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New Revised Standard Version

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The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, released in 1989, is a thorough revision of the Revised Standard Version (RSV).

There are three editions of the NRSV:

  1. the NRSV standard edition, containing the Old and New Testaments (Protestant canon);
  2. the NRSV with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books in addition to the Old and New Testaments (this edition is sometimes called the NRSV Common Bible);
  3. the NRSV Catholic Edition containing the Old Testament books in the order of the Vulgate.

There are also Anglicised editions of the NRSV, which modify the text slightly to be consistent with British spelling and grammar.

History

The NRSV was translated by the Division of Christian Education (now Bible Translation and Utilization) of the National Council of Churches, an ecumenical Christian group. There has also been Jewish representation in the group responsible for the Old Testament.

Only one of the translators of the RSV, Harry Orlinsky, was also involved with the NRSV. However, the Chairman of the NRSV translators, Bruce Metzger, had been involved with the RSV Apocrypha in 1957.

This translation is meant to replace the Revised Standard Version, and to identify it in context with the many other English language translations available today. It is called the New Revised Standard Version because it is a revision of the Revised Standard Version,(1952) which was a revision of the American Standard Version,(sometimes called the "Standard Bible"),(1901), which was an American English revision of The Revised Version (or English Revised Version),(1885), which is itself a revision of the King James Version of 1611. The NRSV is the translation most often used in academic circles and Protestant seminaries.

Principles of revision

Improved manuscripts and translations

The Old Testament translation of the RSV was completed before the Dead Sea Scrolls were generally available to scholars. The NRSV was intended to take advantage of this and other manuscript discoveries, and to reflect advances in scholarship since the RSV had been released.

Elimination of archaism

The RSV retained the archaic second person familiar forms ("thee and thou") when God was addressed, but eliminated their use in other contexts. The NRSV eliminated all such archaicisms.

Gender-neutral language

In the preface to the NRSV, Bruce Metzger wrote for the committee that "many in the churches have become sensitive to the danger of linguistic sexism arising from the inherent bias of the English language towards the masculine gender, a bias that in the case of the Bible has often restricted or obscured the meaning of the original text."). The RSV observed the older convention of using masculine nouns in a gender-neutral sense (e.g. "man" instead of "person"), and in some cases used a masculine word where the source language used a neuter word. The NRSV by contrast adopted a policy of gender-neutral language: "The mandates from the Division specified that, in references to men and women, masculine-oriented language should be eliminated as far as this can be done without altering passages that reflect the historical situation of ancient patriarchal culture."

One of the conventions NRSV uses is to expand gender-specific phrases. For example, if a translation used "brothers" to refer to a group that is not known to be all male, NRSV may use "brothers and sisters." Where such adjustments are made the more literal translation is noted in a footnote.

Translating the deuterocanonicals

The RSV translation of the deuterocanonical books was made after the fact as an ecumenical gesture. The NRSV translated these works as part of its initial effort, though the standard edition omitted these books.

Approval of the NRSV

Many of the older "mainline" Protestant churches officially accept the NRSV or commend it to their members. For example, the Episcopal Church added the NRSV to the list of translations in Canon II.2 which are approved for reading in church services, and the Presbyterian Church (USA) website commends the translation. It is also the official pew Bible of the United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ. It is also widely used by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Reformed Church in America.

The Community of Christ, a church with roots in the Latter-day Saint movement in the United States, uses the NRSV of the bible frequently as one of its approved translations of the bible

Although the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops approves only the New American Bible for liturgical use, the NRSV is quoted in the English-language edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (which also quotes from the RSV), and is authorized for liturgical use in Canada because it was approved in episcopal conferences there prior to the Vatican barring it for liturgical use elsewhere. Several versions of the Bible, including the NRSV, carry an imprimatur.

Controversies

While the NRSV quickly became the de facto standard in many denominations, some of its translation decisions were criticized.

