This post will be an entry in the “read this, not that” category for sure! So, please bear with me as I embark on a long introduction to the journaling/note-taking Bible I'm hoping will help you with your holiday shopping…
what not to get
I find it beyond frustrating that finding an appropriate Bible is so difficult for the English speaker. Besides the normal difficulties attending the task of translation (heightened by the responsibility of rendering Sacred Scripture into the vernacular with all the criteria of accuracy and appropriate diction), we are continually harassed by the political motives of those behind the effort.
Not too long ago I received promotional material from The Catholic Bible Press for their new series of devotional Bibles. Despite their appealingly luxe presentation, the Bibles offered there are not what I would endorse. Nor would I endorse the journaling Bible offered by Blessed is She, which is in the even worse New American Bible (NAB) translation.
You see, the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) has the fatal flaw of using so-called inclusive language. The attempt to remove “gender-specific” pronouns (or even references to sex such as the word man or brother) changes the meaning of what is said — and not unrelatedly, also flattens the language, rendering it clunky, unmemorable, and uninspiring.
Let me give you a few examples in which the NRSV is compared with the Revised Standard Version (RSV):
1 Corinthians 13:1 —
NRSV: If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or clanging cymbal.
RSV: If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
Psalm 8:4 —
NRSV: What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
RSV: What is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him?
Matthew 4:19 —
NRSV: Follow me, and I will make you fish for people. (This one is particularly silly!)
RSV: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
You can see that under the guise of making the language more modern (chiefly removing the thees and thous), the translation sneaks in a political agenda (feminism) and in the process, removes the very elements that recall the passage to our minds and make it meaningful. In the case of the Old Testament, this effort has another effect, which is to eliminate the typology and Christology of the passage — that is, that which offers witness to the believer that the coming of Jesus Christ was prepared from time immemorial and fulfills even implicit prophecy.
I remember Fr. Joseph Fessio, who was responsible for bringing back the RSV and widely distributing it at Ignatius Press, telling me that all you had to do was open up to the very first Psalm to know if you were the victim of this deception.
Instead of “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly” (referencing a man, Jesus Christ, as well as being a passage that everyone can identify with, since everyone knows that generically, man means man and woman), the NRSV has “Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked,” which changes everything, waving vaguely at others in the distance, probably not us, who should not go astray. And is awkward to boot.
In not offending modern sensibilities, the NRSV (and let's not even talk about the NAB) ends up making everything sound as if it all occurred in the context of 20th-century first-world affluence, but with an ignorance that requires everything being explained in a vaguely technical way. Thus we have “members of the Church” instead of “brother” — however, who's to say? — and “minor” instead of “child.” And you see that it's already somewhat out of date, as it's now the 21st century as we speak…
Whether this is just shortsightedness or some sort of job-protection effort (since of course “updating” has to be revisited by the experts, to itself be updated), I don't know. But it's not ultimately good for our sense of the universality of God's Word:
Matthew 25:1
NRSV: Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
RSV: …ten maidens who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
“Maidens” might seem archaic if we think about it too hard, but “bridesmaids” is technical and particular. A maiden describes a woman; a bridesmaid describes a woman fulfilling a temporary role. There is a case to be made that deliberate archaism paradoxically creates timelessness. (affiliate link)
get this instead!
Anyway, the good news is that Ignatius Press always has beautiful versions of the RSV for sale. Fr. Fessio, its founder, has seen to that.
And if you are looking for a gift this coming Christmas for your favorite avid note-taking or journaling friend (or even for yourself!), Ignatius has a new offering, a Catholic RSV Bible that can fill that role.
And we at LMLD are offering you a discount on this Bible in time for your gift-giving! If you buy from Ignatius, you get 30% off your volume with this discount code: LEILA30
The code is good from today to 11/21.
If you are looking for a journaling Bible, this one is the one I would recommend. It's austere in a good way, free of limiting embellishment, so it will be suitable for everyone, male and female (heh).
Note that the red cover is a sleeve that comes off the actual book and the book itself is black, not blue as it appears in this photo.
