Confraternity Bible Online

Someone may have posted about this earlier, but I can't remember.  Jim, from an online forum I don't frequent much anymore, sent me a message alerting me to this.  I only saw his message a couple days back.  So, if you are looking for the Confraternity Bible online, follow this link.  It also has the 1942 commentary.

The Transpositioning and Dislocating of Biblical Texts

Sinag-Tala Confraternity Bible

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been having a fascinating discussion regarding which OT would fit best with the Confraternity NT were it ever to be re-published in the future.  One of the more interesting comments I read concerns the issue of transpositioning/dislocating of verses, which was done in the Confraternity/NAB Old Testament (1969).  

Commenter Mark pointed out the places in Ezekiel and Job in the Confraternity/NAB OT (1969) where this took place and wrote: "For the many passages in the Confraternity version where transpositions and other dislocations of the text are incorporated in the translation, you aren't really reading God's word at that point, but rather what scholars from the 1940s and 50s thought a theoretical reconstruction of the "proper text" might have looked like. And some of those transpositions are in major portions of the text (Job 28's praise of wisdom, the vision chapters of Ezekiel). Not a stray verse here and there, not a disputed reading here and there, but major portions of major books."

Fortunately, the revised NABRE OT avoided transpositioning texts, which was a very good thing. Before 2011, I would occasionally have trouble teaching from the original NAB OT due to this issue. At the time, I had been involved in helping out with an ecumenical bible study, where the vast majority of students were Protestants who used the NIV, ESV, or KJV.  All three of these popular translations did not transposition verses.  This reality was made even more difficult, since the NAB used the Hebrew numbering of verses and chapters, while the vast majority of other English translations followed the Greek numbering.  This remains a minor issue today even in the improved NABRE, most notably in the Psalms and prophets.

While I wouldn't go as far as Mark who said that one who reads a bible that transpositions verses isn't "really reading God's word at that point," I would say that a translated text should be kept in the order it has been received.  I think this should be the case even if moving a verse or two around would aid to clarity of reading a given passage.  We are already reading a text that has been translated into another language, thus leading to a certain level of interpretation already.  I am not sure how fidelity to the original is served when verses are moved around.  As mentioned above, I am grateful that the NABRE OT moved away from this since it has been the text I have used most often this past year when teaching.

What say you?

Confraternity Poll #2

If a full Confraternity Bible was produced, which edition of the OT would you prefer?

Douay (Challoner)

Confraternity/NAB (1969)

personality test

Confraternity Bible Poll

If a quality/premium edition of the Confraternity Bible could be produced, I would choose it in the following format:

New Testament (1941) Only

Full Old Testament (1969) and New Testament (1941)

I don't really care to have one in any format

personality test

Pre-Order: Christ in the Gospels

Tan Books/Saint Benedict Press has been re-publishing a number of older titles from the Confraternity of the Precious Blood recently.  You can pre-order this here for $11.95.  I would assume that it is the Confraternity translation.  I think it would be interesting if a Catholic publisher could obtain the rights for the Confraternity NT and combine it with the Douay OT in order to publish a new edition in an updated, contemporary format.  We see this all the time with the KJV.  It would be great to obtain an edition of the classic translations in a format the is from the 21st and not 19th century.


Thank you to Tom for sending me info on this.


Description:

Live the Gospel from a disciple’s point of view!

 Inspired by the words of the Gospels, andupdated and arranged for daily reading, Christ in the Gospel is an indispensable pocket devotional. Designed specifically to bring Christ into your busy life, each day features Our Lord’s words as well as a how to incorporate them into your daily life.

Confraternity NT Online!

Thanks to Michael for pointing this out to me.  Go check it out!

Confraternity Bible: New Testament and Supplemental Commentary

Guest Post: My Little Scripture Library

Thanks to reader Thomas for this post on the My Little Scripture Library from Confraternity of the Precious Blood.

This is a three book collection called My Little Scripture Library. It was published by the Confraternity of the Precious Blood. I think it was sold around the 1950's. The latest publishing date in the book Christ in the gospel is 1949.

There are three titles: The New Testament which contains the Confraternity version,  Christ in the Gospel which is a harmony of the gospels, and My Daily Psalm Book, which contains the Bea Psalter arranged according to the pre-Vatican II breviary.

Both the psalter and the harmony have numerous illustrations by the Armenian artist Ariel Agemian.

Each book is bound in what appears to be a synthetic leather. They each come with two ribbon markers. The pages have the red and gold gilt edges. Each book is about 5 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches. And they came packed in a small protective box.

I got these off of eBay for about thirty dollars. They seemed to have been unused. The ribbons were still folded up in each volume and look as though they have never been read.

I have enjoyed reading them and especially like following the Psalter throughout the day for prayer, and ready the gospel harmony.

It is also interesting to note that TAN Books is now going to be the publisher for the pocket books of the Confraternity of Precious Blood.

1953 Douay-Confraternity, Gregorian Edition (John J. Crawley)

I was on e-bay the other day looking at Bibles (which I do a lot) and the cover photo of this Bible caught my eye. Most of the 1953 Crawley addition Confraternity Bibles have a brown hard cover with a gold cross on it, of which are offered on e-bay frequently. But this leather wrapped hard cover is really nice.

The Bible is illuminated (as you can see in the photo), there are 93 illuminated pictures scattered throughout the OT and the NT, all depicting Bible scenes (each book has at least one). The beginning word of each book is also illuminated and the beginning word of each chapter has a minor illumination of the first letter.

