A Clarification from Logos on Their Catechism Software

Thanks to Alex from Logos for answering these questions:

I'm sure at this point many of you have seen Timothy's post about the Catechism Collection at the Logos Catholic site, but if you haven't seen it and were concerned about cost, this is our attempt to produce an affordable, but still functional, collection.  Check it out and check out our blog video detailing how to optimize your experience with said Collection.

In regards to the question from John: the hyper text capability works with every resource you own. Thus if you only own the Catechism, internal cross references will work, but the footnotes will have nowhere from which to draw the original text.  The key thing to note is this means you can buy each resource as you are able and they will link to each other as they are added to your library (however, you will end up paying significantly more for the individual texts). The Catechism Collection is certainly worth the $50 (Individually, the contained resources are worth $130+)In regards to a question from Mike: the public domain text files cannot truly compare to the tagged versions that we produce. Additionally, the time and effort spent creating the Logos versions and tagging them so they interact with other texts and work in our software, support notes, word tools, etc. cannot be achieved for free. While it seems difficult to justify at first, once you experience it, it makes a lot more sense. If you simply want to read a free text document or pdf, free is great. If you want the features and connectivity of Logos. The tools and tagging are unparalleled and well worth the initially shocking price point.




Please don't hesitate to contact me directly.


Alex Renn
Catholic Marketing Specialist
Logos Bible Software
alex.renn(at)logos(dot)com

Beautiful Premium Bibles That Will Never Come in a Catholic Edition

J. Mark Bertrand is author of the premier website concerning the issue of Bible design, premium leather covers, and quality binding. Whenever I go to his site, I tend to learn something new about the differences between quality and mass-produced Bible editions. I find the vast majority of his posts fascinating, particular for someone like myself, who loves the feel and smell of older Bibles, as well as some of the newer ones too. Lately, he has been including videos in his reviews, the most recent being the Allan Brevier Clarendon KJV. It is worth checking out, along with his older posts.

Be prepared, however, to be disappointed if you are looking for any premium Catholic Bibles on the site. There are just simply none available, in English, for those of us who are looking for one in a specifically Catholic edition. I am not sure if this will change any time soon? It seems to me that the only possibility would be with the NRSV or NABRE translations.

Mondays with the New Psalms: Psalm 128

Psalm 128

1 A song of ascents.

Blessed are all who fear the LORD,
and who walk in his ways.
2 What your hands provide you will enjoy;
you will be blessed and prosper:

3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your home,
Your children like young olive plants
around your table.
4 Just so will the man be blessed
who fears the LORD.

5 May the LORD bless you from Zion;
may you see Jerusalem’s prosperity
all the days of your life,
6 and live to see your children’s children.
Peace upon Israel!
-NABRE


1 A Song of Ascents.

Blessed are all who fear the LORD,
and walk in his ways!
2 By the labor of your hands you shall eat.
You will be blessed and prosper.

3 Your wife like a fruitful vine
in the heart of your house;
your children like shoots of the olive
around your table.
4 Indeed thus shall be blessed
the man who fears the LORD.

5 May the LORD bless you from Sion.
May you see Jerusalem prosper
all the days of your life!
6 May you see your children's children.
On Israel, peace!
-Revised Grail Psalms


NABRE Notes:
[Psalm 128] A statement that the ever-reliable God will bless the reverent (Ps 128:1). God’s blessing is concrete: satisfaction and prosperity, a fertile spouse and abundant children (Ps 128:2–4). The perspective is that of the adult male, ordinarily the ruler and representative of the household to the community. The last verses extend the blessing to all the people for generations to come (Ps 128:5–6).

More Great News from Logos Bible Software

As you know, Logos Bible Software has been producing some fantastic scriptural and theological resources for Catholics. I recently received a copy of their Catholic Scripture Study Library, which is an amazing resource. I will be posting about it in the coming weeks, once school is out at the high school where I teach. As part of their continued push into the Catholic market, Logos will be offering collections from Pope Benedict, Scott Hahn, the Navarre Bible Commentary, as well as the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture in the coming weeks.   All of these great resources, when purchased, are seamlessly integrated into the Logos Bible software program. In addition, they are having a giveaway, where you can have a chance to win the entire Catholic Scholars Library.

Also, make sure to check out their new blog, Verbum.

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Spot Check: Acts 2:1-4

This weekend we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost and get to hear, in the first reading, from Acts 2. So, below you will find four different English Bible translations of Acts 2:1-4. The translations are the NABRE, NRSV, RSV, and NJB. Which one is which? Which one do you like best and why? Try not to cheat!

