New Revised Standard Version

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New Revised Standard Version
The New Oxford Annotated Bible in the NRSV
The New Oxford Annotated Bible in the NRSV
Full name: New Revised Standard Version
Abbreviation: NRSV
Complete Bible published: 1989
Textual Basis: 18% deviation from Nestle-Aland 27th edition (NT)
Translation type: 13% paraphrase rate
Copyright status: National Council of Churches
Genesis 1:1-3
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible, released in 1989, is an update 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;
  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.

Contents

[edit] 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.

[edit] Principles of revision

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Gender inclusive 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." [1] The RSV observed the older convention of using masculine nouns in an inclusive 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-inclusive 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."

[edit] 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.

[edit] Approval of the NRSV

Many 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 Unity Church.

Although the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops approves only the New American Bible for liturgical use, the NRSV is used in the English-language edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and is the version authorized for liturgical use in Canada. Several versions of the Bible, including the NRSV, carry an imprimatur.

[edit] Controversies

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

The NRSV retained the RSV decision to translate the Hebrew "almah" in Isaiah 7:14 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 prophecy was obscured further by using the phrase "is with child" rather than in the future tense, as its counterpart in Matthew 1:23 did. Other nontraditional translations were also criticized (e.g. preferring "wind" for "rûach" in Genesis 1 instead of "spirit").

The gender-inclusive language policy of the NRSV was also criticized.[citation needed] A feminist influence was charged, and the types of translation techniques used to accomplish this policy were challenged by some critics. For example, the NRSV tends to translate adelphoi as "brothers and sisters". Critics claimed that this rendering was a condescension to feminism. In fact, it represents an accurate translation, since the Greek word adelphoi can mean either "brothers" or "siblings" (i.e., "brothers and sisters"), depending on the context.[citation needed] 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 conform to a socialist agenda, 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 would insinuate that the early Christians rejected private property and embarked on a communal lifestyle, rather than merely acknowledging that their property really belonged to God and should be used for His glory.

[edit] 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).[citation needed] It eschewed the gender-inclusive terminology 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's correction, "young woman".

In spite of Orthodox participation in the translation, Orthodox churches have mostly been cool to the NRSV.[citation needed] 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.

[edit] Study editions

[edit] External links

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