Monday, August 29, 2011

Catholic Study Bible NABRE is Available

Thanks to my fine readers who have let me know that the Catholic Study Bible NABRE is now available. You can purchase it in hardcover, paperback, or bonded leather. (My hardbound is on the way!)

16 comments:

Theophrastus said...

Fantastic news. My hardbound is moving more slowly than yours -- it is merely "shipping soon."

Since the editors of the Oxford CSB are often CBA members who translated or annotated the NAB/NABRE, I think that Oxford volume will be particularly useful for studying the NAB/NABRE translation.

I don't know of a single-volume resource containing the entire NAB/NABRE text that is more comprehensive.

Theophrastus said...

Well, I've made preliminary study of the new edition, and it is very similar to the previous second edition (retaining the same imprimatur). There appear to be no changes to the Reading Guide at all, and as a result, it no longer matches the Biblical translation text. For example, look on page 285, and notice in the last paragraph that Isaiah 7:14 is quoted from the previous NAB edition.

I have to confess being disappointed that the editors did not take the opportunity to make a more extensive updating of their materials with new NABRE materials. As a result, I am afraid that I cannot recommend this edition.

Timothy said...

Theophrastus,

That is disappointing indeed! I am astonished that they wouldn't make those obvious changes. Seems plain lazy to me. I should be getting mine tomorrow, in hardback. However, if they publish a third edition in the next year or two, I am not I will be willing to drop another $30+ on it.

Theophrastus said...

As another example look at the description of the NAB on p. 70 -- there is no indication of any revision since 1991. And on p. 75, there is extensive discussion of the a "proposed" "revised NAB." That would be ... the NABRE.

I'm seriously considering sending this volume back. The fact that I was so looking forward to it just makes the final result that much more bitter.

Timothy said...

Theophrastus,

It just seems inexcusable really. Why not simply wait to publish the NABRE in a 3rd edition that is updated. This is the kind of nonsense that continues to cause dismay whenever I am looking at the state of Catholic study Bibles. You combine this with the glacial pace of publication for the ICSB and the recent CSSI Study Bible, which didn't even have cross-references, and you have to ask what does a Catholic need to do to get a solid study Bible.

Michael D. said...

Caveat emptor!

Francesco said...

So is the OCSB-2E identical to the OCSB except for the NABRE OT?

Francesco said...

Scratch my earlier comment, what I meant to ask was this:
Did they just drop the NAB OT from the OSCB-2E and replace it with the NABRE OT?

So you would not only have the NT notes that don't match the OT, but the reading guide doesn't either?

Timothy said...

Francesco,

I will be getting my edition in the mail today, but it appears that the answer to both your question is yes.

Theophrastus said...

Francesco: yes.

There were changes made to the concordance, and I am still trying to understand them fully, but my current working hypothesis is that when concordance no longer matches the Biblical text, the concordance simply deletes the entry.

Thus, the concordance appears to be significantly less useful in this edition.

Timothy said...

Theophrastus,

There has to be some good news with this edition? (I will be reviewing my edition tonight when I get home.)

Does it have the same "look" as the 2nd edition?

Theophrastus said...

Well, the good news is slim, but here it is: the back material has been updated (e.g., the concordance, and the glossary [look up "historical-critical method" or "higher criticism" on p. 1791], the contributors to the NABRE, etc.)

The front materials (except the copyright page) seem to be identical to the earlier first edition. The Bible books appear to be roughly similar to the previous edition. I liked that layout, so another positive is that that it is a reasonably good layout of the NABRE. (However, the layout of the Little Rock Catholic Study Bible is much better -- although I consider the additional materials in LRCSB to be simplistic.)

If someone has the current 2nd edition, I would suggest holding onto it and getting a different printing of the NABRE. As you said, it is just "plain lazy." I think that OUP deserves a mild rebuke for putting this volume out without a more extensive effort at putting in the obvious updates, at least.

It might be forgivable if this book were for scholars, but I've always thought of this particular volume as being for Biblical education of non-scholars -- a "bible class in a book." Since the notes and reading guide and text now all (in some cases, badly) disagree with each other, the result is just a mess. For a careful reader, this particular volume is more likely to confuse than educate, I think. I think that the reader would be just as well off using a standard NABRE (such as the St. Benedict's) and a separate commentary volume (such as the New Jerome or Raymond Brown's Introduction to the New Testament or International Bible Commentary or Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible or many other volumes.)

Tim B. said...

What a hack job. This Bible has 2 things against it. First it isn't available in genuine leather and second Oxford did a sloppy job editing this to conform to the NABRE OT text.

This makes me wonder if Oxford is even trying anymore.

Timothy said...

Just going through the Reading Guide in my new CSB NABRE and notice another inconsistency. On page 340, in in reference to Daniel 7, the Reading Guide refers to the 'Ancient One' but the NABRE actually changed to the more accurate 'Ancient of Days'.

I hate to be so critical of this edition. I think the NABRE is a considerable improvement over the old NAB and the info in the Reading Guides are helpful, but the reality that they didn't sync the Reading Guides to the NABRE is highly disappointing. Glad I didn't order the leather version.

Anonymous said...

When I saw that it was still a 2nd Edition, I was concerned that this would be the case - no update to the Reading Guide.

Thanks for sharing this news. I will keep my (genuine leather) 2nd Edition as recommended and just use my Little Rock edition and St. Benedict edition while referring to the 2nd Edition's Reading Guide on occasion, and consider getting the 3rd Edition of Oxford's CSB when it comes out in the indeterminate future.

I agree that the additional materials of Little Rock's edition to be more "simplistic" than Oxford's, but they are incorporated nicely within the text (no flipping to a reading guide) and I think there is an audience for a study bible of this nature that would otherwise be turned off by Oxford's; even if it ends up being a "starter" study bible for someone first delving into scripture study, who then moves on to Oxford's, Navarre, or ICSB over time.

Michael P.

Anonymous said...

I know this is WAY after the fact, but does anyone know if the bonded leather edition is thumb indexed?