The NRSV translates Isaiah 7:14 as:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

The NRSV thus retained the RSV decision to translate the Hebrew "almah" as "young woman" instead of "virgin", though a footnote acknowledged that the Greek Septuagint read "virgin" (that is, "parthenos"). The Gospel of Matthew also translated the word into Greek as "parthenos" (virgin), and English translations prior to the RSV had followed the Greek. The traditional translation of the phrase "will conceive", which likewise is the Greek translation given in Matthew, was rephrased as the present tense "is with child". This and other non-traditional translations were criticized (e.g. preferring "wind" for "rûach" in Genesis 1 instead of "spirit").

The gender-neutral language policy of the NRSV was also criticized. Previous translations in this tradition (from the RSV to the Tyndale Bible) valued strict adherence to the original text over concerns about readability or gender neutral language. The NRSV departs from this tradition. In particular, the NRSV frequently--but not always--substitutes the word "person" or "adult" when the literal text reads "man." For example, 1 Corinthians 13:11 in the RSV read: "when I became a man, I gave up childish ways," while the NRSV rendered this passage "when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways." (Italics added for emphasis.) Because the NRSV frequently departs from a literal translation of the text to serve modern concerns about gender-neutrality, critics argue it departed from the heritage of preserving the literal text of scripture that was the distinguishing feature of translations in the Tyndale/King James tradition. (There were already a very large number of modern translations on the market that utilized gender neutral language.)

Some critics argued that the translation inappropriately reflected modern feminist concerns. For example, the NRSV tends to translate adelphoi as "brothers and sisters". Critics claimed that this rendering was a condescension to feminism, especially since several passages discussing church leadership are either rewritten or have footnotes casting doubt on whether women can hold leadership positions in the church. The Greek word adelphoi can mean either "brothers" or "siblings" (i.e., "brothers and sisters"), depending on the context. However, conservatives charge that since the context is not always clear on whether or not women were included in the original audience (particularly in the Epistles), the translators should have erred on the side of caution and used the word "brothers" or "brethren" (the term used by the old RSV).

Some conservatives have accused the NRSV of tampering with the text to promote wealth redistribution, as with the translation of Acts 4:32. The reading of the old RSV was:

  • "Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common."

But the NRSV translated the verse as follows:

  • "Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common." (emphasis added).

This could be seen as simply a more readable, literary rendering. On the other hand, it could be seen to bias the reader toward the interpretation that the early Christians rejected private property and embarked on a communal lifestyle.

Conservative reactions

Conservative evangelical dissatisfaction with the NRSV, combined with a desire for a more up-to-date translation in the Tyndale-King James tradition, led to the publication in 2001 of the English Standard Version (ESV). It eschewed the gender-neutral terminology of the NRSV and reversed many controversial RSV and NRSV translation decisions; for example, in Isaiah 7:14 it returned to the translation of "almah" as "virgin", as against the RSV/NRSV rendering, "young woman".

In spite of Orthodox participation in the translation, Orthodox churches have mostly been cool to the NRSV. Annotated versions of the RSV were accepted by some Orthodox, but the Orthodox Study Bible chose the New King James Version New Testament as a starting point, and the Old Testament committee chose to make a new translation of the Septuagint rather than use any existing English translation or returning to the original Hebrew. Orthodox criticism of the NRSV generally followed conservative Protestant lines, but in addition criticized the use of the Masoretic text as the Old Testament textual basis. In 1990 the synod of the Orthodox Church in America decided not to permit use of the NRSV in liturgy or in Bible studies.

Study editions

  • The Harper Study Bible (1991, ISBN 0-310-90203-7)
  • The HarperCollins Study Bible with Apocrypha (1997, ISBN 0-06-065527-5)
  • The Spiritual Formation Bible (1999, ISBN 0-310-90089-1)
  • The Access Bible with Apocrypha (1999, ISBN 0-19-528217-5)
  • The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha, 3rd edition (2001, ISBN 0-19-528478-X)
  • The New Interpreter's Study Bible with Apocrypha (2003, ISBN 0-687-27832-5)
  • The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible with Apocrypha (2005, ISBN 0-06-067108-4)
  • The Oxford New Revised Standard Version Anglicized Cross-Reference Edition (1995, ISBN-13: 978-0-19-107050-1)

References

External links



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