this amazing 1958 edition, which contains the Westminster New Testament and Psalms and the Douay (Challoner) Old Testament.   The Old Testament (minus Isaias, Ezechiel, and the Minor Prophets) and the Psalms were newly annotated by a Fr. Robert Dyson SJ, while those books mentioned above and the New Testament were annotated by Fr. Richard Foster.  This was completed in England.  The maps are new to this volume and produced by Fr. H.J. Richards.  There are 58 colour plates of biblical images scattered on thin glossy paper throughout this Bible.  There is even a commentary on each plate in the appendix, which also includes liturgical Mass readings and an essay on the bible in literature.  There is an actual picture of Pope Pius XII at the begining with a personal note from him.

It is a beautiful edition, published by Hawthorn Books of New York in 1958.  The volume, itself, was printed in Holland.  This is a lush, high-end Bible.  I dare say that this may be one of my finest, and I have only looked at it for less than a day.  The binding is sewn in a burgundy leather hardcover, finished off with a very nicely done gold gilded pages.  In regards to the size of the bible, it is refered to as a "family bible" but it may be one of the smaller ones I have ever seen. It is 8" wide x 10 3/4" tall x 2 1/2" thick.

I will post some pictures here.  Let me know if you have any questions.  I'm blown away!  This edition is currently on Ebay if you desire to get one of your own.

Presenting Josiah Francis

An Opening: NLT-CE from Tyndale/Asian Trading Corporation

This blog is going to go quiet for a week or so starting today with the birth of our third child, which is scheduled for tomorrow.  However, I wanted to post some pictures of the NLT-CE that was kindly sent to me by the fine people at the Asian Trading Corporation, based out of India.  They sent me three versions of their brand new NLT-CE's for review, including the compact, bonded leather, and faux leather versions.  Let me just say, I received these editions of the NLT-CE less than a week after contacting ATC.  Their customer service was excellent and very gracious.  They will ship internationally, including the US and Canada.  So, they are highly recommended if you can't wait until April for the Tyndale edition to come out.  (Make sure to get the Tyndale edition too when it is published!)

In the coming weeks, when I get a little more time, I will provide a more thorough review.  Until then, here are some photos for you to consider.  If you have any specific translational questions, I'll do my best to answer them.  Until then......

Cool Article of the Little Office

I have mentioned on this blog the wonderful Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary that our friends at Baronius Press have produced.  Well, with this being the month of Mary, it was nice to see an article concerning the Little Office on the Aleteia site yesterday by Joanne McPortland:

Do you pray some form of the Divine Office, the Liturgy of the Hours? This liturgical tradition is as old as the Church, built on the earliest Christian practice of praying the psalms and reading the Scriptures daily.

When I was a child, I would peer out the classroom window as the priests of our parish, their cassocks flapping in the Santa Ana winds, paced the schoolground with little black book in hand, their lips moving as they read the Office prescribed for all secular clergy. On rare visits from Father Peter, my dad’s cousin who was the Superior of the Columban Fathers, my sister and I would be cautioned to give him quiet time “to read his breviary” before he got back to astonishing us with coin tricks. In later life, I was privileged to join religious orders of women or men who chanted the canonical hours—Matins and Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline—in community, as all religious were required to do. The beloved Gregorian chant albums of monks like the Benedictines of Norcia, newly popular with listeners of all faiths, are the monastic Divine Office shared with the world.

The Prayer of Christians
Over the centuries, the Divine Office, with its sequence of psalms, antiphons, versicles, lessons, and prayers, has often been revised. (The word breviary, describing the book but also the practice of reciting the Liturgy of the Hours, actual means “a briefer version,” condensed a bit from the longer and far more ornate office once celebrated in Rome.) The revision with which most of us are familiar came about in the 1970s, as the Divine Office was simplified and universalized to encourage its use not only by priests and religious, but by the whole Church in communion.

I remember receiving my first copy of The Prayer of Christians, an early English edition of the revised Divine Office, from my husband as a Christmas gift. I was pregnant with our son. To begin the days as we did then, praying Morning Prayer in the car on the way to work, gave a richness of meaning to the words from the Canticle of Zechariah—“You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, and shall go before the Lord to prepare his way”—and united us with the whole praying Church.

