A New Translation of the Bible - NRSVue

 

 

What?! Another translation of the Bible? Didn’t we just have a new one, the New Revised Version of the Bible? Man, I’m getting old, the NRSV came out thirty years ago. I had already been a pastor for ten years. In seminary we studied The RSV - Revised Standard Version. When the NRSV came out it was considered a great step in modern scholarship. Now, the NRSVue, New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, has just been released and it to reveals a whole new era of scholarship. 

 

I’ll never forget when the NRSV came out. It was a controversial and revolutionary translation. While it was very accurate to the Greek and Hebrew, it also sought as much as possible to be open to gender pronouns to reflect the contemporary context. 

 

I loved the translation. Other Christians hated it. It was too progressive for them. They wanted their old traditional translation. 

 

When it comes to the Bible everyone has their authoritative translation. Some prefer the NIV, New International Version. Some harken all the way back to the King James Version. Everyone believes their translation is the most accurate voice of God. They believe all other translations are heresy. 

 

I’ll never forget when the Message version came out. The Message was written by Eugene Peterson who wanted to put the Bible in contemporary vernacular. I thought it was very engaging and I used it in preaching and teaching. Some pastors told me I was a biblical light weight for using the Message. 

 

The Christian Century just published an article about the NRSVue. They shared how translators of the Bible throughout history have either been labeled as heretics and have either been burned or beheaded. The Church just can’t stand anybody with new ideas. I’ve been at the point of that spear many times throughout my ministry. 

 

The National Council of Churches called for an update on the NRSV because of all the recent scholarship that has brought new findings to the biblical conversation. The NCC commissioned the Society of Biblical Literature to lead the review. They gathered together a group of Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic scholars to bring the newest scholarship to the table. According to the article in the Christian Century over ten thousand changes were made to the NRSV.

 

I googled, “controversies over the NRSVue” which brought about a plethora of condemnations from evangelical theologians - which always piques my interest. If they’re against something, I’m usually for it. 

 

You can get the NRSVue in a Black Leather covered edition. I downloaded it on my kindle, my recent favorite way to read the Bible. I bet some people would say it’s heresy to have an e version of the Bible. 

 

My cursory reading tells me it’s pretty much the same. You’d have to be a hard-core bible student to notice the differences. 

 

I’m all for the newest and latest scholarship in the Bible. But really, I don’t care which version you use. 

 

I just hope you read it. 

 

Steve