Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

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RSV-CE Bible
RSV-CE
Full name:	Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition
Abbreviation:	RSV-CE
Complete Bible published:	1966
Derived from:	Revised Standard Version
Textual Basis:	Same as the Protestant RSV
Translation type:	Literal
Publisher:	Ignatius Press
Copyright status:	1946, 1952, 1957, 1965, 1966, 2006

The Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (also known as the RSV-CE) is an adaptation of the Revised Standard Version (RSV) of the Bible for use by Catholics. The National Council of Churches, which had printed the Protestant RSV Bible in 1952, made arrangements with the Catholic Biblical Association of Great Britain to print a Catholic RSV Bible. The RSV-CE New Testament was published in 1965 and the full RSV-CE Bible, containing an Old Testament which had been expanded to include the books of the Apocrypha that the Catholic Church deems as canonical, was published in 1966. It is widely used by conservative Catholic scholars and theologians, and is accepted as one of the most accurate and literary Bible translations suitable for Catholic use.

1 Significant Differences from the RSV
2 The RSV-CE Today
- 2.1 Second Edition
3 Liturgical Use and Endorsements
4 Differences between Catholic and Protestant Bibles
5 External links
- 5.1 Buying the Ignatius Bible

[edit] Significant Differences from the RSV

The Bible in English +/-
Old English (pre-1066)
Middle English (1066-1500)
Early Modern English (1500-1800)
Modern Christian (1800-)
Modern Jewish (1853-)
Miscellaneous

The editors of the Catholic Edition made no changes to the Old Testament text; all they did was include the seven Deuterocanonical works in their traditional Catholic order. At the end of each testament, an appendix of explanatory and interptetive notes was added. In the Psalms, they preserved the numbering of the Protestant edition (which reflects the Hebrew system), but they placed in brackets the Catholic system of numbering, which is based upon the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate. However, some minor changes were made to the New Testament in places that had variant readings more in line with Catholic understanding and tradition. Some of the more important changes were the use of the phrase "full of grace" in the angel's greeting to Mary in Luke 1:28, the restoration of the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53-8:11) and the inclusion of the longer ending to the Gospel according to Mark. In other places, some word changes were made, and some texts were exchanged with footnotes. Furthermore, the footnotes regarding the value of New Testament coins were rewritten in terms of how long it took the average worker to earn the money (the denarius was no longer defined as twenty cents but as a day's wage). The book of Revelation, called "The Revelation To John", had added as a subtitle ("The Apocalypse") Incidentally, some of these changes would be introduced into the Protestant RSV New Testament in 1971 (see Revised Standard Version). A full index of changes to the original RSV New Testament is available as an appendix to the RSV-CE.

[edit] The RSV-CE Today

When the New Revised Standard Version was released in 1989, the original RSV-CE went out of print. However, many Catholics reacted negatively to the NRSV's wide use of gender-inclusive language. This use of inclusive language was a major reason the Holy See rejected the NRSV for use in the liturgy and the English translation of the Catechism.

The original RSV-CE was revived in 1994 when Ignatius Press re-published it as the Ignatius Bible. Today, the RSV-CE is still published by Ignatius, Scepter Publishers, and Oxford University Press. It is also the Bible translation used in the English edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church alongside the NRSV where inclusive language is not used.

[edit] Second Edition

In Early 2006, Ignatius Press released the Second Catholic Edition of the RSV. This edition removed the archaic language in references to God (thee, thou, thy, art, hast, hadst, didst, etc.), and exchanged some texts with footnotes in passages that had significance to Catholics. The Isaiah 7:14 controversy in the Protestant RSV was resolved in the RSV-SCE by replacing "young woman" with "virgin" (see Revised Standard Version). In John 3.16, the phrase "only Son" was changed to "only begotten Son". However, some readers have pointed out that the revision of the marginal notes was not very thorough, and that there are several misspelled words in the text.

This revision conforms with the translation principles called for by the Vatican Instruction Liturgiam Authenticam. However, some reviews of this edition have noted that while a number of Liturgiam-Authenticam-corresponding revisions were made to the text, the changes made were actually relatively small, and Ignatius Press' claim of "conformity" was misleading. The title page of the edition actually states "This edition was revised according to Liturgiam Authenticam, 2002" which has been accepted as being a more proper description than the Ignatius Press website's claim of "conformity".

The new edition also features new typesetting, section headings, and maps. As was the case with the original RSV, gender-inclusive language is not used.

[edit] Liturgical Use and Endorsements

The RSV-CE text used to be permitted for use in the Lectionary in the United States. The permission has since been withdrawn. Today, there is only one text approved for use in the United States, a modified version of the New American Bible with the 1986 Revised New Testament, with inclusive language removed.

However, the RSV-CE remains approved for use in the English translation of the Liturgy of the Hours for use in England and Wales, Australia, India, and many other English-speaking nations outside of the United States and Canada.

Ignatius Press is also publishing a Lectionary based on the RSV-Second Catholic Edition, approved for use by the Episcopal Conference of the Antilles. This Lectionary is not, at present, approved for use in the United States, although Ignatius Press is hopeful that other Episcopal Conferences will follow suit.

Many well-known Catholic personalities, including Scott Hahn (see also Ignatius Catholic Study Bible series), Curtis Mitch, Steve Ray, Jimmy Akin, and others use it as well. It is also used in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and in English translations of Church documents. The English translations of the works of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) also use the RSV-CE or its Second Edition.

[edit] Differences between Catholic and Protestant Bibles

Main article: Biblical canon

Bible translations used by the Catholic Church, including the RSV-CE, contain more material than those used by most Protestants. While all churches recognize the same New Testament canon, Old Testament canons reflect differences between the Hebrew text (epitomized by the Masoretic Text) and the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation used by the early church. Catholic bibles contain seven books found in the Septuagint— Tobit (Tobias), Judith, Baruch, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Wisdom, First and Second Maccabees (Machabees)— which do not have corresponding Hebrew versions; also the texts of Esther and of Daniel are considerably amplified from the Septuagint. These are variously referred to as the "deuterocanonicals" (meaning "second canon") by theologians or the "apocrypha" (meaning "hidden") by Protestants, as these books are part of "apocrypha" of Protestants, but not Catholics or Orthodox Christians.

Anglicans officially recognize these books as having a secondary status within their canon, and the King James Version included them as a separate section. Other Protestants have excluded them from the canon. The original RSV project omitted translation of the deuterocanonical books and translated the Hebrew versions of Daniel and Esther instead of the Greek.

Eastern Orthodox Churches recognize several more books in addition to those in the Catholic canon, including 3 and 4 Maccabees and Psalm 151. These books were translated for the the RSV "Common Bible" (now out of print).