1:
"When the day of Pentecost had come,
they were all together in one place.
And suddenly a sound came from heaven
like the rush of a mighty wind,
and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
And there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
distributed and resting on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance."

2:
"When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together.
And suddenly there came from the sky a noise
like a strong driving wind,
and it filled the entire house in which they were.
Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim."

3:
"When Pentecost day came round,
they had all met together,
when suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a violent wind
which filled the entire house in which they were sitting;
and there appeared to them tongues as of fire;
these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them.
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak different languages
as the Spirit gave them power to express themselves."

4:
"When the day of Pentecost had come,
they were all together in one place.
And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind,
and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them,
and a tongue rested on each of them.
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in other languages,
as the Spirit gave them ability."

Fr. Barron on Being "Born Again"

3 Things I Would Change in the NABRE

As I stated back in January, this year I am devoting the majority of my devotional and study of the Bible with the newly revised NABRE.  So far, it has been going very well.  I have enjoyed my reading of the NABRE and have been impressed by many of the improvements found in the OT.  My reading of the NABRE has been enhanced recently with the publication of the HarperOne NABRE, which I think is fantastic.  If you are looking for an NABRE readers edition, this one should be at the top of your wish list.

As I have mentioned on this blog before, one cannot truly appreciate the positive and negative features of a translation until one actually commits himself to reading large portions of it.  It has been immensely helpful, therefore, to spend this time observing how particular words are translated from book to book in the NABRE, as well as how the translators worked on larger portions of narrative and/or poetic writings.  This has given me a greater insight into what the translators tried to accomplish with this revision.  The publication of the textual notes to the NABRE will also be very helpful.  Hopefully this will occur at some point this year.

With that being said, I have been thinking about three simple, and quick, ways in which the NABRE could be improved.  This is, of course, just my perception as to what would make the NABRE better.  The three are not meant to be comprehensive, nor drastic in scope, but rather fairly simple "editing" that could be done in a future edition without much effort or expense.  (The quality of the notes is not a major point of this post.)

Here are the three:

1) In Luke 1:28, return to the traditional translation of Kecharitomene  as "full of grace".  A number of the modern Catholic and Ecumenical translations (JB, NJB, RSV, NRSV) all go with something close to the "hail favored one" of the NAB.  The only ones, since since the 1960's, that have the traditional rendering are the RSV-CE, RSV-2CE, and the CCB.  Now one could certainly make an argument that the current NAB rendering is not wrong, which I agree with.  However, the translation of "full of grace" is proper and preferred IMHO.  I am also convinced that the NABRE would win over a number of converts by simply making this change.  (See this article by Msgr. Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington to see what I mean.)  The Lectionary, which uses an adapted NAB, already has made the change.  The way it is now, the current NABRE rendering not only is different than what is heard at Mass, but it also differs from one of the most popular prayers in all of Catholicism: The Hail Mary.  Of course, devotion to Our Lady is important to me personally, but I think this change would be appreciated by a number of others. 

 2) Get rid of the Netherworld!  Not literally of course, like limbo, but the way in which the Greek term hades is translated in Matthew 16:18 and elsewhere in the NT.  Translate the term more precisely and consistently as "Hades", as found in the NRSV and RSV-2CE.  I have never liked the term "the netherworld" and would prefer to see hades translated more consistently as such.  For example, the NAB does translate it "Hades" in the three instances it is found in the Book of Revelation (6:8, 20:13, 20:14).  In addition, the new NABRE translation of Tobit, which uses the Greek Sinaiticus as its textual base, also translated it as "Hades" in Tobit 4:19.  Having two different English terms translate the same place in Greek differently can be confusing to some people.

3) This last one is calling for a bit more consistency between the OT and NT.  First off, as mentioned in previous posts, there are notes in the NT which indicate the way the original NAB OT translates a particular term that does not match up with the revised NABRE OT.  An example of this is found in the note for Matthew 5:3.  There are a few of these scattered throughout the NT, which really should be updated.  Also, there are some additional inconsistencies, like donkey/ass, abandoned/forsaken (Psalm 22), and the use of "body" instead of "flesh" as found in Genesis 2:24 that could be fixed.  That last one, in particular, always bugs me when I read the text Genesis 2:28, but even more so when I look at the note for that verse in Genesis and more specifically in Matthew 19:4-6 , which actually states that "the NAB translation of the Hebrew basar of Gen. 2:24 as "body" rather than "flesh" obscures the reference of Matthew to that text."  That should have been fixed in the updated NABRE OT.