Concordance and Study Bible

[Candlefish66]

I need a concordance for the RSV-CE2 preferably in print but online is fine. I’m also looking for a true study Bible in the same, but I fear I may need to wait for Scott Hahn to finish up the Ignatius Study Bible. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[stuartbrianhenlis]

I checked Amazon for an RSV-CE2 Concordance, but none appears to be available. However, there is a Concordance for the RSV available from Amazon, used, for affordable pricing.

 

[ThomasMT]

I’m guessing that you already looked up the Ignatius Press Didache Bible?

 

[ThomasMT]

And yea, for that “true” modern study bible you can always get the Old Testament books separately, as far as RSV 2CE Scott Han goes.

Not sure if you are fan of DR versions, but “Mother of Our Savior” publishes an amazing Haydock facsimile reprint. There is also a pretty solid Concordance for the DR… if you want to get old school. It is by topic, rather than work/term, from what I can tell. Certainly on my own wish list though.

Textual Concordance of the Holy Scriptures > Doctrine & Theology

Or

https://www.christianbook.com/a-tex...=552861&item_code=WW&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP

It seems that there are a lot of modern concordance volumes out there, the best ones seeming to favor the KJV… gotta look around. I can’t seem to find anything for RSV, however. The glossary on the back of that Didache is the closest I have come across, myself. Christian Book had a pretty large selection you may want to scroll through.

 

[Todd_Easton]

Would an online RSV-CE Bible with a search feature do? Try BibleGateway and select “Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition” as your default version.

 

[Candlefish66]

Thank you so much for your (name removed by moderator)ut. I know I could do a search but my hope was to get recommendations based on experience or use. Most of us seem to prefer the RSV, and for good reason. I find the NASBE to be a very weak translation. It doesn’t flow like the RSV does.

 

[Candlefish66]

That would be great! I’ll check out the Bible Gateway. I know there use to be an RSV concordance but it appears to be out of print or at least hard to find. I may need to buy used from Amazon.

 

[ThomasMT]

I agree with your inclination towards the RSV, out of modern translations. As far as study Bibles go, I have the Didache (RSV2CE) that I referenced earlier (has glossary in back/kinda concordance) and the Ignatius New Testament study bible. Both appear solid, in my lay recommendation. The Ignatius one is top-of-the line for Catholic use… based on everyone else’s recommendation. If you are waiting for the complete OT and NT Ignatius Study bible, I wouldn’t hold my breath that it will be out anytime soon. My understanding is that it has been “almost ready” for years now. Side note- the Didache is not a “study bible” per se, but I would consider it a significant compliment to one, as it adds an extra dimension of insight within the context of church teaching and Apologetics.
Best wishes for your search! Let us know what you find )

Side note- I got this a couple of weeks ago, not a bible obviously… but a heck of a resource for diving into the OT. Uses RSV2CE as base reference. I know that, for myself, I could use all the tools that I can get for understanding the OT. Brant Pitre is SOLID imho.

https://www.christianbook.com/catho...tt=177224&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP

 

[Candlefish66]

Thank you so much my brother!

 

[ralfyman]

I think the Church recommends recent translations because of updated scholarship, and that means NABRE, NRSV-CE, etc.

Given that, consider affordable editions of The Catholic Study Bible which uses NABRE, and for reflection, the The Catholic Prayer Bible, which uses NRSV-CE.

A few years from now, the new NAB should come out, which can be used for study, prayer, and liturgy.

For NRSV, wait for the CE of NRSV-UE.

Finally, the Daily Roman Missal can also be helpful because you can use it for Mass, it contains the readings for each day, and for Sundays points from the Catechism. In addition, it has readings for Feast Days, Memorial Memorial Masses, prayers, and novenas.

 

[Thucydides]

There are no great options for a one-volume English-language Catholic study Bible.

