Bible study and church unity

As a lifelong student of the Bible and lover of the church in all its parts, I’m thrilled to see the Bible bind Christians together again! For one thing, developments in biblical scholarship and archeological digs have helped many Protestant publishers see that the apostles and other early church leaders knew the apocryphal books – those extra “Old Testament” books included in the original King James Version (KJV) of the Bible but taken out during the Reformation.

Meanwhile, Catholic scholars have greatly encouraged private and group study by making more study editions available with informative footnotes and articles provided by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. In addition, Christian scholars from Catholic, Protestant, and Evangelical churches put their halos together to bring us the Common English Bible, previously reviewed on this site. Before that the Revised English Bible (REB), reviewed in A study Bible with an ecumenical view, gave us a one-Bible-fits-all-study groups.

Besides the REB, Oxford University Press has given us ecumenical editions (aka with Apocrypha) of the Revised Standard Version and New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), which I’ve used for years and highly recommend. Therefore, I’m doubly pleased to announce the new-to-me revised edition of the New American Bible (NAB) approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and published by Oxford.

Since I prefer genuine leather covers for the Bibles I use most often, I’m happy to see this edition can be found with a nice leather binding. Except for the NAB I bought years ago, Catholic editions rarely have high quality leather. My old NAB does but has "Catholic Study Bible" printed with such big gold letters on the spine that some Christians might not want to take it to another church study group.

The new (2010) NAB Revised Edition from Oxford has bold lettering on the spine, too, but its golden letters say “Holy Bible,” which should please everyone! I got the large print, which I like, but the treatment of footnotes took some getting used to at first. i.e., Instead of having footnotes and study notes at the bottom of each page, this edition places them at the end of each book. So you can look up notes as you go, or read (as I did) the study notes in one sitting. Interestingly, this placement kept me from being distracted (as I often am) from reading straight-through, and I felt as though I comprehended the text more fully since I didn’t have the typical footnotes to interrupt the reading.

Regarding the type of information found in those study notes, the footnote for Matthew 27:16-17 tells us, “The Aramaic name Barabbas means ‘son of the father’,” then points out “the irony of the choice offered between him and Jesus, the true son of the Father.”

For another example of a footnote concerning the Passion of Christ, a note on the time of death told in John 19:14 says: “Noon, the time when, according to John, Jesus was sentenced to death, was the hour at which the priest began to slaughter Passover lambs in the temple.” That’s the kind of information I wouldn’t know without the truly informative information in these study notes. Glad I ordered mine, but it’s a little hard to find, so I hope this link on Christian Books works for a while.

© 2013, Mary Harwell Sayler

Digging the Archaeological Study Bible

Ever since Zondervan released the Archaeological Study Bible in 2005, I’ve hinted broadly for a copy to read, study, and review. It’s not that I’m too cheap to buy my own but am apt to spend every discretionary dime on Bibles so thought I’d try a different approach and beg for review copies.

For ages, nothing happened. Then publication of the new New International Version took the original NIV off the shelf for new editions, which now means a great buy on the Archaeological Study Bible. Maybe Zondervan will do an updated edition with the new NIV, but not wanting to risk missing this highly recommended study Bible, I bought my own in top grain leather and will now hint for a review copy of the new NIV.

Format: Each book begins with the kind of background information I want to know: factual data to immerse me in Bible scenes and clarify the “Author, Place and Date of Writing,” “Audience,” “Cultural Facts and Highlights,” and “Timeline.” To bring the individual books into present day, the format also includes suggestions to notice “As You Read,” questions to consider in “Did You Know?” and “Themes” to look for in the text or the “Outline.”

Size: Big! This 6.5” x 9.5” edition weighs more than my ESV Study Bible, which has more than the 2306 pages (plus maps) in the Archaeological Study Bible, so the type of covering tips the scales.

Binding: I chose the thick, durable top grain leather, which I like and recommend, but the less expensive hardback edition (shown below) has the advantage of sitting up, nice and straight, on a bookshelf.

Type: As page numbers increase in a study Bible, font size usually decreases, which works for me since I’m myopic anyway. What does not work well is a lightly drawn font with lightly applied ink. Having noticed this in other Zondervan Bibles, I hope the company will reconsider and go for a chunkier font or thick ink.

