Posts tagged with "New Revised Standard Version"

Buying a Bible is Confusing

Buying a Bible can be confusing as I was reminded when someone in my Monday morning Bible study class brought up that they may be purchasing one.  So, we had a discussion today about which one I would recommend.  That’s a little simpler for me because as a Catholic I generally (at least for classes in my parish) recommend a translation with Deuterocanonicals (e.g. New American Bible or the New Revised Standard Version), which narrows it down quite a bit.  But, as an academic, I think I can become a bit numb to just how confusing it is walking into a bookstore and buying a Bible even with the number of translations narrowed down.  I guess it would be somewhat analogous to me walking into a auto parts store and looking to buy a carburetor (yes, I had to Google that to get the correct spelling).

One of the aspects that I didn’t realize was confusing for my participants when buying a Bible was the different “editions” that are put out.  For instance, many in my parish use the St. Joseph edition of the NAB.   What was throwing them I think was whether the “St. Joseph Edition” or the “New American Bible” was the more important aspect of that equation.  I explained to them the difference between the translation and editions/study notes/etc. that are developed as additional elements included with the translation.

I don’t think that this discussion was necessary because it was a Catholic Bible study and we all know Catholics don’t read the Bible ;-).  I have had similar discussions to this one in Protestant communities of which I was a part.  And, I’m not sure what exactly the point is that I’m trying to make.  I guess it would just be to give another example of the “curse of knowledge.”  When you’ve studied something for quite a while, you sometimes have no idea what other people may or may not know.

Posts on Translation:

Genesis 1.1 and the Importance of Comparing Translations

Psalm 1.1 – Translation Comparison

Isaiah 41 – An Interesting Translation Issue

The Old Testament and New Testament Separate?

The Old Testament and New Testament are separate in the New Revised Standard Versions currently being produced for the Kindle.  Not sure what the publishers were thinking or if they have ever handled a Kindle for that matter, but this is very annoying.  Essentially, there are two separate books with two separate tables of contents.  This would be fine for a bound volume, but not so much for a Kindle because of the need to “back out” of one book before navigating to another.  I mean really … did they check out any other Bibles that have been published for Kindle before going this route.  The NRSV is a translation of Christian scriptures anyway … I wonder how many people actually buy the Old Testament without buying the New Testament.  Okay perhaps some buy the New Testament without buying the Old Testament, but they are Marcionists …

Oh well…

Technology posts:

Cool iPhone App for Catholics

Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock App Could be Life-Changing

Testing the WordPress App on my iPhone

My Friend Karyn Reviews iPhone Apps for the Hebrew Bible