The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible would be the best for the average Catholic, but only the New Testament is available in one complete volume, and unfortunately the current rumor is that the complete ICSB may never be published in a single volume. (Please email Ignatius and tell them we really want a one-volume study Bible!)

The Navarre Bible: New Testament Expanded Edition is also only the New Testament, and has the additional problems of being expensive and mostly featuring devotional (as opposed to textual or historical) commentary.

The Haydock Bible is old enough that it’s commentary is practically pre-modern and (at times) obscure to contemporary readers. Sometimes I wonder if the traditionalists who always bring it up actually read it regularly, or if they really like the idea of the Haydock more than the reality. Plus it’s expensive if you want an actual physical copy.

The Great Adventure Catholic Bible has good materials, but it falls short as a study Bible because it really only covers the main narrative parts of the Bible, and even then I believe it does not really offer passage-by-passage or verse-by-verse commentary. It leaves large swaths of the Bible un-commentated-upon.

The Didache Bible (RSV-2CE version) has commentary throughout the Bible, but all of the commentary is catechetical in nature. It does not really cover textual and historical issues, except intermittently in the apologetics inserts scattered indifferently throughout the text.

The Didache Bible (NABRE version) is an interesting compromise, with the Didache Bible’s catechetical commentary right alongside the NABRE’s more historical-critical footnotes. But it’s an odd kludge, with the two sets of footnotes occasionally contradicting one another, and the NABRE’s footnotes are too inconsistent to really pull the weight they need to as the main commentary in a study Bible.

 

[Thucydides]

The Oxford Catholic Study Bible is the go-to for a historical-critical Catholic study Bible, but it is slavishly uncritical of the historical-critical method, and it is endlessly annoying the way it puts the commentary at the front of the book instead of on the same page as the Biblical text. It’s basically the tawdry little Catholic version of the New Oxford Annotated Bible, with a worse format and a worse ratio of price to quality, and if it’s what you want, you’d probably be better off just getting the NOAB with apocrypha. Meanwhile, the Catholic Bible: Personal Study Edition is just a dumbed-down version of the same thing (and I’m not sure it was ever updated for the NABRE), and the less breath we waste on the Anselm Academic Study Bible the better.

The Jerusalem Bible and New Jerusalem Bible have extensive footnotes in their full versions, I suppose, but I think they are not extensive enough to really quality as study Bibles. I hear the Revised New Jerusalem Bible has even fewer notes.

The Catholic Scripture Study Bible is not even really a study Bible; more like a Bible with some extras.

The Little Rock Study Bible has the NABRE footnotes plus a lot of sidebars and such throughout the text. It was made by more “liberal” types (it comes from the Collegeville people), but it is aimed at the average Catholic and thus the skeptical historical-critical bits are obscured somewhat. The commentary has a lot of life-application and social justice reflections, but I think it has some historical stuff too. It is far from my favorite, but honestly, it probably wins the “best Catholic study Bible” award more-or-less by default.

Then again, I’m disinclined to buy any nice edition of the NABRE knowing that a new edition is coming out in a mere 5 years.

 

[ThomasMT]

unfortunately the current rumor is that the complete ICSB may never be published in a single volume. (Please email Ignatius and tell them we really want a one-volume study Bible!)

Given the size of the individual OT books that they do have published, I dont see how they can achieve this without some degree of abridgment.

 

[Thucydides]

Given the sized if the individual OT books that they do have published, I dont see how they can achieve this without some degree of abridgment.

I spun this off as its own thread, as I really think it’s important.

Ignatius Press can and should produce a complete, one-volume study Bible Sacred Scripture

The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible has been a favorite among practicing Catholics for a long time, but it was taking forever to come out. The complete New Testament came out in 2010, but the Old Testament volumes have been flowing at a very slow trickle ever since. But then we all rejoiced when late last year, Scott Hahn confirmed that the whole Ignatius Catholic Study Bible is text-complete and will be published in 2020/2021! But there’s a problem: there are rumors swirling that Ignatius Pres…