What translation of the Bible should I get for Christmas?

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NovusAugustus

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As the title says, I’m shopping around for a new edition of the Holy Bible. It should include helpful footnotes, indices, etc. If there are any reference lists or comparison charts to look at, feel free to refer me to them. I currently own the NAB St. Joseph Edition, revised.

Thanks.
 
thyrodandstaff

Try the Ronald Knox translation from baronius press.com. It is an easier to understand translation that has been out of print for many years. I found an old copy from 1947 in the thrift store and I really like it. Fulton Sheen used it to quote from when he wrote his Life of Christ book. It is somewhat dramatic in wording also. Ronald Knox was a convert from the Anglican church to Catholicism who also produced detective story radio dramas.

There is also the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition from ignatius.com. They publish the current Pope’s writings in English and I think the Pope recommends that translation in English as does Patrick Madrid, catholic radio personality.

Those are the two best I know of. God Bless!
 
There’s a group of people who don’t like the (Catholic) New American Bible – for the translation itself and for the content of the footnotes. But, this is the edition that was authorized by the US Catholic Bishops. There is apparently a revised NAB, which I haven’t seen yet.

But, I’m driving at this, that the St. Joseph Edition of the NAB is really quite useful, in the way that you want it to be.

As I have studied Jewish, Christian, and Catholic commentaries over the last ten years, I have to say that the footnotes in the NAB seem far less controversial than I thought they were. If anything, I have to view them as representing a brief introduction to a subject suggested by the Biblical text. Sometimes it condenses an entire essay about a subject down to just a line or two, summarizing popular understanding of this or that verse.

Give yourself a budget of about $100 for this, and pick up several Bibles, right now – St. Joseph NAB, the Ignatius Study Bible (NT), and maybe something else suggested here.

You know (I hope), that the Ignatius Study Bible is based on a translation called the Revised Standard Version – 2nd Catholic Edition – which is based ultimately on the King James Version. Which is to say, the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance is fairly easy to follow alongside the RSV-2CE, if you care to use it, also.

Don’t expect to find the once-for-all-time Bible. The perfect study Bible hasn’t been written.

Commentaries, in general, focus on just a single book of the Bible, and often go more deeply into a text than a study Bible can. Keep that in mind, for future studies. That is the direction you may want to go – for independent Bible study.
 
This is my #1 choice: Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament
Extensive study notes, topical essays and word studies provide fresh and faithful insights informed by time-tested, authentically Catholic interpretations from the Fathers of the Church and other scholars. Commentaries include the best insights of ancient, medieval and modern scholarship, and follow the Church’s guidelines for biblical interpretation. Plus, each New Testament book is outlined and introduced with an essay covering questions of authorship, date of composition, intended audience and general themes. The Ignatius Study Bible also includes handy reference materials such as a doctrinal index, a concise concordance, a helpful cross-reference system, and various maps and charts.
Click to expand...
 
I’ve been looking at the Ignatius New Testament for a while, and while I think I would like to get it, should I also get the complete Ignatius Bible?
 
yes, I have the Ignatius Study NT RSV-2CE and the full Ignatius RSV-2CE. You should have both.
 
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