A Cool Site

Just came across this site MaybeToday.org where there is a short history of the Catholic Bible in English.  Most of this we have discussed here, but they have done a nice job bringing it all together in one article.

The Bible: From Late Antiquity to the Renaissance

I will probably have this on my Christmas list.  The Bible: From Late Antiquity to the Renaissance will be published by Liturgical Press in mid-November.  Sample page here.

The Bible: From Late Antiquity to the Renaissance

The Bible has inspired scholarly and artistic achievements all over the world since Late Antiquity. The largest and most diverse collection of Bibles, in both their calligraphic and illuminative expression, is archived at the Vatican Library. The scholars who contributed to this volume were given unprecedented access to the Vatican Library archive and, while focusing on the written and illustrative themes of the Bible, have created the most comprehensive chronology to date.

This volume is a journey led by major international scholars through the Bible's development from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance era, allowing all readers of the Bible to marvel at the wisdom of the writings and beauty of the illustrations, many available here for the first time.

Ambrogio M. Piazzoni (1951) is the vice prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Library, first layman to hold this position. A graduate of Sapienza-University of Rome, educated in medieval history and specialized in palaeography, he spent a number of years as a cataloguer of manuscripts in the Vatican Library before taking charge for the introduction of the computerized cataloguing of manuscripts. As vice prefect (1999), he is also the scientific director of cataloguing of the Vatican Library manuscripts and director of the Library's publishing department. He teaches Latin palaeography, which pertains to both writing and illuminations, at the Augustinianum University in Rome. He has published a number of books and more than a hundred articles in scholarly journals and collective works on subjects related to medieval cultural history, biblical exegesis in the Middle Ages, Church history, and history of the Vatican Library.

Francesca Manzari (1967), PhD, is researcher in history of medieval art at Sapienza-University of Rome, where she teaches history of illumination. She has taken part, as author and part of the editorial staff, in the Enciclopedia dell'arte Medievale and in the journal Arte Medievale. In 2015 she won the Houghton Mifflin Fellowship for research at Harvard University. She has published several volumes and extensively in international journals, also in various languages. She was on the advisory board for the exhibition Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts from Boston Collections (Harvard University; Boston, September 2016-January 2017), ed. J. Hamburger, W. Stoneman, A. M. Eze, L. Fagin-Davis, N. Netzer. Her research has centered on liturgical and devotional books and manuscript illumination in Avignon and Italy. She is currently working on a book on illumination in Rome during the Great Western Schism.

RNJB NT and Psalms

Just a friendly reminder that the Revised New Jerusalem Bible (NT and Psalms) will be released in the US at the end of November.  The publisher is Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd and it will be 624 pages in length.  The price seems quite affordable.  Will be interesting to compare this with the NJB.  

Description:
Presenting the world's first modern English Bible in a new light. In 1966, Darton, Longman and Todd published the Jerusalem Bible, the first full translation of the Bible into modern English, with an acclaimed set of study notes. In 1985, it released the New Jerusalem Bible, an update of the Bible text for a fast-changing world. Now, after more than thirty years, DLT is preparing to publish the Revised New Jerusalem Bible - a substantial revision of the JB and NJB texts, and one which applies formal equivalence translation for a more accurate rendering of the original scriptures, sensitivity to readable speech patterns and more inclusive language. The RNJB is accompanied by a new, comprehensive set of study notes and book introductions enabling the Bible to be read with the insight, wisdom and understanding of the most up-to-date biblical scholarship. The New Testament and Psalms will be published in November 2017, and the Full Bible will be published in the late spring of 2018. Both editions will contain the comprehensive study notes and book introductions. The RNJB has been translated, and the notes and introductions written, by Dom Henry Wansbrough OSB, a monk of Ampleforth Abbey and one of the foremost biblical scholars of our day. Fr Henry was the translator and general editor of the NJB.

First Things Article on Sacral Language

Thanks to the Surly Hermit for passing this First Things article along to me.  It is in the November edition and available online.