Today, I try to find time to pray the daily office, but am more likely to settle for one of the “briefer breviaries”—the streamlined Morning, Evening, and Night Prayers provided by publishers of monthly missals like Magnificat or Give Us This Day. You may do this, too, perhaps without knowing what a long and glorious tradition we are weaving into our hours.

Mary and the Hours of the Laity

What does this have to do with Mary, and her “Little Office"? Read the rest to find out.  

NLT-CE in the USA

Many of you were wondering if the NLTCE would be available in the US at some point.  I had attempted to purchase a copy of it from Amazon India but without success.  However, I am happy to report the following news from my sources at Tyndale House:

Tyndale was granted the Imprimatur thru the Catholic Church in India, which gives them the ability to take this worldwide.  (Unlike their first attempt a decade or so ago.)  The first edition to be available in the States will be a hardcover edition (ISBN 978-1-4964-1401-4) that is scheduled to release in April of 2017.  Price has not been set, but will likely be in the $20-25 range.  It is set to be a straight text Bible.  

I would imagine that future editions will be dependent on how well the intial hardcover version sells.  This is great news, and I look forward to getting a copy next year.  

NLT-CE Update: Photos!

I would like to thank reader John Francis who was able to attain the bonded leather edition and report back on it.

*I was able to get a review copy of the NLT CE from India this morning from a Catholic bookstore with branches in the center of Manila.

*For starters, in the intro, the NLT edition utilized is that of the 2004 revision, including minor revisions afterwards up to the 2010 edition.

*There's a note at the imprimatur page that says it's not meant for liturgical use. The intro specifically says that it's more meant for Lectio divina and evangelization.

*It's available in leatherbound and hardbound editions. Not quite sure if they have it in paperback. But they have a pocket sized edition.

*Regarding the book intros, as you can see below in the imprimatur and copyright page, the intros in this edition are based on Fr. K. Luke, OFMCap's book.

*Here's Psalms 51 (Miserere) to 55. Notice the line drawings, very similar to the GNT Anne Valloton drawings:

News Story on the NLTCE

Thanks vladimir998 for the link.  

Make sure to check out the article.  I just love looking at the photos.  That is how you unveil a new Bible!



From the article:

Highlights of ‘New Living Translation - Catholic Edition’ (NLT-CE):

1. The New Living Translation (NLT) is a translation of the Bible into modern English

2. The NLT Bible was first published in 1996, and was the work of 90 reputed scripture scholars led by Dr Mark Taylor
3. As of March 2014, the Christian Booksellers Association ranks the NLT as the second most popular English version of the Bible based on unit sales
4. Translated from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek text
5. It includes the original seven Deuterocanonical books and utilizes anglicized spellings
6. Reviewed by a group of eminent Indian Bible Scholars
7. Imprimatur granted by Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Archbishop of  Bombay and President of Conference of  Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) on behalf of CCBI
8. The First English Bible text to be granted Imprimatur by the Bishop's Conference in India
9. Endowed with lively illustrations

NLT Catholic Edition (Official)

Via the Catholic Biblical Federation:

The New Living Translation Catholic Edition was released on March 6, 2016 by His Excellency, Most Rev. Salvatore Pennacchio, Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal during the one day Plenary Assembly held at the Paul VI auditorium, Bengaluru. The members of the CCBI Commission for Bible, Tyndale House Publishers, USA, ATC Publishers, Bengaluru and the twelve scholars were also present for this historical event in the history of the CCBI

New Living Translation
The New Living Translation was translated by a group of 90 scholars who used the dynamic-equivalence philosophy of translation. This makes the text eminently readable, since it uses the vocabulary and sentence structure of modern English. More than 33 million copies of the New Living Translation have been distributed over the past twenty years, and it has been received with enthusiasm. 

Background of the New Living Translation Catholic EditionOver the past three years, every word of the NLT has been carefully reviewed by 12 Catholic scholars here in India. They have worked under the leadership of Rev. Dr. Lucien Legrand, mep and ably supported by Rev. Dr. Assisi Saldanha, cssr and Rev. Dr. Govindu Rayanna, who formed the core committee. The scholars read their assigned book or books in the NLT both to ensure that it is a faithful translation of the original texts, and to ensure that nothing in the text had been translated in a way that was contrary to Catholic teaching. As a result of this review, a relative handful of changes were made in the text of the NLT to improve the precision of the translation in English.

