Why are there so many different Bibles - the Catholic Bible, the King James Bible, etc., etc...???

God's word has not changed in 2000 years so why are there so many different versions of it? Thank you for your help.

MaryLu

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), November 04, 2002

Answers

-- (_@_._), November 04, 2002.

REPOST FROM A PREVIOUS THREAD DEALING WITH THE SAME ISSUE:

The reason you have not found Purgatory or other "Catholic beliefs" in the bible is because it seems you are reading a Protestant bible. The canon of the Catholic bible and the canon of the Protestant bible differ dramatically. Yes, the Catholic Church sought to establish a canon which would compile these books together, however, that was in light of looking backwards to the resourcement (original sources) of the early church in order to determine which books were inspired. Now, before you jump on me about "inspiration" keep in mind that inspiration in this context isn't the same as someone being inspired to write a poem. As one of professors stated, "inspiration regards what not how." The basic question, therefore, comes down to what the author wanted to say, not how he said it, which the Council fathers took into account before deciding on the canon we have today. In fact, their conclusion was that these books, being inspired, are necessary for our salvation. This, however, does not mean that other writings are not inspired, it just means that the council fathers believed that these particular books would be necessary for our salvation. Luther, the "founding father" of Protestantism and a devout Catholic at the time, decided to create his own "canon" by removing certain books from the bible to fit his own need. The book of St. James for one, was removed because it contradicted his own theories. This is clearly laid out in any history book, secular or religious, Catholic or Protestant, when dealing with the Reformation. In fact, it was in light of the Reformation that the Council of Trent, the council from which the canon of Scriture came, was called. As an aside, the first canon was actually formulated by St. Athanasius in response to Arianism in his Festal Letter of 367, long before the time even of the Protestant Reformation.

I am sure many will add more to what I have said due to it being a very general description.

God Bless

-- (seminarian@ziplip.com), November 04, 2002.

MaryLu,

Cl ick Here for a good article that addresses your question.

God bless!

-- Hollis (catholic@martinsen.com), November 04, 2002.

Hey MaryLu:

When I started looking for a Catholic Bible last year, I found there were only three translations; the Douay Rheims, the RSV and the American Standard. I love the Old English, but I cannot find the Douay Rheims in leather, as they don't make it that way anymore -- WHAT A SHAME! (I'll have to check E-bay)

Love,

Gail

-- Gail (rothfarms@socket.net), November 05, 2002.

Gail, do you go to booksales? I often see nice old Douay Rheims Bibles at booksales. EBay is another good route. Also try www.usedcatholicbooks.com.

-- Christina (introibo2000@yahoo.com), November 05, 2002.

Hi MaryLu -

It's true that God's word hasn't changed in 2,000 years - however, the language(s) into which His Word has been translated have changed a lot! So it's inevitable that new translations will have to be made from time to time, to keep up with the changes.

For example, if you look at some of the original English versions, both KJV and Douay, they talked a lot about people's "bowels" being moved -- "bowels" didn't quite mean the same thing then as it does now!

Love, :-)

-- Christine L. (christine_lehman@hotmail.com), November 05, 2002.

Thank all of you for your answers - they have been most helpful.

I read the St. Joseph's Catholic Bible myself but was curious. I will read the previous threads on this subject.

God Bless.

MaryLu

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), November 05, 2002.

Hello, Gail.
I noticed that you posted these words a few days ago:
"When I started looking for a Catholic Bible last year, I found there were only three translations; the Douay Rheims, the RSV and the American Standard."

Do you still believe that to be true? Actually, there are other Catholic bible versions available, either new or second-hand. Have you found out about them yet?
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), November 08, 2002.

Hi John: No I didn't know there were other English translations! Do tell! Do you know anything about the St. Jerome's Study Bible -- or is there such a thing?

Gail

-- Gail (rothfarms@socket.net), November 08, 2002.

^

-- ^ (^@^.^), November 09, 2002.

OK, Gail. Here goes ...