Thus Saith the Lord
by Nathaniel Peters

One Sunday in high school, we went to the Anglo-Catholic parish where my headmaster served as an assistant priest. Catechized by evangelical Episcopalians and Presbyterians, I believed that the Bible was divinely inspired by God. But I had never seen it treated as such in a physical or ritual way. Down Mr. Jarvis came, robed in damask and the smoke of incense, into the congregation to sing and kiss the Word of God. He spoke the words of the King James Bible, a language steeped in the same reverence for Scripture that the liturgy made manifest.

My thoughts drifted to that day on seeing the news that Pope Francis has appointed a commission to review Liturgiam Authenticam, the Congregation for Divine Worship’s 2001 instruction governing translations of the Mass and sacramental rites into vernacular languages. More recently, he issued a decree giving local bishops’ conferences greater control over such translations. The conflict is partly over jurisdiction: Who should decide what is an acceptable Japanese translation of the liturgy, a committee in Japan or in Rome?
Continue on here.

Let me note here that the main point of this essay would be in conflict with Msgr. Ronald Knox.  When Peters quotes Nicholson, in his work God’s Secretaries, saying that the KJV translators considered it more important “to make English godly than to make the words of God unto the sort of prose that any Englishman would have written” he is in direct contrast to what Knox thought, in regards to translation.  Knox, in his book On Englishing the Bible, references the great Hilaire Belloc, saying, “The great principle he there lays down is that the business of a translator is not to ask, ‘How shall I make this foreigner talk English’ but ‘What would an Englishman have said to express this?‘“ 

 I am eager to read your thoughts on this, as always, let’s engage in this topic with great charity.

Knox on Translation: Hebraisms in English Translation

"We are sensible of these Hebraisms, and most of us would like to see the last of them. But there are hundred and hundreds of other Hebraisms which we do not notice, because we have allowed ourselves to grow accustomed to them.  We should have thought it odd if we had read in The Times, 'General Montgomery's right hand has smitten Rommel in the hinder parts'; but if we get that sort of thing in the Bible we take it, unlike Rommel, sitting down. 'Mr. Churchill then opened his mouth and spoke' is that English? No, it is Hebrew idiom clothed in English words." -On Englishing the Bible (p.4-5)

Catholic Journaling Bible (NABRE)

Through a joint venture of the Blessed Is She community and OSV, there will finally be a full Catholic Journaling Bible released later this year, with early shipping occuring in January.  The translation used is the NABRE.   

Description:

The Bible that we have all been waiting for! The first ever, full Catholic Journaling Bible (NAB-RE) includes wide margins with lines for note taking, endnotes and footnotes, an easy to read one column format and hand lettered verses for each book.

“The seed is the word of God.” Luke 8:11

The Bible is 6.25 x 9″. It has an Imprimatur from James A. Hickey, S.T.D., J.C.D., Archbishop of Washington. This Catholic Journaling Bible has no additional reflections. It has only the footnotes and endnotes from the NABRE text.

Bible in a Year: Your Daily Encounter with God

Description:
It’s a mountaintop experience if you can open up the Word of God. It’s majestic, it’s beautiful, it’s breathtaking. It gets us out of our day-to-day and into God.


The simple format of this premium, leather-bound version of Bible in a Year will keep you engaged as you make your way through all 73 books of the Bible.


Commentaries are written by renowned Catholic biblical scholars and theologians, including Dr. Tim Gray, Dr. Mark Giszczak, Dr. John Sehorn, Dr. Scott Powell, Dr. Michael Morris, Dr. Elizabeth Klein, and Deborah Holiday. 


• Each day features three readings, one each from the Old Testament, Wisdom Literature, and the New Testament 
• Insightful daily reflections are written by leading theologians to facilitate deeper meditation and encounter with God through his Word 
• Revised Standard Version of the Bible – Second Catholic Edition


This beautiful, leather-bound book is a perfect gift for any occasion!  (It is also available in a paperback edition.)  


Thanks to John and Chris for alerting me to this new edition, which will be released at the beginning of Advent.  More info can be found here.  The also have a sample which you can see here.  This is a product of the Augustine Institute.

The New Testament: A Translation by David Bentley Hart

For a First Things article on this new translation, go here.   To purchase the translation, go here.