After that careful and thorough review by the team of scholars, the New Living Translation was granted the Nihil Obstat by His Excellency, Gali Bali, Bishop of Guntur, who was the then Chairman of the CCBI Bible Commission. Finally, the NLT was granted the Imprimatur by His Eminence Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay and President of the CCBI.  

Importance of the New Living Translation Catholic EditionIt is a momentous occasion releasing the HOLY BIBLE, New Living Translation Catholic Edition (NLTCE) in the presence of the distinguished gathering. The release of NLTCE is historic because it is the first English Bible to be given an imprimatur by the CCBI in India. The effort is the result of collaboration between Catholic scholarship in India and the world’s leading Christian Publishers, Tyndale Publishing House, USA. It has been an ecumenical effort that spanned nearly three years. NLT is a “missionary translation” intended to present the biblical message in a language accessible even to non-Christians. The translation is both lucid yet solid in its presentation of the message. 

 New Living Translation Catholic Edition

Now, we have a Catholic Edition of the NLT. The New Living Translation Catholic Edition

•  includes the Deuterocanonical books and utilizes anglicized spellings
•  reviewed by a group of eminent Catholic Scholars
•  Imprimatur granted by Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay and President of Conference of Catholic Bishops of India
•  endowed with illustrations

The Holy Bible NLT combines the latest biblical scholarship with a clear, dynamic writing style – communicates God’s word powerfully to all who read it.  Following the principle of dynamic equivalence, it provides a refreshingly fluid reading of the Scriptures, which may be missing in more literal translations. It presents the biblical message in a language accessible even to non-Christians, as suggested by the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, 25.

This Catholic Edition of the Holy Bible NLT will be of great help for personal reading, study, and prayer. With its flowing text and useful marginal references, it will also provide a useful tool for Lectio Divina sharing and other prayer groups.

Releasing of Books: Lectio Divina and The LectorFr. Rayanna Govindu authored two books namely, Lectio Divina and The Lector which were released on this great occasion by His Grace, Filipe Neri Ferrao, Archbishop of Goa and Daman and Vice President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India, His Excellency, Most Rev. Gali Bali, Bishop of Guntur respectively. These two books offer basic information about Lectio Divina and the training of the Lectors. 

A Word of appreciation
Fr. Rayanna Govindu, executive Secretary of the CCBI Commission for Bible and the Member of the Core Committee thanked all the Office Bearers of the CCBI, the 12 scholars, Tyndale House Publishers, USA, ATC Publishers and Brilliant Printers, Bengaluru for their cooperation and collaboration. He extended his deep sentiments of gratitude to His Eminence, Oswald Cardinal Gracias for graciously granting the Imprimatur and for his timely advice and wholehearted support.

He expressed his heartfelt thanks to His Excellency, Most Rev. Salvatore Pennacchio, Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal for his gracious presence and releasing the NLTCE, His Excellency, Most Rev. Gali Bali, the former chairperson of the CCBI Commission for Bible for granting the Nihil Obstat, giving a valuable Foreword and releasing the book “The Lector”, and His Excellency, Most Rev. J Susaimanickam, the present chairperson of the Commission for Bible for his invaluable suggestions and constant encouragement.
He articulated his appreciation to His Eminence, Telesphore Cardinal Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi for releasing the book ‘Liturgy and Life”, His Grace, Most Rev. Filipe Neri Ferrao, Archbishop of Goa and Daman for releasing the book “Lectio Divina” and His Excellency, Most Rev. Agnelo Gracias for strongly recommending the NLTCE for Iimprimatur. He also expressed  his gratitude to one and all for their assistance.

While thanking His Eminence, Archbishops, Bishops, Administrators fathers, dear brothers and sisters present for all that they have been to CCBI Commission for Bible, Tyndale House publishers, USA, and ATC Publications, Bengaluru, Fr. Rayanna earnestly requested them to promote NLTCE, and other books released such as, Liturgy and Life, The Lector and Lectio Divina.

The historic and joyful moment of the launch of the NLTCE came to a close with the words of the Holy Father, Pope Francis-Bible Advocate: “I would very much like all Christians to be able to learn ‘the sublime science of Jesus Christ’ through frequent reading of the word of God, as the sacred text offers nourishment for the soul and is the pure and perennial source of the spiritual life of us all. We must make every effort so that each believer may read God’s word, because as Saint Jerome says, ‘ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.’” (Audience with United Bible Societies, September 29, 2014)

May the Word who became flesh bless us, nourish us, form us, guide us and fill us with his words of eternal life! 

