NRSV or ESV
or 
posted by -mike- at 9:18 AM
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Saturday, September 09, 2006
or posted by -mike- at 9:18 AM
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10 Comments:
Well, we use the NRSV in the academy and the mainline churches do as well and I don't even know what the ESV is. How's that?
I use the NRSV that comes in my Nestle-Aland diglot, just 'cause I think it's based on the manuscripts on the page opposite of it. Maybe I'm wrong.
Otherwise, I use the ESV and I loves it lolz. It's a bit KJV-ish in the OT, though.
Yah, ok. :) ESV is like the conservatives counter translation. It's pretty good. But I dunno if they felt like changing anything... Whatever.
Rob, tell your g/f to IM me...
lol!
everyone knows that the nrsv is better. i mean, hello, bruce metzger worked on it. that alone settles the issue for me.
I love bruce metzger, I have his rookie card!
NRSV, surely Jesus would use it! ;)
Alright... I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say I like the ESV and, additionally, think I prefer the RSV to the NRSV.
Wainwright is on my side when it comes to the RSV. So, you can pick on me but you're also picking on my boy G-Wain.
Sean and Robbie: Yah... that's very true. We may as well be honest with ourselves...
Monk-in-Training: I'd agree... Hehe.
JHearne: Yah. You're pretty much wrong. And so is Wainright. But we will look past that and continue to love, even though you have poor taste.
:P
Kyle is correct that most academic programs perfer the NRSV (though many will be perfectly ok with the RSV, since they only switched to the NRSV because it was like getting the new model). Usually the NOAB (new Oxford Annotated Bible) is the gold standard for either.
That said, as a Christian I have some real problems with the NRSV that have little or nothing to do with gender-inclusive language. In fact, the more I've used it, the more opposed I've become to it.
I say go RSV or ESV, possibly even TNIV if gender inclusivity is a big selling point for you. The only reservation that I have with the ESV is that there is no Apocrypha available. The following is my review of the RSV Common Bible, which basically states my reasons for prefering it over its successor:
The New Oxford Annotated Bible, RSV with apocrypha is not called the Common Bible for nothing. The RSV and Apocrypha is the only Bible translation that the Roman, Orthodox and most Protestant denominations have authorized for use in liturgy as well as private study. Although the RSV's successor, the New Revised Standard Version is allowed for personal study in the US Catholic Church, it is not authorized for use in the Liturgy. While the Canadian Catholic CHurch does use the NRSV in some of its lectionary readings, this is largly because they were prematurely printed and they will be replaced eventually. The Orthodox Church in America has rejected the use of the New RSV for liturgical use AND personal bible study. So, as it stands, the RSV is the only translation that is officially used by Roman, Orthodox and most protestant churches. That's enough for me to use it, but it also helps that it is a great translation, though I echo a former commentators view about the translation of Isaiah 7:14, at least the RSV does not go so far as to incorrectly use "mortal" for Son of Man or use "pale green horse" instead of the traditional pale horse in Revelations. When I hear the phrase pale green horse, as is in the NRSV, I think of a VW bug. So, I highly reccomend the RSV with apocrypha as a great translation for anyone who likes a bible that is current in scholarship but reverent with language and ecumenical in use.
I would simply add that my greatest problem with the NRSV is the disconnect between the Old Testament and the New. I can say with confidence that someone reading the NRSV without study notes would not be able to tell where the New Testament was quoting the Old because they have chosen to translate the passages differently... I don't mean the simple differences that come because the NT is based on the Septuagint while most modern English Bibles use the Masoretic text, but rather that Messianic titles used and cited frequently in the New Testament are completely absent from the NRSV translation of the Old Testament at important points. I may have more to say in a blog post about this.
The ESV is now the official translation of the Luthern Church, Missouri Synod and is gaining popularity amongst conservative Reformed and Anglican churches.
Hope some of this was helpful.
Just wanted to add that I don't think the acceptance of the ESV by any of these particular church bodies is necessarily a ringing endorsement of their theology... its embrace by such a wide range of confessions is impressive. It is more impressive because these are *conservative* groups of particular theological stripes... confessional Lutherans and hyper-calvinist PCA'ers have a lot of differences--painting the ESV as the purveyor of a particular theology would be incorrect.
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