Thursday, August 6, 2009

Catholic Bible Poll at 500

Here are the official, though unscientific, results of the Catholic Bible Poll after 500 votes:

Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition 31% (154)
New American Bible 19% (95)
New Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition 19% (93)
Douay-Rheims 13% (64)
New Jerusalem Bible 8% (42)
Jerusalem Bible 7% (34)
Good News Bible 3% (14)
Christian Community Bible 1% (4)


Some thoughts:
***The battle for #2 continues between the NAB and NRSV. It always seems to go back and forth. In any event, the numbers are close and reflect the growing interest in the NRSV.

***The RSV-CE remains the clear #1 choice. It has received the same exact number of votes as the Douay-Rheims, New Jerusalem Bible, Jerusalem Bible, and Good News Bible combined!

4 comments:

Meg said...

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of WHO chose which Bible according to where they are from.

I wonder how many people choose the Bible used for liturgy in their particular country?

Or specifically choose a different one?

Timothy said...

Meg,

Yeah, that would be interesting to know. I have looked at my site counter, which does show some people who are readers from Europe. So who knows! :)

Michael Barber said...

I would have voted for the RSVCE too. Though it isn't perfect, it is clearly far superior to the NAB, a truly terrible translation in my opinion. In fact, I don't know too many people who have worked in Hebrew and Greek who really love the NAB. I think the fact that Rome chose the RSVCE for the Catechism is really significant. However, as long as the USCCB continues to get a royalty kick-back from the NAB I can't see them moving away from it any time soon.

Timothy said...

Michael,

Thanks for stopping by. I would also point out that the NAB has so very few study tools keyed to it. That is an area where the RSV or NRSV have a clear advantage over it. I am not sure that will change over time either!

BTW: I do enjoy your blog very much!