The feel is substantial, with its stiffer cover and sturdy elastic. Inside the pages are of course thin, to fit a whole Bible into a volume that you can slip into your bag to take to Adoration and so on, but sturdy — a pen will not rip them. The print is small, again, to keep the size down to what can easily be carried, I think. I like the marginal note taking area, and the footnotes are minimal but apt. (The lines are pretty faint in this photo that I grabbed from their site, but in real life they are darker.)
One little touch that Fr. Fessio instituted early on is to keep ISBN numbers off the covers of his books where possible. So this Bible is really timeless in more ways than one!
And it has maps!
bits & pieces
- A law degree is one of the worst investments — this is not a polemical piece, but simply makes an observation based on outcomes.
- A reader left this recipe in the comments of another post — I made these soul cakes and they are very nice! (I used dried cranberries as I was currant-less.) The children love being told to say a prayer for the dearly departed when they take one. (As always, I don't necessarily endorse other things on the sites I link to!)
- I have shared my friend Peter Kwasniewski's work here before, and of course we have had a lot of discussions about liturgy — and beauty — on LMLD. You might appreciate this article in which he identifies The Four Qualities of Liturgy: Validity, Licitness, Fittingness, and Authenticity
- David Clayton: Why Sacred Art is Necessary to the Faith — I always love hearing David talk about this subject!
- A must-read on the topic I have amateurishly attempted above is the late Fr. Paul Mankowski SJ's The Necessary Failure of Inclusive Language Translations: A Linguistic Elucidation. Fr. Mankowski was a world expert in Biblical languages. When he left the Biblicum in Rome they had to replace him with three professors. We have been led to believe that it's only fair to replace certain pronouns and even words with non-male ones, but this is a snare and a delusion that affects the way we look at faith itself — even how we look at God and of course, ourselves.
from the archives
Thanksgiving, it is less than two weeks away! Time to revisit my tour de force Thanksgiving prep post!
One year I did a sort of “live IG Thanksgiving prep” series– you can follow it here.
liturgical living
Remember to buy your Advent candles and Advent calendars! (affiliate links)
Because of the cray-cray year, calls will be heard across the land to just go ahead and start Christmas now! But hear my call: Advent must be lived. We can't get to the joy of Christmas, a reality, not a feeling, without the journey of preparation and yes, purgation that is Advent. Live your Advent. It will be upon us in so short a time. As the woman of the house, your task is to undertake the preparation (yes, for the preparation).
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Cristina Reintjes says
That law school article is spot on. My husband’s degree was financed through the military and he would never have become a lawyer otherwise. He loves to tell the orientation story of having the financial aid person ask all the 1Ls if anyone would be leaving school with no debt, raising his hand, and having her comment that no one has ever raised their hand for that question before. He tells aspiring law students all the time not to go into debt for law school. If your test scores and gpa aren’t good enough to get large scholarships then definitely don’t do it.
Emily says
I am *really* glad I didn’t end up going to law school. Fortunately, through the graces of my parents, I finished undergrad with no debt. A few professors said I’d be a really good law student and at first I thought, oh, I should do that! But: I didn’t want the debt, and the LSAT was just….not my thing, fortunately!!
Mrs. Bee says
Thank you for this Bible suggestion! My oldest needs a new one, and this is just right for his apologetics class.
I confess I threw away our NAB copy – it did feel a bit weird, I wasn’t sure it was quite appropriate, but I did it. We only own RSVs and Douay-Rheims now. I didn’t know anything about the NRSV, and naively assumed it was an even better version of the RSV! You know, New and Improved! All that talk of mortals makes one feel like he’s reading The Lord of the Rings more than a Bible…
Your observation that deliberate archaism paradoxically creates timelessness made me immediately think that this must be high on the list of reasons why Latin is rightfully the language of the Church.