This is not one of those big family Bibles, it measures 8 3/4 x 5 7/8 x 2 1/2 inches. It has a sewn binding and lays flat for table top reading. It has three ribbon markers (gold, red and purple), gold gilded page edges, and has 10 pages of maps. The paper is nice and thick with almost no bleed through (typical of many older Bibles), but it does make for a fatter Bible, but that is ok. The font size is about 8, which is usually a little small for me, but with almost no bleed through and well spaced lettering I can read it just fine (see photo). 

The first eight books of the OT (Genesis - Ruth) and the Psalms are in the Confraternity translation, the rest of the OT is in the Douay translation. The NT is also the Confraternity translation. 

I paid $59.00 for this Bible which is more than I usually pay for a used Bible, but it is in very nice condition, and if I were to buy the cheaper version of this Bible and wanted to get it re-covered later that would cost at least $100.00, so it is my Christmas gift to myself! I have since seen two more of these Bibles on e-bay.

Thank you to Rolf, one of the most faithful readers of this blog, for submitting this review.  Looks like a real beauty!

Semi-Regular Weekly Poll

Which is the best English translation of the Latin Vulgate?

• Original Douay-Rheims
• Challoner Douay-Rheims
• Knox Bible
• Confraternity Bible (NT + Douay OT)
• Other?

Freeblogpolls

More polls: snabblånnu

Guest Review: Sinag-Tala Confraternity Bible

Thanks to reader Jonny for another fine guest review:

This is a uniquely interesting copy of the Confraternity version of the Holy Bible that is currently being published by Sinag-Tala Publishers in the Philippines. It is an attractive but boxy little hardcover book (6 ¼ x 4 ½ x 2 ½) with quality binding and two ribbon markers. It also includes the cut-out thumb tabs which is kind of cool. The dimensions of this Bible remind me of the squat pre-NAB hardbacks from CBPC and others. It includes an index, a glossary, and 8 maps in the back that feature the traditional Catholic form of the proper names (e.g. “Chanaan” and “Juda.”) This Bible, like the blue pocket Confraternity NT Tim mentioned in his recent post, is reprinted with the special permission of the Confraternity of the Precious Blood.

The Old Testament in this edition is for the most part what could be called the “Confraternity Old Testament.” This is basically the translation that became the 1970 version of the New American Bible OT, with a few exceptions. The OT books of this version included are: Genesis - Ruth, Job - Sirach, and Isaia – Malachia. The remaining books (1 Kings to Esther, and 1 & 2 Machabees) are in the Challoner version. There is no reason given as to why certain books were included in the Challoner version, although I wonder if the desire was to keep some of the unique book names and textual peculiarities of the Vulgate. The difference between the OT Confraternity books and the NAB 1970 is threefold. First, the Book of Genesis was completely redone for NAB 1970. The Confraternity Version was a bit more traditional… “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth; the earth was waste and void; darkness covered the abyss, and the spirit of God was stirring above the waters.” Also in Genesis, God creates the “firmament,” instead of the “dome” between the waters, and calls the serpent “cursed” instead of “banned,” just to name a couple more. But in general, it is unlike the Douay version in many places where the Douay is especially unique (such as God forming man from the “slime” of the earth.) The second major difference is the translation of proper names. The Confraternity OT is translated from the Hebrew but yet the proper names are not quite the same as the commonly accepted Protestant versions. Some examples are “Noe” instead of “Noah,” Aaron’s sister “Miriam” in the RSV is “Mariam” here (and Mary in the Douay), “Zion” is “Sion,” and also the prophets “Jeremia,” “Osee,” “Abdia,” “Jona,” “Michea,” “Habacuc,” “Sophonia,” “Aggai,” “Zacharia,” and “Malachia” are good examples of the uniqueness of this version. The third main difference in this version from the NAB 1970 is the format and notes. The NAB 1970 has more extensive notes and outlined column headings, including the stanza division in the Psalms. The Confraternity Psalms also have the dual numbering system like the RSV-CE.

All in all, I think this Holy Bible from Sinag-Tala makes a great addition to any Catholic Bible collectors bookshelf. It is kind of the “missing link” between the Douay Rheims and the NAB. By the way, the front cover art is taken from the Ramsay Psalter: Creation, Creation of Eve, Fall of Man, and Expulsion from Paradise. The back cover art is taken from Book of Hours: Betrayal and Arrest of Christ, Suicide of Judas, Pilate Washing His Hands.

Confraternity New Testament

The under-appreciated Confraternity New Testament is still available today through Scepter Publishers, who publish a delightful compact edition. Whenever I go to a used bookstore, I often find old textbook editions of the Confraternity Bible. Some of them contain the complete Douay Old Testament, while others have a combination of the Douay and the Confraternity revisions. Those revisions, which were translated from the Hebrew/Greek (and Latin for the Psalms I think?) ultimately became the basis for the original NAB Old Testament. (Genesis, however, was re-translated before the NAB came out.)

I know a number of people who remain very fond of the Confraternity New Testament. I wouldn't mind, at some point, doing a comparison of it with the Rheims NT. (If anyone is interested in this task, send me an email!) Whenever I have read verses from the Confraternity NT, I do find myself liking it quite a bit! If does a nice job of updating some of the older renderings in the Rheims NT, without losing its elegance.

I bring up the Confraternity Bible now because I recently read a fine review of a single-column Confraternity NT at J. Mark Bertrand's Bible Design Blog. I actually have that exact New Testament somewhere, so I may have to search through some boxes for it. Its worth checking out, at the very least for the great photos. Also check out Matt's review of the Scepter edition here.