Study Aids: From “A Chronological History of Palestine” in the front matter to the “Subject Index,” “Concordance,” and high quality maps in the back, this edition provides study aids that live up to the subtitle: An Illustrated Walk Through Biblical History and Culture.

Unique Features: In addition to the above-mentioned aids, the Archaeological Study Bible includes inserts throughout its pages to give a glimpse of “Ancient Texts and Artifacts,” “Ancient Peoples, Lands and Rulers,” “Ancient Voices,” “Archaeological Sites,” and more. For instance, instead of just describing the “Dress and Fashion in the Greco-Roman World” of Jesus’ time, illustrations show this, so we can easily see and perhaps even envision ourselves in each biblical setting where we, too, belong.

© 2012, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved, but pass it on! To see sample pages from this excellent study edition, click the pic below:





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The Voice

Every time you see a new translation of the Bible, you can be sure someone had a strong purpose before putting so many Bible scholars to so much work! That surely happened with The Voice.

When Chris Seay, the president of the Ecclesia Bible Society, came up with the idea a couple of decades ago, he wanted a translation that would help us to feel we were there, experiencing biblical events and interacting with each Bible person.

As most poets can tell you, reading a poem is less about whether you “get it” than whether you feel, sense, connect with, or somehow experience a particular poem. The same can be said for a movie script or screenplay, and so The Voice helps readers to identify with Bible characters and stories through another literary means: drama!

Format: Like the script for a contemporary play, The Voice identifies the speaker or narrator in the left-hand column of the page then provides “stage directions,” either through the words of scripture or an aside added to the original text. When the latter occurs, a change in the font type or color identifies the addition with borderlines to mark the inserts.

Type: An easy-to-read Bible needs an easy-to-read font, which this edition certainly has. Even the tiny type used to identify place names on the maps in the back of the book can be read without straining the myopic eyes we frequent readers often seem to have.

Study Aids: Besides the colorful maps and typical topical index, the study aids will be especially useful to new Christians or those who want to learn, know, or keep track of the important dates in the church calendar. For ease in note-keeping, lined pages have been included at the back of the book.

Unique Features: Throughout this fresh and innovative edition, the contextual notes show the intent of the biblical writers or motivations of the speakers and where they or surrounding cultural influences were coming from. Ironically, though, this dynamic equivalent of the Word of God has been criticized for none of the above but for the literal rendering of “Christ,” “God,” “apostles,” and “angels.”

For example, the Greek word “Christos” traditionally renamed as the English “Christ” literally means “the Anointed One” – a phrase that has reportedly upset many Christians at first (perhaps as it did when modern translators corrected the English rendering of the Hebrew original YHWH from “Jehovah” to “Yahweh,” which means "I AM Who I AM" - now, then, and always. Therefore, The Voice literally translated YHWH as the "Eternal" or the "Eternal One." Similarly, the word "emissary" for Christ would be clearer than the word "apostle" and "messenger" more precise than "angel."

Special Recommendation: As a worthy emissary for Christ and angelic voice meant to give us a clear message from God, The Voice will surely make a blessed Christmas gift for children, teens, young adults, adults, church friends, Bible study groups, and your whole family to read aloud together. Click on the title to find the cover you want to order The Voice Biblein time for Christmas.

Even if you're now unsure about the usage of the word “Christmas,” consider ordering The Voice as a special gift to give on the special feast day of The Anointed One, aka the Christ Mass. And maybe we could even use this literal rendering as a means of separating Christ-lovers from Santa-shoppers by following The Voice into an annual celebration of "The Day of the Anointed."

© 2012, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved, but pass it on!

Which books go in which Bible?

Christians from all denominations often ask me which Bible is which and why, and I’ve been explaining away – incorrectly! Well, not totally wrongly, but I was under the forgetful impression that any Bible “with Apocrypha” is the same as a “Catholic edition” – not!

With apologies to all, I’ll try to set things straight, confusing though it may be, but important too, so please bear with me.

As I’ve also mentioned over the years (and, yea! – gotten right) – the order of the books in a Bible “with Apocrypha” differ from a “Catholic edition” most noticeably by placement.

