Why So Many?

[TheGoodLife]

Reading through some of these threads, I see references being made to several versions of Bibles. Why are there so many versions for Catholics?

 

[Della]

Not knowing what prompted your question, why does it matter? Protestants have several versions, too.

That being said, the official version (read in our parishes for Mass readings) is the New American. Personally, I prefer the Ignatius RSV.

 

[LilyM]

You saying there aren’t for Protestants? Yes I know you talk to some of 'em and it seems like ‘in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was King James Version, nice black leather binding and words of Christ in red’ and so on … but you just need look in any Christian bookshop to find ESVs and ASVs and Amplified Bibles and Message Bibles and a whole mess of others from the Protestant camp.

All part of the joys of translation. Language evolves, and what was easily comprehensible back in the 1600’s isn’t so now. Language also differs from country to county. George Bernard Shaw (I think) said that Britain and America were ‘two countries divided by a common language’, and I know when I travel I have plenty of problems with my Australian slang in both places. So the translations preferred by the Brits (or by us Aussies) are not necessarily going to do so well for America, which has come up with one or two of its own.

 

[TheGoodLife]

I personally use the New American Bible now (it was a gift from my husband while we were dating), but grew up with the King James version. And then I come to this forum and read about other versions. I’m just curious if the information varies per version.

I don’t know why Protestants are being brought into this thread. Am I missing something here?

 

[LilyM]

I personally use the New American Bible now (it was a gift from my husband while we were dating), but grew up with the King James version. And then I come to this forum and read about other versions. I’m just curious if the information varies per version.

I don’t know why Protestants are being brought into this thread. Am I missing something here?

Because you mentioned ‘so many versions for Catholics’ - as if somehow other Christians don’t also have lots of versions, which is untrue, that’s all.

As for the ‘information varies per version’ - do you mean are there differences between Catholic and non-Catholic versions? (the latter usually exclude the so-called Deuterocanonical books such as 1 and 2 Maccabees)

Or do you mean the actual content or the footnotes attached?

 

[lak611]

I personally use the New American Bible now (it was a gift from my husband while we were dating), but grew up with the King James version. And then I come to this forum and read about other versions. I’m just curious if the information varies per version.

I don’t know why Protestants are being brought into this thread. Am I missing something here?

Check out this article about Bible translations. catholic.com/library/bible_translations_guide.asp

 

[TheGoodLife]

I just posted a long reply just to have the screen spazz out on me. So in short…

LilyM, I went to that link Lak611 provided and it says that the differences between Catholic bibles lies in how they were translated from different languages and also how some bibles are literal while others are dynamic (modernized language). That helps clear things up a bit for me.

And as for not including other faiths…my apologies, I just focused on Catholics because that’s my faith.

Lak611, thank you for the link. On a side note, I was shocked to learn that the King James bible is not a Catholic bible. That’s the version my family used during my childhood (and we are all Catholic). Learn something new every day…

 

[lak611]

Lak611, thank you for the link. On a side note, I was shocked to learn that the King James bible is not a Catholic bible. That’s the version my family used during my childhood (and we are all Catholic). Learn something new every day…

Don’t fret too much about using the KJV. I actually own it myself. I own a lot of different Bible versions, Catholic and Protestant. My favourite is the RSV-CE (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition). It is a literal translation that is easy to read since it does not have the archaic English, and it also is not plagued by inclusive language as some of the modern translations are.

 

[paarsurrey]

Hi
I would have liked if there would have been only one version, like we have Quran only one Arabic version whatever the denomination.
Thanks
I am an Ahmadi – a peaceful faith in Islam bridging gaps between faiths/denominations/religions/agnostics

 

[mahleh]

How many people speak Aramaic? My hubby does, and he tells me that some words have so many meanings, that you have to understand the intent of the writer. Some words do not even have an English translation. The beauty sometimes gets lost in the translation. One day when I grow up, I hope to learn the lovely languages spoken by Our Lord. Septetutic Greek is still spoken in the Greek church’s in Greece. Learning to understand God’s meaning, I believe, is what we are supposed to learn

 

[richardeekw]

Reading through some of these threads, I see references being made to several versions of Bibles. Why are there so many versions for Catholics?

My response is

a) The Protestant Bible in English has just as many versions.
(b) Why can;t American English and British English be just one?

Even simple convention is described differently in figures.

American Month-date-year May 12 2007 = 5.12.2007 British reads 5th Dec 2007

British Date-month-year 12 May 2007 = 12.5.2007 American reads Dec 5 2007

 

[udoc89]

I am planning to buy a Douay-Rheims Bible from EWTN. I understand it is the translation of the Vulgate into English (during the 1500s.) Think I will go on the website and order it tonight. This thread has inspired me!

 

[lak611]

I am planning to buy a Douay-Rheims Bible from EWTN. I understand it is the translation of the Vulgate into English (during the 1500s.) Think I will go on the website and order it tonight. This thread has inspired me!

Most likely it is the Challoner revision.

