"Anglicized New Revised Standard Version" with the Grail Psalms is to be published on 3 March. (See: Amazon UK) The Publishers' product description is as follows:
A new edition of the Bible aimed especially at Roman Catholics, including both the anglicized Catholic text of the NRSV translation, and the much loved Grail Psalms.It is understandable for the publisher to make claims such as "Catholics have been waiting" and "increasingly becoming the most popular translation" but I take them with a pinch of salt. The Douai-Rheims version has enjoyed a revival of popularity in recent years, not least because there are no problems of copyright and the text has been widely available in many forms on the internet free of charge. Many Catholics have also been drawn to the Revised Standard Version published by Ignatius Press.
For years, Catholics have been waiting for a Bible including both the NRSV Bible and the Grail Psalms. Now, it is here at last.
The NRSV is increasingly becoming the most popular translation among Catholics, and it will be used in the new edition of the Lectionary which is coming soon. The much loved Grail Psalms are already in wide liturgical use, and will continue to be.
This Bible also includes additional features such as Mass Readings and maps.
The new new RSV is published by Collins but it seems that the text of the (unanglicized) version is available at Godweb and the oremus Bible Browser so there is reason to hope that the new new one will be available online too.
The original NRSV committee was strongly committed to "inclusive language" (see: this page for information). As I understand it, the version had to be edited for use in the Catholic Liturgy in accordance with Liturgiam Authenticam, particularly with regard to inclusive language. Indeed the NRSV in its original form was rejected by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1995. (See this article.) One wonders why it was not simply decided to adopt the RSV as published by Ignatius. That had already been slightly edited precisely to accord with Liturgiam Authenticam.
Despite some misgivings I hope that the new new RSV will at least be an improvement on the Jerusalem version which we have had to endure for so long in the sacred Liturgy. The news that the text is soon to be published indicates that a lectionary based on it should be available in good time so that missals for the people can be provided with the texts of the readings as well as the propers of the Mass.
16 comments:
Douay-Rheims or a Catholic edition of the KJV. Fullstop.
The much loved Grail Psalms
???
I think that's overstating it a little. Not that the Grail trsnslstion is disliked or the object of ridicule like say, the ICET Gloria, but - whatever its virtues - it suffers from the blandness characteristic of its time (cf the Jerusalem and New English Bibles, and the 1973 English Propers). That's not the stuff of love.
Judging from one verse, the NRSV is deficient:
Psalm 112 (111 of the Douay-Rheims) in the NRSV: "Happy are those who fear the Lord..."
The Douay-Rheims says: "Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord..."
"Happy" instead of "blessed" (beatus in the Vulgate) and the gender-inclusive "those" instead of "the man" (vir in the Vulgate)? I think I'll stick to the Douay-Rheims.
I agree with you about the Ignatius RSV which is from several points of view about as good as it gets. The NRSV is absolutely appalling. I don't know the Grail Psalms - I hope they avoid the NRSV's wilful mistranslations in the interests of gender neutrality, which strip the Psalter of its Christological typology, rendering it liturgically (and dogmatically) useless.
I can think of no respectable reason for preferring Douay-Rheims - a translation (into early modern English) of a translation of a translation.
The Baronius Press has been on the point of re-publishing the Knox Bible for quite some time now as, also, they are on the point of re-publishing the Divine Office.
"For years, Catholics have been waiting for a Bible including both the NRSV Bible and the Grail Psalms"
Things I have been waiting for:
1. The Second Coming
2. A self emptying litter tray for my cat
3. An Electronic Breviary that auto updates days, cycles etc and has a voice sensor that won't turn the alarm off until you start praying.
Things I have not been waiting for:
1. A new NRSV.
Same here in the US. We got the RSV CE, but they went ahead and updated the NAB, knowing full well that the NAB and the new NABRE, will not be used in the OF Mass. I guess it all boils down to money and marketing, rather than tradition and norms. Sorry to here the situation in the UK with the NRSV. Even the Orthodox Churches don't care for the NRSV or NAB. Best thing to do is not purchase it. Stick with the RSVCE.
Father,
Is anything like the Douay-Rheims translation?
nineinthemorning - Hilarious! Incidentally, if you use the post-Vatican 2 office in English, you do have the option of getting Universalis and uploading it to a Kindle. Doesn't (yet) have the voice sensor, though.
On the subject of editions of the Bible, am I the only one that gets worked up when:
At Mass last week, "And the Gates of Hell will not prevail against you", with regard to St Peter's profession of faith, is rendered as "And the Gates of death will not prevail against you". Downplaying the inerrancy of the Church and the fact that Satan and his abode are the source of lies.
Or, IMHO, an even worse translation: "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffers the loss of his soul" becoming "What does it profit a man.. and he suffers the loss of his life". The latter making even less sense when the earlier passage recounts Our Lord saying that he who loses his life for me will gain eternal life.
Or am I pedantic?
Re: Anagnostis: I can think of no respectable reason for preferring Douay-Rheims - a translation (into early modern English) of a translation of a translation.
The translators of the Douay-Rheims did not just use the Vulgate. They also compared it to the Hebrew and Greek versions, too. Read this.
I had a brief flick through this edition yesterday.
It most certainly has NOT been purged of "inclusive language". It is an anglicized version of the Old NRSV with the "inclusive language" version of the Grail Psalms substituted for the "inclusive language" NRSV translation which had been in the previous anglicized edition.
This is unlike the CTS Catholic Bible which uses the (old) Jerusalem translation and the original version of the Grail Psalter. I dislike the Jerusalem Translation and the Grail Psalter as much as you do, but I dislike this edition even more.
Personally, I would like to see the RSV Catholic Edition together with The Liturgical Psalter, but there is little chance of that happening.
Sorry. I wasn't quite right in my last comment.
What you get here is simply the Old NRSV, with all its radical commitment to "inclusive language", with the original "much loved" Grail Psalter consigned to an appendix. This is even more bizzare.
The CTS Catholic Bible or, even better, the RSV + Liturgical Psalter, remain superior in my view.
I want the Blesseds in The Beatitudes back. Pleeeeeeese.
It is "Blessed" in the NRSV so we can look forward to saying goodbye to the "happitides".
Here in the US we get the NABRE. A quote from USA today on the NABRE.
Quote: One change may set off alarms with traditionalists, in a passage many Christians believe foreshadows the coming of Christ and his birth to a virgin. The 1970 version of Isaiah 7:14 says "the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel."
The 2011 text refers to "the young woman" instead. It elaborates that the original Hebrew word, almah, may, or may not, signify a virgin.
This should be "change may set off alarms with Catholics" not "traditionalists".
Hence why the NABRE is a failed translation!!. It completely distorts the truth of Catholic and Orthodox teaching!!
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