You mentioned:
(1) Douay-Rheims. Yes, this is the (older-than-King-James) Bible translation, various versions of which just about every American Catholic family had prior to Vatican II in the 1960s. It has survived because some people like its traditional language.
(2) RSV. Yes. Well, actually the "Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition" (RSV-CE) since the original RSV (from the 1940s) lacked the seven "deuterocanonical books" of the Old Testament. The RSV-CE is published under the alias, "The Ignatius Bible." The RSV-CE text, along with the New Latin Vulgate, along with commentary, comprise the "Navarre Bible." There is also a New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) with so-called "inclusive" (i.e., feminist) language.
(3) American Standard. No. There is such a (Protestant) version, and there is revision called the New American Standard Bible (NASB). However, what you probably have in mind is quite a different beast -- the (Catholic) New American Bible (NAB), published around 1970. A revised New Testament and a (terrible) revised Book of Psalms are also available. The NAB is the source of readings that we hear at Mass in the U.S.. The NAB also goes under some "aliases" in different editions -- e.g., the St. Joseph Bible, the Serendipity Bible, the First Communion Bible, the Catholic Bible, the Family Bible, the Catholic Study Bible, the Gift and Award Bible, the Noah's Ark Bible (for kids), the International Student Bible, etc..

Another famous, approved Catholic version is The Jerusalem Bible -- first out in English in the mid-1960s. There is a now revised version of the JB too.

Then there are two "freer" translations in approved Catholic editions -- the "Catholic Living Bible" and the "Good News Bible -- Today's English Version." The former is also out under aliases ("The Way" and "The One-Year Bible"). The latter is also out under an alias ("Rainbow Study Bible").

If there is something called the "St. Jerome's Study Bible," I am not familiar with it. Perhaps you are thinking of a very large book called the "Jerome Biblical Commentary" (or its sucessor, the "New JBC"). God bless you.
John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), November 09, 2002.

I have a St. Jeromes Study Bible. I got it at a Christian bookstore, Hope this helps!!

-- (country235@hotmail.com), October 26, 2003.

Don't forget the Navarre Bible. It's an excellent text with the most complete set of footnotes of any Bible I've see with any Bible. Each book of the Navarre Bible is set out in a separate text.

Reading the Navarre Bible is not only a way to read the inspired text, it is a lesson in history, cathechism and Catholic Tradition.

-- Pat Delaney (pat@patdelaney.net), October 27, 2003.

is there any original version(it is said that it was written in ancient hebrew and armanian languague) of new testament left in the world?why people have to believe that bible has been modified,distorted while it is said to be for human being of all time by those who advocate for it?why shoudn´t have God kept it unchanged, undistorted- when everything is possible for Him?

-- uniterian (abcd@juno.com), January 04, 2004.

Some history:

The New Testament was written in Greek and some Aramaic. The New Testament was not written all at once. The books that compose it appeared one after another in the space of fifty years, i.e. in the second half of the first century. Written in different and distant countries and addressed to particular Churches, they took some time to spread throughout the whole of Christendom, and a much longer time to become accepted. Still it can be said that from the third century, or perhaps earlier, the existence of all the books that to- day form our New Testament was everywhere known, although they were not all universally admitted, at least as certainly canonical. However, uniformity existed in the West from the fourth century. The East had to await the seventh century to see an end to all doubts on the subject.

We pretty well know the original text of the New Testament. The manuscript evidence for the New Testament is dramatic, with over 5,300 known copies and fragments in the original Greek, nearly 800 of which were copied before 1000 AD. Some manuscript texts date to the early second and third centuries, with the time between the original autographs and our earliest existing copies being a remarkably short 60 years. Interestingly, this manuscript evidence far surpasses the manuscript reliability of other ancient writings that we trust as authentic every day. Look at these comparisons: Julius Caesar's "The Gallic Wars" (10 manuscripts remain, with the earliest one dating to 1,000 years after the original autograph); Pliny the Younger's "History" (7 manuscripts; 750 years elapsed); Thucydides' "History" (8 manuscripts; 1,300 years elapsed); Herodotus' "History" (8 manuscripts; 1,300 years elapsed); Sophocles (193 manuscripts; 1,400 years); Euripides (9 manuscripts; 1,500 years); and Aristotle (49 manuscripts; 1,400 years).

Homer's "Iliad", the most renowned book of ancient Greece, has 643 copies of manuscript support. In those copies, there are 764 disputed lines of text, as compared to 40 lines in all the New Testament manuscripts.

So was God looking after His Word? I would say yes!

For more information see: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14530a.htm#III

In Christ,
Bill

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45@hotmail.com), January 04, 2004.