Nab

[fantrl]

What are some mistranslations in the NAB which try to challenge Catholic beliefs?

I can think of “Hail full of grace” becoming “Hail favoured one” off the top of my head. What are some others?

 

[TEME525]

I don’t think there are any passages or verses that have been translated and found in the NAB that are overt challanges to Catholic Teachings. The facts of this translation’s origins and that it has the approval of the Church Magistrium attest to my opinion.

This is not to say that there couldn’t be better translations made and I believe there are corrections in the works. But from what I have read in other threads, people object to the translations used because it doesn’t, in their estimation, clearly present a translation that in more in conformity to there thinking what the translation should say in light of Church Doctrine.

Hopefully, I am not going off on a tangent, but from some of the criticism I have read of the NAB especially the NAB’s footnotes
I personally donot find any serious challanges to Church teachings when they are fully explored.

 

[Crumpy]

The NAB itself is (I’ve heard) not a literal translation of the sacred texts, but a paraphrase which is intended to convey the meaning of the original.

There’s at least two things to say about footnotes. 1) So many people don’t understand this: the footnotes are not part of the inspired text. In fact, even the chapter numbers and verse numbers, the spacing of the text, and the inserted headings are not part of the inspired text. Some approved Catholic Bibles like the RSV-CE (Ignatius) have very few notes. And, instead of headings there is just a space to separate sections of texts and maybe they put in a line to show that what follows is a new subject, for example.

1. Footnotes, “introductions” and the like are just there as aids to understanding the Bible. (And, we average people certainly need that.) But, for that reason, don’t just turn off your brain when reading the Bible verses. The Bible is there for inspiration; it was written not for the scholars, but for you. Don’t assume that the footnotes have exhausted the meaning of scripture.
2. There are sometimes translator’s footnotes which help to understand why the translator used a certain word rather then another; a lot of times they are mentioning that some word is difficult to understand in the original.

As I recall the NAB says that Judas “betrayed” Jesus. But, the word in the original is always in other contexts rendered as “hand over.” “Handing over” does not have that sinister spin that “betrayed” has. Even ZENIT news recently reported that the Vatican is trying to lighten up a little bit on Judas’ image.

As the posts so far have indicated, there are alternate points of view to the footnotes of the NAB. And, in general, the attention is focused on the notes for the first eleven chapters of Genesis, in particular.

 

[Crumpy]

…AND, I for one would like to see a Bible footnoted with respect to the guidelines of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Specifically, the CCC talks about the literal and spiritual (allegorical, moral, and anagogical) “senses” of scripture.

The allegorical, as I have recently come to understand, refers to looking at the Old Testament, or Hebrew Scriptures if you prefer, in the light of the Resurrection. Just as Jesus said to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, there are many parts of the OT that refer to Him. So, you wouldn’t primarily want the Jewish commentary on Genesis, for example, you’d want the Catholic allegorical sense of Genesis - what parts of it refer to Jesus. For that matter, it all can be related to Jesus, and I’d like a Bible text and footnote/commentary that supported that for my instruction.

I’m just at the last chapter of Fr.Jean Corbon’s spiritual commentary on the bible by the title “Path to Freedom” which is recommended by Scott Hahn’s and Mike Aquilina’s St. Paul Center for Bible Theology. Corbon does an excellent job of tying the scriptures together and of making it quite understandable to somebody like me. I highly recommend it for meditation and study (many scripture passages to look up).

 

[RyanL]

Crumpy:

…AND, I for one would like to see a Bible footnoted with respect to the guidelines of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Have I got a Bible for you! The bad news - it’s not quite finished yet. The good news - it’s everything you’re asking for and more!

Here’s the link.

Right now they’re selling the books individually, and they have 9 out so far (some of the booklets include multiple Bible books; example: 1 & 2 Cor come together). They have footnotes which include cross references to the CCC, footnotes to the exegesis of the Saints, footnotes on the 4 senses of Scripture, footnotes on the original Hebrew / Greek (example: kacharitomene), as well as a good cross reference system (I think it’s simply the RSV-CE cross reference, but it’s pretty good). Oh, and they have page-long in-depth studies of things like “Who were the Pharasees”, “Mary, Ark of the New Covenant”, “Typology of Christ in the OT”, etc. Completely worth the money.

I can’t recommend them highly enough. They’ve helped me to understand my faith significantly, and they’re written in English easy enough for a child to understand (but deep enough to drown any intellectual).

God Bless,
RyanL