Thank you to Diakonos for this guest review of the NCB.
Timothy asked me to give a little review of the
New Community Bible: Catholic Edition (NCBCE) which I just received a few days ago. I want to say that this is a rookie review from an average informed Bible user and not one from someone steeped in the various editions, translations, schools and debates of the Biblical world. I have been using the Christian Community Bible: Catholic Pastoral Edition (34th Edition, 2003, brown leather, zip closure edition). I chose the CCB years ago not for its translation, but because it provided a fair amount of doctrinal notes with a great abundance of pastoral and inspirational commentary. The NCBCE I just obtained is the International edition copyright 2012 as opposed to the First Revised Edition of 2011 and the original Edition of 2008.
The preface to the original
Edition states that the NCBCE has the goal of presenting a completely
re-writing of the introductions and commentaries for each book of the Bible. I
am assuming this means “new” in relation to the Christian Community Bible.
It also states that a fundamental principle was to include in the
commentary (annotations, etc.) not only Catholic exegesis and application, but
also that from the scriptures of other world religions. I have not had the NCBCE long enough to discover a lot, but I have already encountered
reference to the Quran in the
commentary for Matthew 1 concerning the virginal conception of Jesus (in the
Quran he is called by the Syro-Arabic name of Isa). And I also read the note to Jn 20:11-18 which makes use
of Hindu comparisons between Mary
Magdalene and Jesus to the Indian relationship between a guru and his devotee.
The commentary’s style presumes that the reader is familiar with what is being
discussed. I would think an “international” edition would take care to be a bit
more explanatory.
In comparison to my nice leather CCB, I was disappointed that the NCMCE came in only a basic hardcover
edition. One of the things I really liked about my CCB is how it feels in the hand and how it is worthily bound for
the sacredness of the book. I am just not a fan of plain hardcover (or
especially paperback!) Bibles. I find that
in general it is of average quality as far as paper, ink, bleeding, etc. go. The
page layout is an improvement over that of the CCB: each page has three parts – sacred text in upper portion,
commentary in lower part and a box or bar containing cross references in
between. The title of each book of the Bible is printed in a large (poor
quality but distinct) calligraphic font. The actual print is of a very good and
clear size (commentary as well) which I appreciate very much as my eyes settle
into middle age! I like that it has two
ribbons: one attached in the OT section, the other in the NT, and the black
thumb indexing is much easier to see/use than the yellow fine printed ones in
the CCB.
The order of the books of the OT
is different from that of the CCB and
is given as is standard for Catholic editions of the Bible. There are four poor
quality black and white maps at the back of the Bible, following a very basic
lexicon that reminds me of the Word List found in many editions of the Good News Bible. The artwork is sparse
and in some cases obviously “Indian” in style but for me artwork in a Bible
isn’t an important component.
Of course I haven’t had enough
time to really delve into the translation and commentary yet but I have noticed
that the translation is a bit different from its predecessor (or competition)
and the commentary is noticeably different in that it is more scholarly and
doctrinal than pastoral and homiletic, yet these are not absent from the notes.
For a comparison of translation, I looked at Luke’s account of the
annunciation. Both read “Rejoice, full
of grace” which I think is a nice happy medium between, “Hail, favored one!”
(NABRE), “Hail, full of grace” (RSV-CE), and 'Rejoice, you who enjoy God's
favour!’ (NJB), while the commentary states that “rejoice” and “most favored one” are the best translation
of the Greek in keeping with the overall biblical continuity of the phrases. This
theme continues in the annunciation narrative in the angel’s words to Mary for
while the
CCB states that God was
looking kindly on Mary, the
NCBCE states
that ‘God has favored you’ (Lk 1:31).
Mary’s reply of virginity is also a tad nuanced for in the CCB she says
‘How can this be if I am a virgin?’ while in the NCBCE it is ‘How can this be
since I am a virgin?’ not a huge difference at all but I somehow like the
latter better. I suppose this would be a
good place to mention that the virgin vs. young maiden of Is. 4:17 retains the
traditional Catholic rendering in the
NCBCE.
Whenever I come across a new
edition or version of a Bible there are certain “Catholic” passages I
habitually turn to see how the translation and the notes resonate with me. These
are Mt. 16:19ff, Lk 1:26ff, Jn 6:22ff, Jn 19:25ff, and Jn 20:19ff. There are others of course but these few are
my quick-search hits. The NCBCE does a great job of translating and an even
finer task of providing extensive solid Catholic commentary for Peter the Rock,
the Eucharist and Mass, and something not always discussed in notes for Jn 19 –
the spiritual motherhood of Our Lady. However I feel that it missed the boat
regarding Lk 1:28 and Jn 20:23. No mention of the Immaculate Conception in the
notes for Luke nor was there reference to the Sacrament of Reconciliation for
John. What makes this a glaring omission for me is that these are two of the
extremely few and rare verses of Scripture that actually get a magisterial (not
just devotional) interpretation and teaching associated with them. I found this a bit odd considering the very
catechetical Catholic spirit of the commentaries for the passages noted above,
but definitely not even close to being a deal-breaker for me. Here are some excerpts from the above
mentioned Jn note:
While overall I really like the NCBCE and can see it easily becoming my
daily Bible and is already a replacement for my CCB…there are a couple things missing for me, but then is anyone
ever satisfied with the Bibles they have or those available on the market?
- First, I would like to have the option to buy it in a
nice decent quality binding. Doesn’t need to be leather…I have come to
enjoy many of the “faux” covers that feel so soft and great in hand. A
different cover option alone would be a great change to match the inside
of the NCBCE as it is with the
indexing, ribbons and layout.
- Second, I would like to see the biggest omission
rectified: the inclusion of a Lectionary guide so that Catholics can use
this for Sunday Mass reflection. I
am always baffled when Catholic bibles from Catholic publishers fail to
include Sunday (and even Daily) lectionary guides. These really do not
take up that much additional paper and are very helpful.
- Third, in this Year of Faith and considering the
overall impetus of the New Evangelization, I think the inclusion of a
simple “doctrinal reference guide” to key Catholic passages would be
helpful (and not require much additional space). Along this line I also enjoy editions
that provide a handy short reference to the miracles and parables of
Jesus.
- Lastly, and this is not vital since introductions are
not inspired text (but they are very influential) I would like to see a
publisher with academic honesty who will provide a balanced view of
authorship, date, etc. rather than stating current popular biblical theory
as if it was fact. The NCBCE
does a decent job of it in some cases and I was most impressed with its
treatment of John, not shy about relating the evangelist to the “disciple whom Jesus loved” as well as
to the apostle, and stating that the “Johannine community” is simply an
opinion among opinions. I suppose the introductions in the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (NT)
comes as close as it gets these days to what I am referring to, but I
think we all know that it is more likely for the Parousia to occur than
for Ignatius to present a complete and user friendly Catholic Study Bible
in a translation that transcends the ideology of a particular publishing
house.