Didache NABRE Sale

*Please note that the 20% discount applies to retail price.

*Go here for more info.

Guest Post: A Divine Intimacy Offer

Hello everyone,

If you love Leonard rebinds and traditional Catholic spirituality today is your lucky day! 

Timothy has graciously allowed me offer this beautiful edition of “Divine Intimacy” on his blog (I’m getting married, need the money). 

Up for offer is a mint Leonard’s rebind of Baronius Press’ edition of the Carmelite classic “Divine Intimacy”. This is a true classic of Catholic/Carmelite spirituality and was even highly recommended by Pope St. John XXIII. 
Here’s how Baronius describes it:

“This Book of Meditations is a classic and is steeped in Carmelite spirituality. For every day it offers two meditations, in liturgical arrangement that enable the soul to enter the conscious presence of God and to reflect on the theme of the day. These are followed by a ‘Colloquy’ that helps the person at prayer to start a friendly conversation with God where acts of praise and love, petition and thanksgiving are made, together with good resolutions for the future. Here we are at the very heart of prayer, which is a heart-to-heart encounter in faith with the living God.”

Carmelite bishop Philip Boyce of Ireland said of this work: "This Book of Meditations on the interior life for every day of the liturgical year is a pearl of great price. For spiritual reading and personal prayer, it is a treasure, providing sound guidance on the journey of prayer, and a safe companion on the road to holiness and to intimate union with God."

I chose to have this edition rebound in a soft cover spindled goatskin leather. The spine has raised bands and there are two silk ribbons for markers. As always Leonard’s did a wonderful job and were even able to save the original marbled end pages. The book is smythe sewn. 
The book normally retails for about $60 and the rebind cost me about $200 (US funds). 

I’m willing to part with it for a very reasonable and fair price. 
If interested, please contact me at: andrewbourque(at)hotmail(dot)come

Jeff's Rebind Project: Combined Didache and Compendium

Jeff is a regular commentor here on the blog.  He recently commissioned a truly unique rebind, which brought together The Didache Bible and The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  Yep!  He put them together and bound them into one book.  Here are the details:

While reading the Catholic Bibles Blog I began to notice a nice trend of readers sharing their bibles rebound in genuine leather and cowhide. I decided it was something I wanted to do, but I reasoned, if they can rebind a bible, could they maybe combine the bible with another book? I called the two companies most frequently mentioned on the website, Leonard’s and AA Leather. They both said they could in fact combine two books, as long as the books were the same size.

One afternoon I was reading the Compendium and I noticed something interesting. I had my bible out when I realized how close they were in size. I grabbed my tape measure out and sure enough, they were both 6”x9”!

“Eureka!” I said, (or at least would have if I were this was a movie). I would combine the Didache Bible, with the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church! These are the two books I carry around with me all the time anyway when I study my bible, it makes sense to place them under the same roof!

I boxed them up  and off they went to sunny South Florida at the headquarters of AA Leather. I patiently waited each day by my mailbox. After only two short weeks, the mailman knocked on my door and handed my a big package!

I chose forest green as the color with leather cowhide. And couldn’t be more happy with the work Andrew and the whole gang at AA Leather did for my bible. I love it so much, I want to just place it on my shelf and not touch it! We all know that’s not going to happen!

If you would like to see more, head on over the Jeff's site here.

Differences in the Didache

Thanks to Jonny for sending along some pics and commentary on a recently purchased edition of the Didache Bible.

I just received new copies of the hardback and leather editions of the Didache Bible. The latest run of each is a little better than the original print, so I thought you might like to check it out.

1. The hardback:  The cover is a deeper forest green compared to the original olive drab. The new book is thinner: about 1 3/4" compared to the original 2". And finally, there is one green and one gold ribbon now instead of the two blonde ribbons, and the new edition uses a smaller font on the spine.

2. The leather covered hardback:  The book is also now thinner than the original, 2" compared to 2 1/4.  The gold edging is a bit darker and shinier in the new edition.

3. About both editions: The book blocks are thinner. The pages look the same on the inside, no more bleed through, although the new ones look nicer. The pages are a brighter white and looks higher in quality when placed side by side with the original. Also, although the binding was good on the originals, the new ones are even tighter. It is still the same sewn binding typical of Ignatius Press.  I could not find any indication of where these books were printed, except in the original hardback which states "Printed in India."