My translation & Canon 825

[delsydebothom]

Canon 825 requires Catholics to procure the permission of either the Apostolic See, or the Episcopal conference before publishing books of Sacred Scripture. Altogether, this seems like an entirely reasonable requirement, but as I have just recently learned of it, it puts me in a bind.

Several years back I set out to revise the American Standard Version, modernizing it a bit, and bringing its readings into conformity with those of the Nova Vulgata. Well, I’ve finished the first draft of that. When I am completely finished, I would like to release this text into the public domain. This wouldn’t be for several more years; I intend to comb the text at least twice more. I have also put together a massive commentary, and have done a good bit of typesetting work in order to stitch the whole thing together into one publishable volume.

Although I would be truly sorry to find out my work had gone to waste, that really isn’t the worst of it; I also enlisted the help of a handful of artist friends to illustrate and illuminate this lavishly. They have done so gratis, with the hope of eventually finding a publisher, and being compensated. I don’t want to disappoint them.

I know this is neither here nor there with regards to canon law, but a little advice would be met with my lifelong gratitude. Does anyone know how I would go about obtaining episcopal approval for this work? What route would be most likely to end in success?

 

[Byzman]

Canon 825 requires Catholics to procure the permission of either the Apostolic See, or the Episcopal conference before publishing books of Sacred Scripture. Altogether, this seems like an entirely reasonable requirement, but as I have just recently learned of it, it puts me in a bind.

Several years back I set out to revise the American Standard Version, modernizing it a bit, and bringing its readings into conformity with those of the Nova Vulgata. Well, I’ve finished the first draft of that. When I am completely finished, I would like to release this text into the public domain. This wouldn’t be for several more years; I intend to comb the text at least twice more. I have also put together a massive commentary, and have done a good bit of typesetting work in order to stitch the whole thing together into one publishable volume.

Although I would be truly sorry to find out my work had gone to waste, that really isn’t the worst of it; I also enlisted the help of a handful of artist friends to illustrate and illuminate this lavishly. They have done so gratis, with the hope of eventually finding a publisher, and being compensated. I don’t want to disappoint them.

I know this is neither here nor there with regards to canon law, but a little advice would be met with my lifelong gratitude. Does anyone know how I would go about obtaining episcopal approval for this work? What route would be most likely to end in success?

Very interesting!..I think you should contact your Bishop and tell him of your project. Canon 825 is in place to make sure that the Bible is safeguarded from error and heresy. Obviously if this work were to be published a Bishop would have to put a imprimatur attached to the Bible.

 

[NHInsider]

Canon 825 requires Catholics to procure the permission of either the Apostolic See, or the Episcopal conference before publishing books of Sacred Scripture. Altogether, this seems like an entirely reasonable requirement, but as I have just recently learned of it, it puts me in a bind.

Several years back I set out to revise the American Standard Version, modernizing it a bit, and bringing its readings into conformity with those of the Nova Vulgata. Well, I’ve finished the first draft of that. When I am completely finished, I would like to release this text into the public domain. This wouldn’t be for several more years; I intend to comb the text at least twice more. I have also put together a massive commentary, and have done a good bit of typesetting work in order to stitch the whole thing together into one publishable volume.

Although I would be truly sorry to find out my work had gone to waste, that really isn’t the worst of it; I also enlisted the help of a handful of artist friends to illustrate and illuminate this lavishly. They have done so gratis, with the hope of eventually finding a publisher, and being compensated. I don’t want to disappoint them.

I know this is neither here nor there with regards to canon law, but a little advice would be met with my lifelong gratitude. Does anyone know how I would go about obtaining episcopal approval for this work? What route would be most likely to end in success?

quite apart for the need to request imprimatur for this publication, you need to consider the realities of the publishing world - if you “release the text into the public domain” you are unlikely to find a publisher willing to pay for it!

In addition, isn’t the ASV a Protestant translation, with the shortened canon?

 

[delsydebothom]

If absolutely necessary, we were willing to self-publish via a print-on-demand service like lulu. Regardless, if a traditional publisher takes the project, we were going to give them the copyright on the commentary and artwork. I want the biblical text itself absolutely free from copyright, though; I didn’t see much point in adding another copyright-restricted translation to the massive pile of English versions. As to the Deuterocanonicals, my versions are a heavy revision of the Douay’s, and have required, altogether, a lot more work!

None of this changes the legal issue, of course. I think I will write my Bishop a letter tomorrow. Thank you for your responses!

 

[Michael_Francis]

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