Each edition approved for Roman Catholic readers has the “extra books” woven into the “Old Testament” according to category. For example, Tobit and I and II Maccabees go with historical books whereas The Book of Sirach (one of my favorites) wisely goes with Wisdom Books and Baruch goes with the Prophets. However, Bibles labeled “with Apocrypha” typically place the extra books between the Testaments or after Revelation.

That can be confusing if you enjoy interdenominational Bible study groups, as I do, but otherwise, it’s no big deal. Right? Well, at least not until you come to some extra “extra books” with no clue what to do, which is what happened recently to me.

Reading my new copy of the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) with Apocrypha, I ran across books I did not recall ever reading in my Catholic Study Bible or Revised English Bible with Apocrypha or The New Jerusalem Bible. Just to be sure, I double-checked the lists and saw that some of the books “with Apocrypha” are not part of the deuterocanonical books of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church does not consider books labeled “apocryphal” as such since “Apocrypha” means hidden, which those books clearly are not. Rather the Roman Church deemed the “extra books” to be “deuterocanonical” or outside the canon established by Jewish scholars who canonized the Hebrew Scriptures sometime after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 A.D.

When Protestants left the Catholic Church, the Jewish Bible went, too, as the “Old Testament.” In the ecumenical environment we now have, however, most Christians want to see all the books inspired by the Holy Spirit. But, surprise! Most new editions of the Bible “with Apocrypha” have books the Catholic Church never included.

Let me quickly add:

The New Testament (NT) is the same for every Christian.

The NT books are the same; the order is the same, and only the footnotes might differ.

Before I leave you hanging in confusion and despair of knowing, here’s a list of deuterocanonical (aka apocryphal books) included in Bibles approved by the Roman Catholic Church:

Tobit
Judith
Additions to the Book of Esther
Wisdom of Solomon
Ecclesiasticus aka the Wisdom of Jesus aka Sirach
Baruch
The Letter of Jeremiah
The Additions to the Book of Daniel – Prayer of Azariah (aka Abednego)
Susanna
Bel and the Dragon
1 and 2 Maccabees

In addition to those “extra books” in the “Old Testament” (OT) of a Catholic Bible, the Greek and Slavonic Bibles include all books above plus:

1 Esdras
Prayer of Manasseh
Psalm 151
3 Maccabees

Finally, Slavonic Bibles include:

2 and 3 Esdras
4 Maccabees

To recap: “with Apocrypha” Bibles include all the “extra books” just listed, which, together, equal the length of the entire New Testament. Therefore, having done my extra reading, I think I’ll focus on the NT, OT books of Wisdom, and the Prophets to see what’s coming next!

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© 2012, Mary Harwell Sayler reserves all rights to correct her mistakes and be corrected, so if I still got it wrong, feel free to tell me – nicely, of course :)

Review the news with Habakkuk

The prophetic poetry in the Book of Habakkuk could have been written today!

“O Lord, how long shall I cry
and You not hear?
Even when I call out, “Violence!”
You do not save.
Why must I watch so much misery?
Must I see trouble wherever I look?
Destruction and violence are before me,
and everyone wants to argue or fight!
The law is powerless, paralyzed,
and justice does not go forth.
Wicked people surround the righteous,
and their twisted perceptions prevail,”
Habakkuk 1:2-4

To give you an eerie example of the timely truth of Habakkuk’s prophetic and poetic word, I right-clicked onto the word “Wicked” to find synonyms in Microsoft Word. Can you guess what I found? The current vernacular described “wicked” as: Good, Great, Terrific, Cool, Fabulous, Fab, Fantastic, Impressive.

Actually, that is very “impressive” since even the Word of Microsoft supports the Word of God as spoken through Habakkuk!

Thankfully, that poetic voice does not end on the sad note of today’s twisted perceptions. Habakkuk has much more to say to us today:

“I will climb to my watchtower
and stand guard at my post
and wait to see what the Lord says.
How will God answer my complaint?

“Then the Lord said to me:

“Write My answer plainly on a tablet,
so even a runner can read it.
This vision, for a future time,
describes the end and does not deceive.
If it seems slow in coming, wait for it!
My word will surely take place
and will not be late,” Habakkuk 2:1-3.

Many woes follow, but God lets us know where to go and what to do in the meantime:

“For the Lord is in His Holy Place.
Let all the earth keep silent before Him,” Habakkuk 2:20.

