Which Catholic Bible is best for a non-Catholic to begin studying the Bible?

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StudentMI said:
I would second this and add Douay Rheims Challoner if older English is not a problem.

The Jerusalem Bible definitely has a flow that few translations have. It makes reading some passages a bit easier. The other two are great, as well, though.
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I use Douay-Rheims, and have heard that the Haydock (1859) Douay-Rheims is very good for a study Bible.
 
NHInsider said:
But you’re not in the US, where it is the version established for the lectionary.

Sally
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That’s irrelevant. The OP is talking about Bible study. I would very much doubt anyone in these forums would ever choose the NAB for Bible study. The notes are dreadful.
 
thistle said:
That’s irrelevant. The OP is talking about Bible study. I would very much doubt anyone in these forums would ever choose the NAB for Bible study. The notes are dreadful.
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Then you would be wrong. 🙂
 
eggsbenedictine said:
Try the RSV-2ND CE, by Ignatius Press.
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Aelred_Minor said:
Seconded. 👍

Though the abbreviation I’ve more often seen is RSV-2CE
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NHInsider said:
Really? I think the RSV is far more readable than either of the other two. . . .

Sally
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tvknight415 said:
I’d recommend:

RSV Catholic Edition (first or second)
Jerusalem Bible
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StudentMI said:
I would second this and add Douay Rheims Challoner if older English is not a problem.

The Jerusalem Bible definitely has a flow that few translations have. It makes reading some passages a bit easier. The other two are great, as well, though.
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As well. 👍
 
IAmAKaur said:
This forum is spurring me on to give both reading and studying the Bible another go.

I now want to get a specifically Catholic Bible, but I’m quite confused as to which might be most suitable for study, particularly given I’m non-Catholic and so often find some Bibles very difficult to use or read.

So, any suggestions are welcome. I live near to at least two Catholic bookshops so it shouldn’t be too hard to get one.
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Hi, are you from India?
I’m recommending the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (which is nothing but RSV-2CE with commentaries). We in our part of India recently got introduced to it and everyone who’s using it seems to be very happy with it.
God bless you. Praying for you.
 
IAmAKaur said:
Sat shrii akaal!

Now it’s funny but this is the exact Bible I got today.
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Good choice.

Just a heads’ up with it, though (and I should’ve thought to mention it when I recommended the Jerusalem Bible), but as a non-Catholic, some of the prayers that we base on Bible texts will not be easily recognizable in the Jerusalem translation. Prayers like the Our Father & the Hail Mary are based on older translations from the Latin, and those passages are worded a bit different in the CTS/Jerusalem text.
 
I would recommend the “the new catholic answer bible”. Not only does it have good commentary, but it has apologetics notes to explain how the catholic church has the
fullness of truth.
God bless you.
’
 
The Douay-Rheims is excellent - a very accurate translation of the Vulgate, which has been declared by the Church to be free of moral or doctrinal error.

I also hear the Knox Bible is good, though its translation style is a bit idiosyncratic.

I come very close to despising the NAB. I don’t know who the compilers of the notes/introductions were, but the notes are awful; incredibly easy to lead one into heresy; e.g. the Book of Acts is written after the destruction of the Temple, since it’s a sequel to Luke, which is written after the Temple because it prophecies the former’s destruction (i.e. prophecy is impossible). And so on; the Gospels are a mish-mash of sources and don’t reflect Christ “historically” (whatever that means); etc. etc. It also has an abysmal translation of the Psalms, and makes interpreting them Christologically almost impossible, since it’s enamored of “inclusive language” and uses the male pronoun only when completely unavoidable.

Stay away from it and use the Douay, Knox, and/or RSV instead! 😃
 
I’m a new Catholic and love the NAB (New American Bible). It translated the original texts of Hebrew/Greek to English. The Douay Rheimsbible, though was interesting to me before, was translated from Hebrew/Greek to Latin (wasn’t a good translation I heard from the church) then Latin to English (even worse), so they wanted to translate the original languages to English, and thus the NAB was born. I really enjoy its commentaries on the bottom as well. The RSV-2CE was one I was given, but I enjoyed the NAB more. But truth is if you want accuracy, it’s better learning classic Hebrew/Greek. For simplicity, RSV-2CE is probably the best. Get them all! God bless in your studies.
 
Philosoraptor said:
The Douay-Rheims is excellent - a very accurate translation of the Vulgate, which has been declared by the Church to be free of moral or doctrinal error.

I also hear the Knox Bible is good, though its translation style is a bit idiosyncratic.

I come very close to despising the NAB. I don’t know who the compilers of the notes/introductions were, but the notes are awful; incredibly easy to lead one into heresy; e.g. the Book of Acts is written after the destruction of the Temple, since it’s a sequel to Luke, which is written after the Temple because it prophecies the former’s destruction (i.e. prophecy is impossible). And so on; the Gospels are a mish-mash of sources and don’t reflect Christ “historically” (whatever that means); etc. etc. It also has an abysmal translation of the Psalms, and makes interpreting them Christologically almost impossible, since it’s enamored of “inclusive language” and uses the male pronoun only when completely unavoidable.

Stay away from it and use the Douay, Knox, and/or RSV instead! 😃
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The NABRE really improved the Psalms. Psalm 1 starts off ‘Blessed is the man…’ and cut back on a lot of the inclusive language used in the NAB (1991) Psalms.
 
I always say go with the RSV-CE (ensure you are getting the Catholic edition) but if you honestly want the best translation in my opinion it’s the Douay-Rheims

I know there are those that claim the RSV or NAB are better because they are “direct translations” but for some reason being “direct” obviously means confusion as there are a myriad of editions and revisions and certain controversial footnotes (NAB has had serious problems with the Vatican).

Call me a tradie…but DRB with Haydock commentary is a win! but I do like the RSV 👍

PS. I feel bad putting RSV with the NAB…the NAB is not a good translation simply because of the commentary.
 
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