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felsguy
Guest
I am looking for a Catholic Bible in Arabic? Specifically, the name of the translation and hopefully where I can purchase it?
Thanks for any help?
Thanks for any help?
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malphono
Guest
There was a [thread=305203]thread[/thread] about just this a couple of years ago. Perhaps it will be of some help.
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Khalid
Guest
The Catholic version I know of is the Revised Catholic, or the الترجمة الكاثوليكية المجددة which is published by Dar el-Machreq.
The Van Dyck translation is popular amongst Protestants and accepted by the Coptic Church, but it does not have the deuterocanon. I can not recommend it: it is somewhat like an Arabic NASB, but not as good or unbiased.
Whatever you do, stay away from the heavily Muslim-biased “True Meaning of the Messiah’s Gospel” or الترجمة الكاثوليكية المجددة which is New Testament only.
There are other translations (such as the “Noble Gospel”, written at a very low level like a children’s Bible, designed for Muslims who have no understanding of Biblical terms and are not very literate, and is heavily evangelically biased), but none that I can recommend except for الترجمة الكاثوليكية المجددة, the Revised Catholic Arabic Translation by Dar el-Machreq.
The Van Dyck translation is popular amongst Protestants and accepted by the Coptic Church, but it does not have the deuterocanon. I can not recommend it: it is somewhat like an Arabic NASB, but not as good or unbiased.
Whatever you do, stay away from the heavily Muslim-biased “True Meaning of the Messiah’s Gospel” or الترجمة الكاثوليكية المجددة which is New Testament only.
There are other translations (such as the “Noble Gospel”, written at a very low level like a children’s Bible, designed for Muslims who have no understanding of Biblical terms and are not very literate, and is heavily evangelically biased), but none that I can recommend except for الترجمة الكاثوليكية المجددة, the Revised Catholic Arabic Translation by Dar el-Machreq.
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malphono
Guest
The best, I think, is still the 1888 so-called “Jesuit Bible” which is available in reprint. I believe it’s also Dar al-Mashreq (or l’Imprimerie Catholique).
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Khalid
Guest
The Jesuit Bible 1888 and Revised Catholic Bible that I mentioned are one and the same, just different names (“Jesuit Bible” is a nickname, “Revised Catholic” is on the cover).
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felsguy
Guest
I appreciate the information very much. I am looking for this as a gift for a friend, originally from Jordan, who is exploring the Catholic faith. I myself am not familiar with Arabic and thus cannot read the information on some of these websites.
It appears that the recommendations here and on the previous thread (which I had consulted) agree on the “Jesuit” or Revised Catholic Arabic Translation by Dar el-Machreq. I have not been able to find this precise title when I search US booksellers or
Dar el-Machreq on the internet.
Can you clarify please, is Dar el-Machreq the translator, the publisher, or both? Also, might I find this in the US? I have no experience in purchasing internationally.
Thank you
It appears that the recommendations here and on the previous thread (which I had consulted) agree on the “Jesuit” or Revised Catholic Arabic Translation by Dar el-Machreq. I have not been able to find this precise title when I search US booksellers or
Dar el-Machreq on the internet.
Can you clarify please, is Dar el-Machreq the translator, the publisher, or both? Also, might I find this in the US? I have no experience in purchasing internationally.
Thank you
K
Khalid
Guest
Dar el-Machreq is the publisher. The translator was a Jesuit or group of Jesuits in the 19th century. I’m not sure if it can be found in America. You can try searching for “Revised Catholic Arabic Bible”, “Jesuit Arabic Bible” or so on, but you probably will have to use the Arabic name and purchase from overseas.
Note: if your Jordanian friend doesn’t have a college education, he’s going to have a hard time with almost every, if not every, Arabic Bible in existence, as Arabic high literature is written in Modern Standard Arabic, which is as different from the dialects of Arabic (Arabic is not one language: it’s more a classification, like “Romance language”) as Latin is from the Romance languages. There may be some translations written in a specific dialect such as Egyptian Arabic, but, if there are, I am unaware of them - dialectical Arabic is not widely used in literature outside of simulating dialogue in novels, plays, etc.
However, if he can read written Arabic literature, he will be able to read the Revised Catholic Bible, with not much difficulty (just as reading Biblish in any language takes some adjustment compared to “normal” literary language, due to technical, theological and religious terminology; it’s no harder and probably easier than learning all of the arcane terminology required to read a book of philosophy, but, there hasn’t been any substantial work of philosophy published in Arabic for 500 or 600 years).
Note: if your Jordanian friend doesn’t have a college education, he’s going to have a hard time with almost every, if not every, Arabic Bible in existence, as Arabic high literature is written in Modern Standard Arabic, which is as different from the dialects of Arabic (Arabic is not one language: it’s more a classification, like “Romance language”) as Latin is from the Romance languages. There may be some translations written in a specific dialect such as Egyptian Arabic, but, if there are, I am unaware of them - dialectical Arabic is not widely used in literature outside of simulating dialogue in novels, plays, etc.