Although we don’t know exactly when the Holy Spirit inspired Habakkuk to write those words, in 597 B.C., the Chaldeans (aka Babylonians) conquered Judah. Interestingly, the territory of those invaders would be somewhere in Iraq around present day Baghdad, again revealing the timeless relevancy of God’s timely Word.

Most importantly, however, the last chapter of Habakkuk ends with a commitment to hope in God that guides us, too, in turning reactions into prayerful responses to the ultimately Good News we now have in Christ Jesus:

“Even if the fig tree does not blossom,
and no fruit grows on the vines
and the work of the olive tree falls
and the fields yield no meat
and the flock is cut from the fold
and the stalls of the barn stand empty,
I will still rejoice in the Lord.
I will still find joy in the God of my salvation,” Habakkuk 3:17-18.

Amen!

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© 2012, Mary Sayler. God bless you for loving the Bible and for telling your church or Bible study group where you found this Bible Review of Habakkuk. Pass it on!

Common English Bible for common use in churches everywhere

Whether representing the Catholic Church or Episcopal, United Methodist or Disciples of Christ, United Church of Christ or Presbyterian Church U.S.A., over 100 Bible scholars considered the diverse cultures of Christians from many, many countries, who want to read and study a contemporary English version of the Bible.

In addition to helping Christians of mainline church denominations to stay “on the same page,” the Common English Bible (CEB) also helps children to understand Holy Scriptures better and participate more fully in church worship services. Adults who are learning English as a second language will be enabled to follow the communal Bible readings too, but even people who are used to reading thick textbooks with complex syntax will enjoy curling up in an easy chair to readily read the CEB cover-to-cover as they would a poetry anthology, historical novel, or gripping adventure tale.

The CEB has all of that and more – with each of the prophetic books found in any translation of Hebrew Scriptures as well as deuterocanonical books from the Septuagint or Greek versions of the Bible. Although the paperback shown below does not include those apocryphal books, the e-book edition does with more print editions and cover choices to follow as communally-minded Christians from communities all over the world welcome this common English translation of God’s word.







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© 2012, Mary Harwell Sayler. Thank you for telling your church and Christian friends where you found this Bible review. If you’re one of the many church publishers who plan to publish study editions and various cover choices of the CEB, be sure to send me a review copy. May God bless you and all peoples of God who come together in Jesus’ Name to worship, work, and lovingly represent the church Body of Christ in the world.

The Catholic Study Bible

You don’t have to be Roman Catholic to appreciate The Catholic Study Bible published by Oxford University Press, but if you are, you’ll be happy to know the Church has given an official stamp of approval as shown in the front matter by “Nihil Obstat” and “Imprimatur.” Therefore, if you want to know more about Catholicism or hope to write for Catholic readers or need to study the Bible thoroughly from an ecumenical and/ or Catholic Christian perspective, this is The Book to have.

NABRE: The New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE) debuted in March 2011 as a “formal equivalent” translation into English, making the NABRE as close to the original Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic texts as 100 Bible scholars, editors, theologians, and Bishops can make it.

Size and Binding: The hardcover edition by Oxford (shown below) has 2560 pages 9.2 x 6.5 x 2 inches in size and weighs about 3 pounds. Since I’m not a fan of bonded leather, my next choice might be a paperback edition, except that a Bible of this heft and immensity usually needs a sturdy cover, especially since it will probably be used often.

Footnotes: Key information provided in footnotes and sidebars guide readers into understanding verses within the intended context and gaining insight into cultural traditions practiced in biblical times. Word plays and poetic forms are also duly noted, which is a big deal for those of us who love, love, love to write Bible-based devotionals and poetry.

Additional study helps: Besides the authoritative study notes, book outlines, and biblical references throughout this edition, you’ll find Sunday readings and a Weekday Lectionary to keep up with the liturgical reading cycle that covers the Bible in three years. In addition, in-depth articles and essays, easy-to-use maps, and a Glossary help readers to see the bigger picture of a truly “Catholic” – meaning “universal” – view.




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© 2012, Mary Harwell Sayler. Thank you for telling your church, Bible study, or other group where you found this Bible Review. Also, I’m glad for publishers to send me review copies of new English translations, study editions, and Bibles with new footnotes, articles, and even unusual formats or covers to review.


For more articles on a variety of Bible topics, see Blogs by Mary.

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