One Last Post This Week: A Question on Twitter and Bible Translations

I am curious, do any of you follow a particular translation on Twitter?  If so which ones do you follow?  Do you use them for inspiration or as part of a daily devotional or for learning news about that particular translation?  I am primarily looking at official Twitter pages for these translations.

I am aware of a few:

NIV

The Message

The Message Catholic

ESV

Sale and Free Shipping at ChristianBook.com

Thanks to Eric for the following information.  Christianbook.com is nice alternative to Amazon.com, so check it out.  They have really good prices overall as well as a nice selection of gently used books and bibles.

Good through 2/6/2017 -- Christianbooks is offering free shipping (code - SHIPBIBLES)
Also of interest, they're selling the Douay Rheims standard size leather hardcover at the discounted price of $45.99.  I'm not 100% if that's a great deal, but it's the best I've been able to find, so I'm making the jump once again.

Busy Week Ahead, So I Am Showing This Again

The Message of the Day

"My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world’s language and the world eats it up. But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception."  -1 John 4:4-6 (The Message: Catholic/Ecumenical Edition)

The Message Canvas Bible

There are numerous journaling Bibles available with the Protestant Canon, however only the out-of-print Oxford NRSV w/apocrypha was ever close enough for a Catholic to like and use.  Yet, I think there is a market for journaling/canvas bibles for Catholics.  This one, from Tyndale, utilizes The Message translation, which if there ever was a perfect bible for journaling or doodling, this would be it.  So, who in the Catholic publishing world will take a chance to create an actual journaling bible in a Catholic edition?  Which translation would work best?

The Message: Canvas Bible is due out in February.  It includes:

Center your heart and mind on the story of God with The Canvas Bible as you color nearly 300 hand-drawn illustrations, including 150 hand-lettered Bible verses.

Using The Message’s creative language and vivid metaphors, your imagination will be bursting with ideas for crafting, coloring, and drawing. Meditate on the very words of Scripture, and hear God’s voice speaking to your heart.

• * Make this Bible one of a kind by adding your own beauty and style.
• * Fill the extra space with your own illustrations and prayers.
• * Immerse yourself in the words of Scripture.
• * Decorate this Bible as a gift for someone you love.
• * Slow down as you color and enjoy a more relaxed pace.

Let the story of God paint the canvas of your imagination!

Today's Topic: Translation Websites

Within the past year, a couple of new websites have come online to support a particular translation.  I would point you to the NLT-CE and CSB (formerly the HCSB) as excellent examples of interactive and regularly updated websites that one might actually go to on a regular basis.  (I would also recommend the Vulgate-Douay-Knox site by Baronius, which while being a helpful resource, remains pretty static.)  The NLT-CE and CSB sites are also supported on social media, like Facebook and Twitter.  

My question to you is whether or not you think some of our favorite translations, like the NABRE, RSV, NRSV, or even the Knox, would be better served with an interactive website with regular content?  If so, what content might you like to see?

Fr. Legrand on the NLT-CE

Knox on Translation

© O. Swain

"I don't say that it is easy to bring out the general sense of a Biblical passage.  Sometimes, for example, in the Prophets, you have to give up, and admit that these passages may been intelligible to the people they were written for, but certainly not to us.  But in St. Paul's epistles, for example, or in the Book of Job, it is quite clear that there is a thread of argument running all through, though it is very far indeed from lying on the surface.  To present your material so that this thread of argument becomes apparent is no easy matter; but you have got to do it, if the Bible is to be read as a book, and not merely studied as a lesson."  -On Englishing the Bible 45

A Break-in Plan for First-Time Bible-Readers from NLT-CE.com

The folks who are authoring the NLT-CE website are doing some fantastic things.  They recently posted an article entitled A Break-in Plan for First-Time Bible-Readers that is worth your time, as well as many others.  I am really impressed with the outreach and promotion that is going on.  This is how you promote a Bible  translation!  Bravo!

Wouldn't you love to see this kind of outreach with some of your other favorite translations?  Just reminder, of course, is that the NLT-CE will be officially released in the USA later this year, likely in the Fall.  More news on that when it is made available.

Raymond Brown's Introduction to the New Testament (Re-released and Abrdiged)

When I am asked to recommend an academic introduction to the New Testament, I usually point people to Fr. Raymond Brown's Introduction to the New Testament.  One of his last works before his death, I have found his original volume to be one of the best books of New Testament Catholic biblical criticism available.  It is one book that I have gone back to often over the years.

With that being said, I was happy to recently see that a new edition of Brown's work by Yale University Press.  This work has been edited and abridged for publication. The Amazon listing does provide a "Look Inside" if you want to compare it to the original edition.

Here is the description:

A long-awaited abridgement of Raymond Brown’s classic and best-selling introduction to the New Testament

Since its publication in 1997, Raymond Brown’s Introduction to the New Testament has been widely embraced by modern readers seeking to understand the Christian Bible. Acknowledged as a paragon of New Testament studies in his lifetime, Brown was a gifted communicator who wrote with ease and clarity.
 
Abridged by Marion Soards, who worked with Brown on the original text, this new, concise version maintains the essence and centrist interpretation of the original without tampering with Brown’s perspective, insights, or conclusions. The biblical writings themselves remain the focus, but there are also chapters dealing with the nature, origin, and interpretation of the New Testament texts, as well as chapters concerning the political, social, religious, and philosophical world of antiquity. Furthermore, augmenting Brown’s commentary on the New Testament itself are topics such as the Gospels’ relationship to one another; the form and function of ancient letters; Paul’s thought and life, along with his motivation, legacy, and theology; a reflection on the historical Jesus; and a survey of relevant Jewish and Christian writings. 
 This comprehensive, reliable, and authoritative guidebook is now more accessible for novices, general readers, Bible study groups, ministers, scholars, and students alike. 

From the NLT-CE Folks

Knox on Translation

"You cannot do justice to antiquity without taking refuge in rather old-fashioned English. A Biblical phrase like 'O King, live for ever!' has got to be changed; nobody ever talked like that in English. But you must not change it into 'I hope that your Majesty's life may be spared indefinitely.' You must get back to the language of a period when palace etiquette was more formal, 'Long life to the King's majesty!' - something like that." -On Englishing the Bible

Bible Reading Plan For 2017

So, whaat's your bible reading plan for 2017?  I am going to be spending much of the year with my beloved Knox Bible, supplemented by The Message Catholic and NRSV.  I don't have any bible reading plans "planned" at this point, that could change I suppose.  How about you?  Looking forward to any new bibles this year?  I will be sure to pass along anything that I find out about future publications.  I also hope to do some reviews on commentaries that have not been featured here before.

As I say often, however, make sure to support those publishers who are working to produce quality Catholic Bibles.  You can go back and read the various reviews on this blog to known those publishers I am speaking of.  Many of these publishers are small and take enormous financial risks when producing quality Catholic Bibles.  And of course, by quality I mean bibles with sewn bindings, decent leather covers, and original page lay-outs.  So go support them!

May all of you have a blessed New Year!