However, if he can read written Arabic literature, he will be able to read the Revised Catholic Bible, with not much difficulty (just as reading Biblish in any language takes some adjustment compared to “normal” literary language, due to technical, theological and religious terminology; it’s no harder and probably easier than learning all of the arcane terminology required to read a book of philosophy, but, there hasn’t been any substantial work of philosophy published in Arabic for 500 or 600 years).
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HollyBerries
Guest
Not true. Written (modern standard, fus7a, na7awi, whatever you want to refer to it as) is learned in school. So an Arab who went through an Arabic language school system (or even a French or English school, which will still almost certainly have Arabic instruction in the Arab world) will be able to read the Arabic Bible. Plenty of non-college educated Arabs are literate.
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Khalid
Guest
Must be different in other parts of the world than in Egypt, as a Copt, if that had anything to do with it (which I doubt, as I didn’t have Coptic-language schooling; I imagine the strong Islamic identity of Egypt prevents it, although many Copts push for it). I acquired proficiency in “literary” MSA and the older Koranic Arabic (so I could understand what I was reciting) in my teenage years, but not through formal schooling.
Textbooks were generally written in a kind of MSA, but not something that would enable one to read Tahafut al Falasifah; maybe a “lower-register MSA” if it makes any sense to speak of such. Some were written in Egyptian dialect, which, looking back, seems crass.
It’s hard to draw an analogy to Anglophones, because even the most variant dialects of English, from Ebonics to Received Pronunciation to Cockney to Mid-American English are all too similar compared to even differentiations within a given dialect of Arabic, let alone the entire system of languages called “Arabic”, which is like calling the various topolects and languages spoken in China by the catch-all name “Chinese”, or calling everything derived from Latin “Italian”).
I may be confusing Classical Arabic proper (that of the mujtahidin and the sihah sittah and the mufassirun and the great Islamic philosophers, in its strictest sense defined by similarity to the Koranic language, which is as much Syriac pidgin and Hebrew calque as it is Qurayshi Arabic proper) with MSA, in a sense.
Textbooks were generally written in a kind of MSA, but not something that would enable one to read Tahafut al Falasifah; maybe a “lower-register MSA” if it makes any sense to speak of such. Some were written in Egyptian dialect, which, looking back, seems crass.
It’s hard to draw an analogy to Anglophones, because even the most variant dialects of English, from Ebonics to Received Pronunciation to Cockney to Mid-American English are all too similar compared to even differentiations within a given dialect of Arabic, let alone the entire system of languages called “Arabic”, which is like calling the various topolects and languages spoken in China by the catch-all name “Chinese”, or calling everything derived from Latin “Italian”).
I may be confusing Classical Arabic proper (that of the mujtahidin and the sihah sittah and the mufassirun and the great Islamic philosophers, in its strictest sense defined by similarity to the Koranic language, which is as much Syriac pidgin and Hebrew calque as it is Qurayshi Arabic proper) with MSA, in a sense.
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felsguy
Guest
When my friend and I were discussing reading the Bible, he said that he would be more comfortable reading it in Arabic than in English. He said he doesn’t own an Arabic Bible but could read it on line. I assume from that that he would be able to read the Revised Catholic or “Jesuit” translation that was recommended above. I’ll check to be sure.
In the meantime, I did e-mail Dar el-Machreq asking for particulars.
In the meantime, I did e-mail Dar el-Machreq asking for particulars.
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felsguy
Guest
In case someone else might be looking for a Bible in Arabic, I want to report that I did find two other sources.
The Bible Society in Beirut has the “Jesuit” Bible as well as several other versions. Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society) based in Colorado Springs has several translations in Arabic including editions from the NIV.
The Bible Society in Beirut has the “Jesuit” Bible as well as several other versions. Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society) based in Colorado Springs has several translations in Arabic including editions from the NIV.
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twf
Guest
What translation(s) do the Maronites and Melkites use liturgically? Or do they stick to Syriac/Greek for Scripture?
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Khalid
Guest
I’m not sure (I was never a Melkite while in Egypt), but I believe, based on induction, that in the Old Country they stick to Greek, just as one is not going to find a Greek-English Orthodox Liturgy in Greece or Cyprus.
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malphono
Guest
For may years, the Maronites used the so-called “Jesuit Bible” for Arabic readings, but that is no longer the case. I’m not sure which version is currently employed in the “lectionary” but it’s one of the modern ones that is far too reminiscent of the NAB for my taste. (I should add here that, on the rare occasions that a reading is actually done in Syriac, it’s still from the Pshitta.
)I’ve no clue what the Melkites do.
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felsguy
Guest
Quote:
Originally Posted by twf
What translation(s) do the Maronites and Melkites use liturgically? Or do they stick to Syriac/Greek for Scripture?
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center has for purchase Today’s Arabic Version with Deuterocanonicals, Bible Society about which it says “This is the only Catholic Bible from the Bible Society.”
I could not find any information about this translation anywhere, even on the Bible Society website.
Originally Posted by twf
What translation(s) do the Maronites and Melkites use liturgically? Or do they stick to Syriac/Greek for Scripture?
The Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center has for purchase Today’s Arabic Version with Deuterocanonicals, Bible Society about which it says “This is the only Catholic Bible from the Bible Society.”
I could not find any information about this translation anywhere, even on the Bible Society website.
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