Wednesday, January 5, 2011

ICSB Genesis Now Available!

According to Ignatius Insight Scoop, the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The Book of Genesis is in-stock and available for order. There is also a sample page from Genesis 13 for your viewing pleasure. The sale price on the Ignatius site is $8.46. Let's hope we see more of the Old Testament volumes published this year. How about a complete, one volume Ignatius Catholic Study Bible in 2015?

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

"New Year, New Testament, New American Bible" Series


Indeed it is 2011, which from all indications will be the year that the NAB gets a makeover. As we learned last year, the NAB Old Testament and Psalms have been in the process of revision, and will join the previously revised NAB New Testament to form the New American Bible Revised Edition or NABRE. If you are looking for a refresher of what is going on with the NABRE, Mary Sperry, from the USCCB's NAB team, was kind enough to answer some reader questions, which you can view hear. As I mentioned late last year, I will be spending some additional time with the NAB NT and blogging about it in a series of posts.

One of the things I want to do is focus on the NAB text itself, with little attention on the commentary or notes which sometimes get discussed more than the translation itself. Also, I will try to point out places of similarity and difference with other translations like the RSV and NRSV. This will not be an exhaustive study, but rather a collection of some of my thoughts and experiences with the NAB NT text. So let's begin with the infancy narrative in Matthew:


Matthew 1:1
"The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (NAB)

"An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham." (NRSV)

** I tend to like the NAB version, which uses “book” and “Christ”, rather than “an account” and “Messiah”. The RSV is similar to the NAB in this case. Certainly the Greek behind going with “Christ” makes more sense, and seems more natural in my reading.**

Matthew 1:18
“Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the holy Spirit.” (NAB)

“Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah* took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” (NRSV)

**I prefer the use of the more traditional “betrothed” to simply “engaged”. I think in todays culture, where engagements are easily broken off, one looses the full meaning of what betrothal was back in 1st century Judea if it is simply translated as “engaged”. The NAB note on this is actually quite helpful: “Betrothal was the first part of the marriage, constituting a man and woman as husband and wife. Subsequent infidelity was considered adultery. The betrothal was followed some months later by the husband's taking his wife into his home, at which time normal married life began.” (Yes, I am aware that I referenced the NAB notes.)**

Matthew 1:20,23 & 2:1,13
**I like the NAB’s (and the RSV’s) use of “behold” to “see” or “look” which is found in many modern translations, like the NRSV. For me, it just sounds better and more immediate.**

Matthew 1:25
“He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus” (NAB)

“But knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.” (RSV)

**Like the NRSV, the NAB went with “no relations” instead of the more literal “knew her not”. The reasons are certainly due to a desire by the translators to be clearer to the reader. The other notable instance, albeit in Hebrew, comes in Genesis 4:1. I tend to like the more traditional rendering here, simply because “knowledge” of a person seems to portray a little more depth to the relationship. While the renderings in the NAB or NRSV aren’t wrong or even bad, they tend, IMHO, to not portray the fullness of the marital relationship. (There is a nice article on “knowledge” in the Catholic Bible Dictionary edited by Scott Hahn.)**

Matthew 2:1
“When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of King Herod, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem.” (NAB)

“In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem.” (NRSV/RSV)

**As The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (p.635) points out, magi were a caste of wise men specializing in astronomy, astrology, the interpretation of dreams, and sometimes magic. I tend to like the NAB’s decision to translate the term “magi” literally because it forces the reader to spend a little more time figuring out what a “magi” is and does. Why they may certainly be wise, it seems too generic of a way to describe this group. We shouldn’t do the same with other groups in the New Testament, like the Herodians or Judeans or Scribes. The NASB and NIV currently use “magi” as well. **

Monday, January 3, 2011

Mondays with Verbum Domini



Happy new year to all of you! Blessed Epiphany to those who have celebrated this wonderful feast already or who will be in the coming days.

I wanted to start the year 2011 with a new weekly feature. I am calling it "Mondays with Verbum Domini". The plan is to post each Monday a small selection from the recently release Post-Synodal Exhortation Verbum Domini by Pope Benedict. It is a fantastic document which really should be read by all Catholic Bible readers. It certainly is an important compliment to Divino Afflante Spiritu, Dei Verbum, and the Interpretation of the Bible in the Church.

To start off, I have selected the final paragraph from the introduction. It gives forth the background and structure for the entire document. In particular, the Holy Father's emphasis on all Catholics developing a "personal relationship with the sacred Scriptures" is a theme that he will come back to again and again throughout.

