Looking For A Good Bible

[iamjoy]

I keep thinking, I need to know what the Fundamentalists are talking about, maybe I should actually read the bible so I can discuss it intelligently and not just quote what others say.

But I have no tolerance for the language of the King James Bible, I find it confusing. So, what is a good bible written in modern language, possibly with footnotes to fill in some historical context?

[acmejack]

1. Bibles in modern language

The New American Bible, published in 1970

The New American Standard Bible, published in 1971

The New King James Version was published in 1982

The Revised English Bible is a British edition published by Oxford University Press in 1989

The Living Bible, published in 1971

The New Living Translation, published in 1996

[liberalpress]

2. Well, I cant't help you with the footnotes

but Peterson's "The Message" reads like a novel

[Poppyseedman]

3. Walk into your local Christian bookstore and ask them for help

If you want to buy a Bible, that's the place you will have to go anyway unless you order on-line

BTW, most are run like a business, so you are a customer first. They won't hit you over the head with the biggest Bible to convert you.

[China_cat]

4. The problem there, though

is that the worst of the fundamentalist sects are welded to the King James. Probably because it's the easiest to spin the way they want.

[catabryna]

5. It depends on what I'm doing...

If I want to read for pleasure rather than instruction, I use "The Message". If I want footnotes, et al., I use the "New International Version" (NIV). I will say that it is nice to have a red-letter edition so you can clearly separate Christ's teachings from those instructions given to/by the church.

Cat

[pretzel4gore]

6. the New International Version

it reads very poetic, but like all bibles, politics got involved in translation. for example, the 'hail mary' goes 'hail mary, full of grace' while niv says 'hail mary, you who are well favoured'etc...the problem is the different schools within protestantism all have such ingrained biases (martim luther once said he discarded the phrase 'full of grace' from his translation of the bible, because he 'preferred' his own idea rather then let go what was in the script, especially 'full of grace') that the most you can do is be aware that all bible translations were determined by the political views of the translaters (the king james version' still uses olde english because many xians cannot imagine religious talk in modern language) the NIV bible uses modern english, yet retains poetic tone for most part...

[rateyes]

7. I strongly recommend the

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

You'll have to get one, however, at the Christian bookstores that are more progressive--(You won't find one at LifeWay (Southern Baptist)--check Cokesbury. Closer to the original language, and a lot less "patriarchal."

I also am aware of a new version of the Bible that even the fundies want burned because of its gender inclusive language. I will probably buy one for myself. I thinks it's called the Today's New International Version---TNIV for short. (as opposed to New International Version--(the modern Bible that fundies like)

But, if you want to know what FUNDAMENTALISTS are talking about, you need to learn something about Dispensationalism (IMHO, a VERY DANGEROUS heretical teaching) the teaching is found in the FOOTNOTES of the Scofield Study Bible--any version. That's the theology behind the "Left Behind" books. Using this method of theology allows fundies to dismiss parts of the Bible as being relevant for today--(i.e.--"that verse is for the next dispensation"--such as Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount.---Fundies really don't want to "love their enemies, do good to those who hate you, turn the other cheek, etc.--so they say those teachings are for the dispensation after Jesus comes and takes believers while leaving everybody else behind (rapture--which is NOT a biblical teaching, again IMO.)

So, BE CAREFUL--truth is, most fundies believe things because they've been told to believe them, but don't really know much about their own beliefs--just believe what their preachers tell them to believe. Pretty sad.

[niallmac]

10. Dispensationalism...

Now THAT explains a lot! I have been arming myself with quotes from the Prince of Peace because I can't see much to argue with when it comes to peace love and a general 1960's frame of mind. But the fundys say "oh that, that's for later."

It really pisses me off that this is the only planet in the cosmos we know about. I'm sending my contributions to NASA's continuing search for intelligent life.

[catabryna]

11. I don't know of any over-the-top fundie...

who approves of the NIV. I typically see the modern ESV recommended by fundies who are looking for another biblical source beyond the KJV.

But, that's just what I've gleaned from where I live.

[rateyes]

12. ESV?

Is that one the version the Southern Baptists put together, and are hawking to all of their churches and church members through their study literature in order to "profit off of God's word?" What does it stand for (ESV) Haven't heard of it.

[catabryna]

13. ESV =

English Standard Version and the fundies are sticking with the KJV and this one.

The Southern Baptists are putting out the HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible). The Baptists freaked out when they heard that NIV was going to produce a gender neutral bible.

Anyway, I think both of these versions came out in 2000 or 2001.

[rateyes]

15. Thanks for the info...

and welcome to DU.:hi:

[bobbieinok]

20. my impression, pentecostals etc use NIV b/c it was translated by

conservative Biblical Scholars

surprising/interesting note: theology undergrad majors and seminary students at Oral Roberts University are told to use the most recent Revised Standard Version

ORU is THE major pentecostal university in the world.....ORU and Fuller Seminary are the 2 repositories of documents etc necessary to study the rise of pentecostalism, especialy the second wave said to have started in 1949 in Tulsa with the beginning of Oral Roberts' tent ministry

[bperci108]

8. IMHO...

My favorite by far is the Orthodox Study Bible. It's in the New King James translation, which preserves some of the linguistic beauty of the KJV, but is very readable for the modern reader. It's footnotes are extensive and give the understanding of the oldest Christian tradition instead of the tradition and understanding of the Fundygelicals, which is only a few hundred years old.

