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Featured Why is the New Revised Standard Version Bible so popular among mainline Protestant denominations?

Discussion in 'Bible Versions & Translations' started by alexander284, Dec 30, 2019.

  1. alexander284

    alexander284 Well-Known Member

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    Why is the New Revised Standard Version Bible so popular among mainline Protestant denominations?
    What are your thoughts on that?
     
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  2. Deacon

    Deacon Well-Known Member
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    The NRSV is a revision of the RSV.
    • It eliminated the archaic thee’s and thou’s as well as other little understood words.
    • It was among the first major versions to reduce gender-inclusive wording.
    • and it incorporated a great many textual and archeological advances.
    I’ve heard it jokingly said that Presbyterians are simply Baptist’s that can read.
    These characteristics in the NRSV made it a scholars Bible but also doomed it among the perhaps, less scholarly users.

    One change is worth noting because it illustrates how these changes effected its use among denominations.

    In Isaiah 7:14 they translated the Hebrew word, ‘almah as “young woman” rather than “virgin”. This change, while technically correct brought intense criticism, even wrath upon the translators by conservatives. To this day, most versions will use “virgin”, and provide a footnote allowing the meaning, “young woman”, even after a compelling argument for “young woman” is presented.

    Just a note, the Bible researcher is a good resource for basic information - here is the review on the NRSV

    Rob
     
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  3. alexander284

    alexander284 Well-Known Member

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    Thank you for your help. And thanks for the link!
     
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  4. alexander284

    alexander284 Well-Known Member

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    Oh, by the way, isn't the English Standard Version of the Bible also a revision of the Revised Standard Version (like the New Revised Standard Version)?

    Just a more conservative take on verses like the one you referred to from the Book of Isaiah?
     
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  5. Conan

    Conan Well-Known Member

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    From the link .....

    "The editorial committee made thousands of changes, some quite substantive, to the translation of the Old Testament made by the full committee, and when members of the full committee became aware of the extent of these changes, many were outraged, feeling that much of their own work on the translation over the years had been irresponsibly gutted."

    An Evaluation of the NRSV: Demystifying Bible Translation, by J.J.M. Roberts
     
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  6. Deacon

    Deacon Well-Known Member
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    The OT is translated from the Masoretic text, commonly called the BHS.
    The oldest copy being from around 600-700 c.e.
    Many of the myths of OT Hebrew text transmission come from these masoretic scholars. They standardized the OT that we use today.

    Then along comes the Dead Sea Scrolls, dated from ~200, b.c.e. and later.
    It established the reliability of the Masoretic text BUT did provide some surprising changes.

    One of the big changes that the NRSV did is to incorporate some of these changes into the version.

    My favorite is an acrostic psalm, which is missing the letter N (nun) in the BHS.
    Compare Psalm 145, verse 13 in many modern versions with the NKJV you will see it.
    This is a DSS addition.

    ...and it’s true some of these changes are disputed and controversial.​

    Rob
     
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  7. alexander284

    alexander284 Well-Known Member

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    And which Psalm might this be that you are referring to.
     
  8. Rob_BW

    Rob_BW Well-Known Member
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    "The Burns family ran a general store in a one store town and still managed to do badly. They were Methodist, a denomination my father always referred to as Baptists who could read."
    --- A River Runs Through It

    The author's father was Presbyterian.
     
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  9. Rob_BW

    Rob_BW Well-Known Member
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    My guess? The mainline denominations had their roots in the historic center of American education, the northeast. They sent their seminary students to Germany for their doctorates, when it was a hotbed of theological liberalism. The Oxford Annotated Bible in the NRSV has been a staple of those northeast schools for a while now, so I would expect pastors using it would trickle down to the flocks.
     
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  10. Deacon

    Deacon Well-Known Member
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    A rather bawdy book but it's in my collection.
    The author apparently heard the line too.
    I enjoy the way the book meanders - like a river.

    One of the major translators was Bruce Metzger, a Princeton Scholar (not too far from where I live).
    Once renowned for such names as B.B. Warfield; it has strayed from its foundation.

    Rob
     
    #10 Deacon, Dec 30, 2019
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2019
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  11. Deacon

    Deacon Well-Known Member
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  12. 37818

    37818 Well-Known Member

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  13. Just_Ahead

    Just_Ahead Active Member

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    Because the conservative Protestant denominations do not use it.

    I am serious. :Biggrin
     
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  14. Just_Ahead

    Just_Ahead Active Member

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    Great movie!
    :Thumbsup
     
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  15. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
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    Due to it being the first modern version to go big time into inclusive gender language!
     
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  16. alexander284

    alexander284 Well-Known Member

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    Oh, I definitely see your point! Lol
     
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  17. alexander284

    alexander284 Well-Known Member

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    Yes, that's a good observation you made here!
     
  18. alexander284

    alexander284 Well-Known Member

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    Yes, and I'm a little surprised that some of the liberal mainline Protestant denominations are starting to use and accept the ESV! ;)
     
  19. Rippon2

    Rippon2 Well-Known Member

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    The CEB is gaining ground too. It has displaced the NRSV. Calvin College and Seminary and I think the CRC are all using the CEB.
     
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  20. Rippon2

    Rippon2 Well-Known Member

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    Excellent reformed scholar --D.A. Carson has said that the NRSV is : "a jolly good translation."
     
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