The Prologue of John’s Gospel as a guide
With this Apostolic Exhortation I would like the work of the Synod to have a real effect on the life of the Church: on our personal relationship with the sacred Scriptures, on their interpretation in the liturgy and catechesis, and in scientific research, so that the Bible may not be simply a word from the past, but a living and timely word. To accomplish this, I would like to present and develop the labours of the Synod by making constant reference to the Prologue of John’s Gospel (Jn 1:1-18), which makes known to us the basis of our life: the Word, who from the beginning is with God, who became flesh and who made his dwelling among us (cf. Jn 1:14). This is a magnificent text, one which offers a synthesis of the entire Christian faith. From his personal experience of having met and followed Christ, John, whom tradition identifies as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (Jn 13:23; 20:2; 21:7, 20), “came to a deep certainty: Jesus is the Wisdom of God incarnate, he is his eternal Word who became a mortal man”. May John, who “saw and believed” (cf. Jn 20:8) also help us to lean on the breast of Christ (cf. Jn 13:25), the source of the blood and water (cf. Jn 19:34) which are symbols of the Church’s sacraments. Following the example of the Apostle John and the other inspired authors, may we allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit to an ever greater love of the word of God.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Some Bible-related Christmas Gifts


Merry Christmas to you all! Hope all is well wherever you are. Know that my prayers are with all of you during this Christmas season. I just thought I would check in to let you know of a few Bible-related goodies I received from my family over Christmas. First off is the Amazon Kindle (wifi version). I was on the fence about whether to get this product, but thought about how useful it would be in leading Bible studies. Needless to say, it is a pretty neat product, particularly because of its portability and long-lasting battery. The first things I downloaded onto the Kindle were the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament, Pope Benedict's Jesus of Nazareth, and some popular works from Chesterton and Lewis. A good start I think. Secondly, I received NT Wright's Small Faith, Great God which is a reprint of an earlier publication dating back to the late 70's. I have already begun to read some of the chapters and perhaps will make some comments on it in the future. Finally, I also received Gary Burge's Encounters with Jesus. I had read his previous two entries in the series, Jesus the Middle-Eastern Storyteller and The Bible and the Land, which provided some interesting insights which I had not considered. Even though this series of books comes from a Protestant perspective, I think there is much to be considered for a Catholic reader. These books are not all that long, but are lavishly illustrated in order to set the context and environment of the Biblical narrative.
Again, have a blessed Christmas and happy New Year!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

My Top 5 for 2010

Since Christmas is fast approaching, and I am not sure how much blogging I will get done over the next week or two, I want to take the time right now to list my top 5 favorite publications relating to Catholic Bibles during this past year. Overall, I think it was a pretty good year. Looking a bit forward, 2011 should also be very interesting, in particular with the release of the NABRE, the Revised Grail Psalms, more editions of the NRSV, and who knows what else. So, even though there are still three days until Christmas, I would like to wish all of you a blessed Christmas and happy New Year.

Now my top 5:

1) The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament: While for the most part it is simply a collection of the already released single volume editions, the ICSBNT the best single volume New Testament study Bible for Catholics on the market. The commentary utilizes both the historical method, as well as following the principles of Dei Verbum. The additional essays, maps, and concordance make this a must have for all Catholic Bible readers. Now if they can only complete the Old Testament in a reasonable amount of time, perhaps by 2015?

2) Truth & Life Dramatized Audio Bible RSV-CE: This one kind of snuck up on me, since I only knew about it a month before it was released. I believe this is the only dramatized audio Bible that uses a Catholic translation. The quality of the presentation is high, and the voice acting is both convincing yet not distracting. Bravo!

3) NRSV Go-Anywhere Thinline: Praise for this is a little bit anticipated, since the official Catholic edition of this thinline will be coming out in February. However, the version with the full Apocrypha/Deutercanonicals was released in October. Overall, it is finally nice to have a true thinline edition of a Catholic Bible. While the same old issue remains with the NRSV, lack of cross-references, this thinline is very readable and contains a concordance and maps. It will be interesting to see if the full Catholic edition will contain anything anything not in the current releases.

4) New Oxford Annotated Bible 4th Edition: Overall, I was very pleased with this release. I think the commentary is better than in the 3rd edition, and they updated the maps section, introductions to each book, and essays. The leather cover on my edition is soft and very flexible. The only issue that some people had with this is the new type-setting, which was smaller than older editions. It wasn't too big a deal to me, but again that just depends on personal preferences.

5) Live Catholic Youth Bible NRSV: Since I work at a high school, I am always on the lookout for solid Catholic youth materials. This edition came out in August and provides a nice alternative to the St. Mary's Press Catholic Youth Bible. There are no inserts into this Bible, with all the material integrated into the actual Bible page. This edition is smaller than the CYB, and the focus is more on the teens interaction with the Sacred Text. The Live Catholic Youth Bible encourages teens to write, highlight, and draw in their Bible, which I think is a good way to bring the Bible alive.

Monday, December 20, 2010

The Longevity of the RSV-2CE?

