I've seen some YouTube posts lately by some of the Catholic apologists, apparently talking about the best Bible translations (and/or offering rebuttals to Protestant videos on the same topic). I don't actually watch these videos, mind you, because I'm not interested in entering into any debates over it (and I suspect a lot of it has to do with the deuterocanonical books anyway, which, as far as I'm concerned, is a non-issue, since the Church fathers DID read them, and Jesus DID quote them), but as you know, I do have my favorite translations, and some that I feel pretty strongly are no good. In the early days of the Original Church videos, I did a video about this, and I talked about how I have certain test verses, that I use to check a translation. I'll post my video and my test verses later, in case you want to refresh your memory.
For now, those of you who have been following The Journey from the beginning know that when I started, I was using the NABRE as my starting point (and then making fresh translations of my own). But after a while I kept finding places where I was disappointed in the NAB, so then I started using the NRSVCE as my foundational English text.
Well... I just finished a book for Ascension Press (more on that project later) and they made me use the Ignatius Bible, which I always thought was just the NRSVCE - but it turns out it's not. It's a slightly altered version of the NRSVCE called the NRSV-2CE. When I first heard about this, I was like, "what the hell is this?" It's not online anywhere, except in the Ascension app, so it's not on Bible Gateway, which is my go-to browser-based digital Bible. And I thought they were only insisting on it because it's the one Jeff Cavins uses for the Bible Adventure. WELL... it turns out it's also the one Fr. Mike uses for the Bible in a year, and after grumbling about having to buy a copy to use it for writing this book... IT IS MY NEW FAVORITE BIBLE!
More on this to come...
Dear friends - Please take 10 minutes to watch this personal update from me:
I mentioned in The Journey that I wrote a song based on Isaiah 2, which is one of my favorite OT passages:
In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest mountain, and raised above the hills.
All nations shall stream toward it. Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, That he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.” For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations, and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; One nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again. House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
I hope you like the song!
that assumes those people who left Jesus in John 6 understood what he was saying, and that if he had thought they misunderstood he would have corrected them before letting them walk away - make sure to watch the latest installment of The Journey.
Spoiler alert - that's not at all what the Church fathers say about it, and the more I think about it, I think that argument (which I have used) opens us up to some logical fallacies - or at least ignores the obvious fact that people misunderstood Jesus all the time, and he didn't go chasing after them to make sure they understood. Turns out that understanding is not the most important thing here!
I would love to know what you think after you listen to session # 103.