Douay-Rheims Translation the Challoner Revision - The Old Testament was first published by the English College at Douay A.D. 1609 & 1610. The New Testament was first published by the English College at Rheims A.D. 1582. The whole translation was revised and diligently compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner A.D. 1749-1752. He is also credited with the annotations included in this revision.

ccel.org/c/challoner/douayrheims/dr.html.

 

[Ignatius]

Reading through some of these threads, I see references being made to several versions of Bibles. Why are there so many versions for Catholics?

Protestants have many, many more versions. Why do you ask?

 

[TheGoodLife]

Protestants have many, many more versions. Why do you ask?

I’m Catholic and didn’t care to ask about Protestant bibles (no offense to Protestants–growing in one faith is plenty for me ).

 

[Manfred]

Reading through some of these threads, I see references being made to several versions of Bibles. Why are there so many versions for Catholics?

Perhaps I can answer your question this way. I’ll begin by listing the better-known bibles approved for Catholic use; to wit,

• the Challoner revision of the Douay-Rheims (D-R-C, 1749-52)
• the Confraternity New Testament (1941)
• the Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition (RSV-CE, 1965-66)
• the Jerusalem Bible (JB, 1966)
• the New American Bible (NAB, 1970)
• the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB, 1985)
• the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV, 1989-90)
• the NAB with Revised New Testament and Psalms (RNAB, 1991)
• the RSV Second Catholic Ed. (RSV-2CE, 2006?)

The D-R-C and the Confraternity are translations from the Latin Vulgate of St. Jerome. They also employ the thee/thou/thine form of pronouns, and are considered by some to be rendered in somewhat archaic English. In many places, such as the NT Epistles, especially the Pauline, they are quite difficult to understand, since the Latin from which they were translated hews very close to the Greek. (Now there’s a left-handed compliment if I do say so myself!)

All the other versions were translated using text-critical methods from sources in the original biblical languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

These can be divided further according to their use of gender-inclusive language as follows, listed in order of decreasing literalness:

• those which do NOT use gender-inclusive language: RSV-CE, RSV-2CE, NAB, JB;
• those which DO use gender-inclusive language: NJB, RNAB, NRSV.

In the USA, the RNAB - with significant Vatican-imposed changes - is the only version authorized for use in the Lectionary for Mass.

In Canada, the NRSV - as is, per my understanding - is used in the Lectionary.

In most other English-speaking countries, the JB is authorized for Lectionary use. The RSV-CE may also be used in some countries.

There are also Catholic editions of the popular Living Bible (LB), the Good News Bible [GNB, also called Today’s English Version (TEV)], and perhaps even of the New Living Translation (NLT) and the Contemporary English Version (CEV). Since these four are regarded in the main by many as “paraphrases” or “dynamic-equivalent” translations, I choose not to discuss them much further. Suffice it to say, they are not intended for serious scripture studies, as they stray too far from the original biblical languages.

I realize some of this is subjective, but, if you search through the Scripture Forum, you’ll see much of what I’ve written here mentioned over and over again.

 

[Deacon_Joseph]

Don’t fret too much about using the KJV. I actually own it myself. I own a lot of different Bible versions, Catholic and Protestant. My favourite is the RSV-CE (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition). It is a literal translation that is easy to read since it does not have the archaic English, and it also is not plagued by inclusive language as some of the modern translations are.

The KJV and other Protestant Bibles are missing 7 books that are contained in all Catholic versions.

 

[paarsurrey]

How many people speak Aramaic? My hubby does, and he tells me that some words have so many meanings, that you have to understand the intent of the writer. Some words do not even have an English translation. The beauty sometimes gets lost in the translation. One day when I grow up, I hope to learn the lovely languages spoken by Our Lord. Septetutic Greek is still spoken in the Greek church’s in Greece. Learning to understand God’s meaning, I believe, is what we are supposed to learn

Hi
There is no harm if on one page the original Aramai Text and on the opposite the translation is provided. Anybody who wants to go into the depth of GodAllahYHWH’s Word would be facilitated. That is what we do about the Quran; either the translation is given in the opposite page or under every line of the original in Arabic as it downpoured from the above on the heart of Muhammad. This facilitates security of the book from any undue corruption.
Thanks
I am an Ahmadi – a peaceful faith in Islam bridging gaps between faiths/denominations/religions/agnostics
The West, as I understand, due to certain disinformation has seen only MullahIslam or MullahShariah; the true face of Muhammad’sIslam and PromisedMessiahImamMahdi’sIslam is yet hidden from their eyes, which is truly speaking only peaceful.

 

[runandsew]

Reading through some of these threads, I see references being made to several versions of Bibles. Why are there so many versions for Catholics?

some follow the greek and hebrew more closely, but are a little harder to read.
some are written to be more easily understood in today’s language.
some are based on the latin vulgate.

I really didn’t think that there we that many, in fact I thought that there should be more, to keep up with the protestants.

 

[lak611]

The KJV and other Protestant Bibles are missing 7 books that are contained in all Catholic versions.

I have the KJV with Apocrypha, the 1611 edition of the KJV, and the RSV ecumenical edition (which has the books recognized by the Orthodox but considered apocryphal by the Catholic Church). So I have all the books in those Protestant Bibles. I do not care what order they are in because I never read the Bible in the order it is printed anyway.