Over this past weekend, I spent some time reading and thinking about the RSV-2CE a bit. The question that kept coming up in my mind was whether or not the RSV-2CE would ever become a standard Catholic Bible for most English speaking Catholics. Part of this questioning on my part comes from a number of emails I have received from readers over the past couple years asking me which is better, the original RSV-CE or the new RSV-2CE. For me, it is a tough question to answer and not as clean cut as I would expect. When looking on choosing between the two RSV’s, I tend to focus on three general areas: Translation, Resources, and Marketing/Promotion/Outreach.

Translation
As pointed out in numerous posts on this blog, the RSV-CE and REV-2CE, while being very close, do contain some subtle differences. While certainly the most obvious difference is that the RSV-2CE has eliminated all archaic language, it still maintains the exact style and sentence structure as the original. Sometimes the comparison is made between the RSV-2CE and the ESV. I am not sure that comparison, however, is valid, since for the most part the RSV-2CE is not a true revision of the RSV, but rather a selective update of it. You can go back to some previous posts here to look at some of my reflections on this.

Another issue that surrounds the production of the RSV-2CE is how it is in conformity with Liturgiam Authenticam. On recent post, an anonymous comment stated: “I also think the RSV-2CE is a tad bit deceptive when it claims to be translated in conformity with Liturgiam Authenticam. As most people who've read LA know, one of the recommendations from LA was that Hebrew and Aramaic words like "Amen," "Raca," "Maranatha," and "Alleluia" not be translated like they are in the RSV. Given all the ridiculous changes made by Ignatius Press (e.g., "ass" to "donkey," "babe" to "baby," etc.), surely they could have make these other changes too. Hopefully, the next printing will include these changes.”

I think he (or she) makes some valid points. We do have some insight into the mind of Ignatius Press, with the comments left by Ignatius Press Editor Fr. Fessio almost two years ago. It might be worth checking those out again and evaluating them. I think a little more clarity on this issue from Ignatius Press would go a long way. Perhaps in a future edition of the RSV-2CE, they could add a new preface, not simply the old 1966 one.

The last thing to point out in regards to translation is that they both have the same textual basis. Quoting from an earlier post of mine: “The RSV-2CE's textual basis is still the one used by translators of the original RSV OT and NT. According to Philip Comfort's Essential Guide to Bible Translations: "The Old Testament translators generally followed the Masoretic Text. At the same time, they introduced a few different renderings bases on the famous Dead Seas Scroll of Isaiah." Thus, only the initial findings of the Dead Sea Scrolls were used for the OT. The Deuterocanonical/Apocrypha books were not changed from the original RSV. As for the New Testament, the RSV-2CE retains the textual basis behind the original RSV NT, which used primarily the seventeenth edition of the Nestle text (1941). None of the modifications done in the 1971 edition of the RSV NT are found in the RSV-2CE.” Thus, the textual basis for both RSV's is well over fifty years old.

Resources
Basically, both translations can be used with such Bible study tools like Emmaus Road’s RSV Concordance (which includes the RSV-2CE changes in an appendix), the Navarre series, or even the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. Since they are so similar, there is really no issue. However, will there be future study tools that utilize the RSV-2CE over the RSV-CE? I am not sure. Certainly the slow-to-finish Ignatius Catholic Study Bible utilizes the RSV-2CE, but I can also point out that the Navarre Bibles as well as the recently released Catholic Scripture Study International Study Bible from St. Benedict Press went with the RSV-CE. So, I guess only time will tell on this issue. If I were to guess right now, I would think there would be more use of the original RSV.

Marketing/Promotion/Outreach
The original RSV-CE is over forty years old, but maintains a strong following in Catholic academic, apologetic, as well as Bible study circles. Certainly the influx of converts to the Catholic Church, many with high views of Scripture like Scott Hahn, has helped make the RSV-CE more mainstream. Oxford University Press continues to print the New Oxford Annotated Bible-RSV as well as individual readers editions of the RSV-CE. The original RSV-CE continues to be published by Ignatius Press and St. Benedict Press. St Benedict Press, in particular, has produced some very attractive editions over the past year or so, and I would think that there would be some more in the future, hopefully including cross-references.

The RSV-2CE should be promoted more than it is currently. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, which is a fantastic resource that utilizes the RSV-2CE, is under promoted and unless the average Catholic sees it at a local bookstore, he or she probably doesn’t know it even exists.

Conclusion
This is of course my opinion, but I think the RSV-2CE will remain a niche translation. The RSV-CE is well established and published by more than one publishing house. It continues to live on in many different study tools, as well as devotional books. While there is much to like about the RSV-2CE, the fact that it is not promoted more broadly by Ignatius and does not come in various editions and style will keep its “popularity” fairly low in the overall Catholic Bible market.

Ultimately, the question is this: If you were a regular Catholic, who did not know the differences between the various Catholic translations, and wandered into a Barnes and Noble or Borders to buy a Catholic Bible, which one would you likely purchase? Most likely an NAB or NRSV, simply because there are more of them available, in many more attractive editions.