Carol Kennedy says
Thanks for the liturgy article! The whole time I was reading it I was thinking about our little Ordinariate parish and how it is growing because people are attracted to the beautiful and fitting liturgy. Then I got to the end of the article and found his chart where he lists the “Anglican Ordinariate Rite” as problematic when it comes to his category of authenticity. First of all, the Ordinariate is not a “rite”, it is a form of the Roman Rite! Also, as I understand it, the Divine Worship Missal which the Ordinariate form uses for the Mass traces its origins way back in the Sarum rite, the canon used is from Pope Gregory the Great and much if it is simply a beautiful English language translation of much of what the Extraordinary Form uses–though the English is more like the King James Version of the Bible than what is used in most English speaking Masses today–with beautiful elements of the Book of Common prayer.
Leila says
Carol, I agree and I think that more work has to be done to examine how the Anglican form of the Mass fits with the Roman rite. There is something to be discovered in this question, which goes to the plethora of rites with a small “r” that existed before Trent.
I also agree about the English. It’s beautiful and fitting.
Jennifer says
Carol, I agree and I think that more work has to be done to examine how the Anglican form of the Mass fits with the Roman rite. There is something to be discovered in this question, which goes to the plethora of rites with a small “r” that existed before Trent.
I also agree about the English. It’s beautiful and fitting.
Leila says
Jennifer, do check out the other Ignatius bibles. They are RSV and are very good. The Douay-Rheims is a venerable one as well; personally I prefer the KJV for devotions and a Catholic one (with the Catholic books of the Bible added).
One could burn a Bible that is in a bad translation! Or bury it…
Jo says
Leila….I opened your post and I WANT that note taking Bible.
Here is my dilemma. I have a well used Ignatius RSV Second Catholic Edition. (It doesn’t have any of the gender crazy language, I went to check as soon as you posted, whew) But how do I justify a new note taking Bible which I’ve wanted, when I have allegiance to the old?
What do I do with my *old* Bible , if the new note taking one comes to live at my house, in my possession? ;
Jo
Leila says
Jo, you can have two Bibles 🙂
In fact, I think sometimes one would want to jot things down, and other times one would want to read undistracted… just a thought!
Lisa G. says
What a sweet story about the pigeon! Who would think an entire nest could be built with poppies?? A nest fit for a king.
Ashley says
I learned something new! I always found the translation of our Bible to be less beautiful than the translation used in the Liturgy of the Hours and now I know why.
Do you have a version of the Act of Contrition that you’d recommend? We’re preparing my daughter for celebrating the Sacrament of Penance and I don’t love the version I was taught.
Thank you for all you do! I always look forward to your posts!
Jacki says
Thanks for the recommendation! We mostly use our RSV and occasionally pull out the DR. I want to love the DR but I just don’t quite love it for whatever reason. I recently came across a KJV for Catholics. I think it’s being published by someone in the Anglican Ordinate. It’s the KJ language, but an older version that contains all the books of the Bible. Have you seen it? I’m really tempted to buy it, but then I’ve heard people say that the KJV is inherently anti-Catholic and I honestly don’t know enough to know whether that’s true or not.
Leila says
Jacki, here is one interesting article on the subject of the D-R: https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=4300
I have one volume of that new KJV. Looking forward to the rest! It’s a matter of restoring the books that Luther removed.
The RSV is always good for studying, but the KJV is how our culture developed. We really can’t do without it!
Jacki says
Thanks for the article! I’m glad to hear I can also read the KJV in good conscience. There’s just something about its language that really can’t be beat for reading and reciting.
Ioana says
Interesting topic. I’ve recently translated a paper for my husband from Romanian into English. Lots of early fathers of the church, so not really easy, I guess. The presentation was about human dignity from the perspective of the Orthodox Church (we are Orthodox). I was worried about the clarity of the message and the accuracy of the terms. Turned out the audience was more concerned about the “sexist” language of the early fathers. He received several questions about that and got politely scolded: “in our context, one participant explained, we use inclusive language” . My husband calmly replied that by “man” and “men” (in English) he meant both men and women. And so did Maximus the Confessor and Gregory of Nyssa. So that was obviously inclusive. Made my smile.
By the way. I’ve been reading your blog for years. I have learned a lot from you. More than you think.