It's a real eye-opener; a lot of things made sense to this logical mind for the first time.

Here's a link:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0718000307/qid=1121005563/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_ur_1/103-4404456-1774209?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

[Ian David]

9. Try The Skeptic's Annotated Bible

http://www.SkepticsAnnotatedBible.com

[beam me up scottie]

14. That's my favorite too.

:evilgrin:

[NAO]

16. It's important to use KJV because some later versions have whitewashed

atrocities and called it "a more contemporary translation".

There are plenty of blood-curdling, horrifying atrocities in ANY version of the Bible, but the KJV is the original, and it's the one the Fundies use.

If you really can't stand it, I think New International Version (NIV) is the "gold standard" among evangelicals whose brains are not frozen in the 17th century.

[MemphisTiger]

18. The KJV is not the original bible

and not all fundies use it. It was the first mass produced bible. The New King James Version is as poetic as the KJV, but not quite as hard to read.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

22. There's nothing wrong with being frozen in the 17th century!

Some of my best friends are frozen in the 17th century, I'd have you know! The 17th century gave the world (some of) Shakespeare, Newton, and probably a greater cultural change in Europe than any other continent in any other century before or since. If I had to pick one century to have on a desert island with me, it would be the 17th. But anyhow...

I have a lot of sympathy with the "King James only" crowd. There aren't many things Jack Chick and I agree on, but the superiority of the KJ to every other version of the Bible I've read is one of them (although admittedly being an atheist I was reading it out of a) historical interest and b) as literature in its own right, not as a source of moral or metaphysical guidance).

I do sympathise with the OP - the language of the King James is heavy going - but I think it's worth it. Much of it is excellent poetry, which isn't the case in other versions I've seen (although I haven't seen all that many).

If you're interested in learning where right-wing Christians are coming from, I'm afraid I think it depends largely on the Christian in question. The views of Jack Chick, Jerry Falwell, Leonard Feeney, Pope Benedict XVI, Ian Paisley, Karl Keeting and so on may look similar to an untrained liberal eye, but the differences in their apporach to the Bible are profound and far reaching.

If you're only going to read one version, I would urge you to give the KJV another try - the language isn't all that bad, and it's probably more influential, and certainly better written, than any other I know of.

[MemphisTiger]

17. Try the NIV or NLV Bibles

Go to the bookstore and look through them and read the footnotes that are given. Most are fairly non-political, but some can be. The study bibles like that really help understand some of the more hard to understand parts of the Bible.

[hunter]

19. My favorite is the controversial Oxford "New English Bible" of 1970

It has since been revised, though again not without controversy, to become the Revised English Bible.

If your goal is to "know what the Fundamentalists are talking about" you don't even have to leave your seat. Go download the NET Bible:

http://www.bible.org/default.asp?scid=3

Most fundamentalists study the Bible in very limited ways, not much differently than they study science texts. There is not a lot of information flowing through their eyeballs. Those who actually do study the Bible in a scholarly fashion can become delightfully quirky as they try to reconcile what they were taught with what they are reading.

I have a friend, who I haven't heard from for a few years now, who graduated from the Dallas Theological Seminary and got himself his own church. He was doing very well until he and a young woman, the daughter of a very influential couple in the church, were caught doing things they shouldn't be doing, um, outside of marriage.

My friend was all ready to make things right by the woman, but she refused him, even though she was having his baby, and this messed up his career something awful. He was forced to move back home with his alcoholic mother and he later became a teacher, and I never once heard him complain about child support even though he rarely saw his kid because his ex-lover was afraid of his mother. (Hell, I was afraid of his mother too. She would rage and break things and yell obscenities at the cops.)

I mention this because he was a wonderful Biblical scholar who knew what the Fundamentalists were talking about. His Faith empowered him to do some amazingly elaborate dances around such issues as gay marriage and evolutionary biology, which are two of my hot-buttons. (He did not demand similar explanations of my rather obvious left-wing Catholicism, and yes thank you, I know the Catholic Church does not support gay marriages, but I certainly do, and my Bishop knows it.)

Good fortune in your studies, iamjoy!

[bobbieinok]

21. some suggestions for translations

look at the Amplified Bible.....it supposedly has all the possible translations in parentheses after the choses word/phrase

to understand the more weird by ways get a copy of the Schofield study Bible mentioned earlier....it's still in print and read and studied a lot


many of the more common translations can be found in thrift stores ..... I bought a mint condition paperback student NIV for $1.00

[alrightjim]

23. multi-Bible

Hi iamjoy. I would reccommend a Bible with more than one translation. I saw a JW once with one of these, about six Bibles in one, plus the direct translation of the original Greek and Hebrew, word for word, as close as that can be translated. You could pick one up at your local Bible and Book store.

Jimmy