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I did this last year and received some interesting proposals/suggestions. So this time, please feel free to comment on possible or scheduled for publication editions or just go ahead and dream big. (Also, let's assume that the Didache Bible will actually be published in the first quarter of 2015.)
If you choose to dream big, take a moment to look forward to 2015 and use a little bit of your own imagination. Here is the proposal: If you could produce your own Catholic bible edition, using an already existing translation, what would it be? Which translation would you use? What would be the theme of this Bible? What would be included in it?
Here is mine, which is the same as last year:
The Saint John's Bible: Visio Divina Edition (NRSV)
Product Information:
Format: Goatskin Leather (I'd be happy with a nice genuine leather too)
Dimensions: 9.75 X 6.75 X 1.5 (inches)
Vendor: HarperOne/Liturgical Press
Pages: 1800
ISBN#1234567890 (not really)
Price: $125.00
Product Description:
HarperOne and Liturgical Press have teamed up to produce the first ever personal Bible edition that combines the language of the New Revised Standard Version: Catholic Edition and the majestic illuminations of the Saint John's Bible. The Visio Divina edition combines Scripture passages and sacred artwork from The Saint John's Bible in order to facilitate the powerful prayer process of visio divina. This process encourages participants to "listen and meditate on Scripture, see with eyes of faith as they gaze on illuminations, pray to God, contemplate the Spirit's movements, and reflect how they might further become Christ-like." To enhance this process, the NRSV text is laid out in a very readable single-column setting, enhanced by textual notes and cross-references in the margins. All 160 illuminations fromThe Saint John's Bible are reproduced on thin glossy paper and placed at the appropriate places near the biblical text. On the back of each illumination page is a brief reflection, including scriptural cross-references, authored by Fr. Michael Patella, OSB, SSD, chair of the Committee on Illumination and Text for The Saint John's Bible and author of Word and Image: the Hermeneutics of The Saint John's Bible. Also includes: Vatican II document Dei Verbum, 3-Year Cycle of Sunday and Holy Day Readings, 16 pages of full-color maps, two ribbon markers, and a concise concordance.
19 comments:
What a wonderful imagination you have.
Happy New Year
My ideal Bible would be:
The Jerusalem Bible 1966 (NOT the 'new' Jerusalem Bible) with all the original notes, cross-references, and page layout, EXCEPT the font size would be one point higher.
It would have approximately the same footprint as the New Oxford Annotated Bible RSV with Apocrypha (NOT the NRSV which is a beast!).
It would be bound by Cambridge in thick, distressed, dark brown goatskin leather with raised spine hubs.
The spine and cover would be blind stamped with The Jerusalem Bible and the Jerusalem Cross.
It would be printed on the highest quality India Bible paper and the page edges would be art gilded (red under gold).
The inside covers would be leather lined with black leather.
It would contain 3 wider ribbons.
And lastly, it would come packaged with 6 of the world's finest stouts!!! :)
Cheers!
Dave
Hey Tim,
Put me down for one of the NRSV Visio Divinas! I'll take one in red letter, if they're available. Hey, we're dreaming, right?
You got it! Pre-order in March! ;)
I would like a fresh, new translation of the scriptures, including a translation of the Septuagint for the OT. That would be awesome!
Well, yours is hard to beat Tim but other than your Visio I would go with what seems a noticeable hole in the Catholic Bible blog world: a beautiful leather Oxford or Cambridge version of Jerusalem or New Jerusalem with all the notes.
Wouldn't be averse to an electronic (i.e. in Verbum) version of the Knox either.
A compact Knox Bible available in hardback, or in leather with red under gold gilding and three ribbons. With thumb-indexing, a set of good colored maps, a concise concordance, cross-references, a table of lectionary readings, and something similar to MTF's "How to Be A Better Catholic" in the back. Your all-in-one resource for Mass, Adoration, and personal devotions.
The hardcover would actually be bound in cloth, and the leather would be good and soft. Not as compact as say, an Oxford RSV Compact, but a nice little chunky book that's not too heavy or unwieldy. And, if it were humanly possible, a decent font size while still managing to be single-column text (two columns for poetry sections). I just want half-decent Bible with the lectionary readings in it. Why is that not in every Catholic Bible?
Erica,
I think every publisher should take note of the Cambridge Clarion Reference editions of Bibles and follow it. Actually, Cambridge should throw their hat in the ring with some of these Bibles! The Clarions are exactly what you are describing:
Wonderful covers
Single Column
Side column references
translator notes
And then for Catholic editions, just add the info you are suggesting (deuterocanonicals, lectionary, etc..)
The Clarion is that 'chunky' Bible that you are after. It's the perfect size and the goatskins have art-gilt page edges. They don't have thumb indexes though. That's the ONLY thing missing. But the Clarions are truly close to being perfect Bibles. They even lend themselves to wonderful wide-margin editions that would then make them the size of a standard Bible!
Cambrdidge.... take note!!!
Timothy, I would go with your Bible, but some how I don't think your going to get in goatskin for $125, maybe $225. But at last we are dealing with fantasies right! So here is even a bigger fantasy,; a large print Ignatius RSV-2CE with any cover. Since I have been wating 8 going on 9 years for that, it might be the bigger fantasy of the two!!! Sad.
Rolf,
You are tenacious! Keep dreaming. :)
Timothy, I keep dreaming out loud on your blog every year about this issue hoping that someone at Ignatius will listen, but alas no one ever does???
No comment! ;)
King James Bible Catholic Edition.
It would include the deuterocanonical books in appropriate English and footnotes to indicate protestant bias in the translation.
David Garcia,
You are right. I was going for the Clarion. A Knox Clarion. Or better yet, an RSV-2CE one. And the thumb-indexes aren't a deal-breaker. I Just like them because they add the utility of tabs without marring the book itself. Still, it's not as if finding a book without tabs is hard—just irksome to get the feel of a new Bible after using another one for so long.
And ditto the large print Ignatius. Better yet, how about an RSV-2CE in a plain cover, with a few more maps and a lectionary table? Come on, Ignatius! Also, redoing the cross-references would be nice. I don't like the stars they use; often I completely miss them.
The only thing I really want to see is the Knox Bible finally released as an ebook.
I would love to see the NABRE New Testament revision complete. I'm looking forward to the fact that eventually we will have one Bible translation.
I would like a new English translation of the Latin Vulgate and perhaps the Septuagint as well, bound in real calfskin leather, free of inclusive language, perhaps some traditional footnotes, historical backgrounds, cross references of scripture, etc.
I would think it would also be interesting to have a Catholic edition of the KJV with deuterocanonical books again bound in nice calfskin leather.
-Drusilla
I would love to see an new edition of Knox's illustrated New Testament - with slightly larger text for the notes - in an attractive Hardcover.
And a new translation of the Septuagint.
Pax,
john
Drusilla,
Cambridge already makes TWO fine calfskin/quality leather KJVs WITH 'apocrypha'. They have a Cameo edition and a Paragraph Bible. Even though the 'apocryphal books' aren't in the 'right order' (whatever that means!), at least all the books are there! You should check them out!
Dave
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