Mary Eileen says
Great post! We have several Bibles and I’ll be honest, more than a few of them hail from bygone days (cough cough the 80s and 90s) and deserve to be burned…..Leila what do you think of the Knox translation?? https://www.baroniuspress.com/book.php?wid=56&bid=60#tab=tab-1. I have seen Michael Brendan Dougherty rate it very highly but I have never looked at one.
Whitney says
I am a relatively new Catholic (Easter before last). Being high risk, we started going back to mass last month finally. 🙂
Do you have any suggestions of resources for faith formation?
Victoria says
Obvs, I’m not Leila, but I’m wondering where are you coming from? Were you Christian before? My own personal take for just about anyone would be to start by praying the “Liturgy of the Hours.” What I love about the LOTH is that the “Office of Readings” for every day furnishes you with a patristic reading that is so powerfully formative, and, of course the psalms, whose instruction and inspiration stands only behind the Gospels in my opinion. There are several hours to be prayed every day, and an app is usually the easiest way to step into praying it. If it were me just getting started, I would pray the Office of Readings and then add one of the other hours to my day after getting comfortable with it, maybe Night Prayer.
Victoria says
And I know Auntie Leila has a post about it here somewhere, but the “hours” don’t take hours to pray! LOL If you just read through the Office of Readings (in monasteries they sing the whole thing) it takes just 15 minutes. 🙂
Anamaria says
Starting with just night prayer is also a good way to go- it’s the shortest, and it’s on a weekly cycle (the others are on a 4-week cycle), so it’s less complicated. My parents had a bunch of little books with just night prayer so our friends could join in high school (we went to public high school, so this was interesting! But usually the Protestants joined, though some skipped the Hail Mary). https://www.amazon.com/Night-Prayer-Catholic-Book-Publishing/dp/0899423531
Anamaria says
Leila also has this post for spiritual reading and of course her book the little oratory is a treasure. http://likemotherlikedaughter.org/2016/04/read-not-spiritual-reading/
Leila says
I endorse the suggestions given to you here! Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, starting at the beginning. Use each section for meditation. I also recommend Bishop Athansius Schneider’s Christus Vincit. If you are a patient reader, I recommend investing in a copy of St. John Henry Newman’s Plain and Parochial Sermons: https://amzn.to/3kSZtxg Buy the hardback — maybe you can find it used. Try them out — they are available for free online here: http://www.newmanreader.org/works/parochial/volume1/index.html Look at the index and dip in to one that seems to interest you. Read it slowly… I find that his sermons are totally formative and my copy is well used (paperback would not do, and the hardcover version has a ribbon!)
Logan says
I was a protestant before converting I grew up with the KJV. I’ve never been fond of the RSV because of it’s lack of beauty, especially for memorization. It’s not as bad as New American, but Psalms always make me cringe. While I agree about your criticism of NRSV sometimes I think it sounds better than RSV, trying to recapture some of that mellifluousness. That’s how I read the “mortals” vs “man. variation, I’d never considered the agenda you mentioned. But I do see your point. I’ll have to sit down and do some more looking at the two. I always respect your opinion and mine was formed by some rather liberal Professors I’ll admit. My opinion may need revising.
marcella87 says
Thanks for this post. I’ve been trying to figure out if this Bible version will work for me, but it is hard to find pictures that show it in detail. I must make one correction though, in the blog it gives examples of the RSV text, but this Bible is RSV-2CE which has removed thees and thous, and I think it is much improved. For over 20 years I’ve had the RSV, and almost all the volumes of the Navarre Bible Commentary which uses the RSV. I also have the Ignatius Study Bible New Testament with the RSV-2CE. The 2CE is very good. I want to use this Notetaking Bible to put together all my notes that I’ve collected in those Bibles together in one place. It will take me a very long time I’m sure, but I consider it, in someways a family heirloom.
Leila says
Yes, you are right — the thees and thous are not in this version. The main point of the comparisons is the inclusive language. For study, this version is indeed very good.
If you go to this tweet you can see a video I posted where I’m riffling through the pages if that helps you: https://twitter.com/_Leila/status/1328513070013034496
marcella87 says
Thanks so much! It really is elegant and a very special Bible. I’ll have to be the “little bird” that tells my family this could be Christmas present worthy.