David Bentley Hart is an Eastern Orthodox scholar of religion, and a philosopher, writer, and cultural commentator. He is a fellow at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Studies and has held positions at the University of Virginia, Duke University, and Providence College. He lives in South Bend, IN.

Description:
David Bentley Hart undertook this new translation of the New Testament in the spirit of “etsi doctrina non daretur,” “as if doctrine is not given.” Reproducing the texts’ often fragmentary formulations without augmentation or correction, he has produced a pitilessly literal translation, one that captures the texts’ impenetrability and unfinished quality while awakening readers to an uncanniness that often lies hidden beneath doctrinal layers.
 
The early Christians’ sometimes raw, astonished, and halting prose challenges the idea that the New Testament affirms the kind of people we are. Hart reminds us that they were a company of extremists, radical in their rejection of the values and priorities of society not only at its most degenerate, but often at its most reasonable and decent. “To live as the New Testament language requires,” he writes, “Christians would have to become strangers and sojourners on the earth, to have here no enduring city, to belong to a Kingdom truly not of this world. And we surely cannot do that, can we?”

 Eager to hear your thoughts.

Thanks to Cathryn for the link.

Bible Sale

Over the years I have accumulated a lot of bibles and have tried to get them into the hands of people who might actually read them. So, thanks to the approval of the admin, I am offering this first batch of bibles to anyone who is interested. I’m not really looking to make a fortune, but if you see one you like, just message me an offer (including shipping) and I am sure we will work things out. I can take checks or via PayPal. I can only ship to the USA, unless the person who wants a particular bible is willing to pay $$$ in shipping costs.   If interested, or if you have a question, just email me at mccorm45(at)yahoo(dot)com.  I'll update this as we go.  I have a few more that I will be offering in the coming weeks as well.

Here are the bibles listed from top to bottom:
Cambridge Imitation Leather pocket NRSV NT, Psalms, and Proverbs

Asia Trading Company Hardcover Compact NLT-CE

Oxford Italian Duo-Tone Compact NRSV w/apocrypha

Nova Vulgate NT

Message Remix Hardcover

Vintage 1966 Liturgical Press Hardcover RSV-CE

Crossway ESV gift bible

NavPress The Message Saddle Tan

HarperOne NABRE in imitation leather

Abingdon NRSV New Interpreters Bible Hardcover

Vintage Douay-Westminster Family-sized Bible

Local Kid Beat Up On Church Playground For Carrying NIV

Thanks to Chris for passing along this article from the satirical site The Babylon Bee:

DALLAS, TX—Local youngster Caleb Beckett brought his trusty NIV Bible For Boys to church Sunday, as he does every week. But this Sunday was different, as a classmate reportedly noticed for the first time that Beckett was using the NIV translation.

According to sources, the classmate began to loudly ridicule him for his choice of translation, resulting in a group of young hooligans assaulting the youth and mocking him.

Witnesses confirmed that Beckett effectively shielded himself with his Bible—aided by the fact that it was housed in a very large and elaborate Bible cover—until one of the bullies got a hold of him while the others pummeled him, shouting insults like, “Dynamically equivalent little dork!” and “You wouldn’t know a good translation if it bit you in the butt!”

Finally, Beckett was thrown to the ground while the gang of ESV-wielding youths threw his NIV translation up onto a tree branch, far out of his reach.

“You’ll have better luck jumping up to grab your so-called ‘Bible’ than the NIV translators did imposing their gender neutrality on the text, you chump!” one of the bullies called out as they high-fived each other and left Beckett moaning in the playground sand, sources confirmed.

This made me think, if there was an equivalent in the Catholic bible translation world.  Hmmm.....I would think in some circles the NAB takes a lot of grief/crap from people who generally aren't aware of how that text has changed over the years.  Your thoughts?  (Let's not take this too serious, just have some fun.)

Bible Poll: Which Bible translation would you like to see most in a Catholic Edition?

Which Bible translation would you like to see most in a Catholic Edition?

King James Version 1769

Revised Version 1895

New International Version (Specify Edition in Comments)

New King James Version

New American Standard Version 1995

English Standard Version

Other

quotes 2 know