My big four these days are the NIV, NRSVu, NLT, and CEB. The politics behind the ESV (and the fact that their whole translation committee is male) are infuriating. Surprisingly the CSB, although it is a LifeWay/SBC translation, is fairly gender inclusive (much more than the ESV).
Thanks for sharing. I have the "Life with God" Bible which is the NRSV translation. It was put out by the Renovare institute, which has some wonderful resources for spiritual formation. My CEB is the Lectio Divina prayer Bible, although I did see a new Lectio Bible while I was looking around Amazon, which intrigues me as well.
I'm interested to get my hands on the "Every Woman's Bible." DiscipleDojo reviewed it, and I appreciated his thoughts. However, I'm always going to wonder... is there a way to raise women's voices, while still acknowledging men's as well? I guess that's where the tension comes in.
I have that CEB Lectio Divina, too! And that's a great question. As a man, I'm trying to do two things: first, respect women's spaces. Second, celebrate and honor women's voices in shared spaces. It's easy for men who have grown up in the church to talk too much, interrupt women, or assume too much authority even when we don't mean to do so. I've been co-leading our Sunday School (and a Thursday study) with a woman for three years now. It took each of us awhile to get to the place where I don't talk too much and she doesn't defer too much. She's the smarter one - I could listen to her all day. But she spent so many years in spaces that made her feel like she should let men lead.
Bobby, you brought a smile to my face when I read this. I'm so sorry to hear that your co-leader went through that, but I'm so happy to hear how you're helping her find her voice again. Kudos to you, my friend.
I switched to ESV many years ago, because of all the furor over NIV and NLT being "paraphrases." However, I have found reading the ESV to be ok for study, but not for just enjoying the Word. My favorite is the CSB
I'm glad you found a version that you enjoy. I'm in a reflective mood, so I'm sharing more than I likely would. Feel free to disregard whatever you'd like, and remember, you don't have to agree me.
I find that term "paraphrases" interesting. It's hard to translate any language word for word. Like, the word "love." In ancient Greek there are many different words for love that all mean something different - phileo, agape, eros, etc. Yet, English versions translate it love. It certainly makes a difference when you're reading John 21:15-19, the interaction between Peter and Jesus. Jesus is asking about one type of love, while Peter is responding with another. (Hmmm, maybe this could become a post?)
Consider also, that the original translations were from ancient languages into Latin, then English, then English (again, and again... and again). Finding the actual transcripts helped, and having ancient documents that we could cross reference also helped. But then Paul comes up with a word like "arsenokoitai." It gets translated one way traditionally, but modern research has shown that it may actually be two words put together that hasn't really been seen in other documents. Scholars include William Loader, Richard Hays, Robert Gagnon, Dale Martin, David Gushee, and many more. This leads into a whole other question - which commentary can we trust? But perhaps that's a post for another day.
It's also really hard to translate from those languages into English because we have cultural meanings attached to words that were very different in ancient times. It's not a bad thing, it's just a fact. The church today is different from the church of... well, even 5 years ago.
I actually have a beautiful ESV study Bible with gorgeous maps and graphics. When I'm checking out verses for studies/sermons/groups I take a look at how it's translated in the ESV for reference.
Just some thoughts for today. Thanks for sharing your comment.
Thank you for the information! I was actually being a little sarcastic about paraphrases; I find them just as Holy as a "literal." There's a danger when people assume that a version is wrong because of the people who translated it, in my opinion. We will always read the Bible from our viewpoint, because we are humans. But the Holy Spirit is more than capable of refuting our biases. I switched to the ESV not realizing that the true objection to the NIV was that they made it more gender-inclusive: i.e., they said "people" not "men" or "brothers and sisters." Since learning about their motives, I am not as devoted. I like it because of the maps, and the Scripture references in the middle, plus the notes at the bottom. I have a Keyword Study in CSB (they also have NKJV, NASB, ESV, NIV) that has a Hebrew abd Greek concordance in the back! That one is harder to write in, or highlight, though. I did my yearly chronological reading in the ESV last year - I have read the whole Bible in that version, just not chronologically - and realized how much I missed having measurements translated to the imperial system.
Oh I heard the sarcasm. LOL I may have even added a little bit of my own. ;) I think the biggest thing I wanted to do with this post, was to raise to awareness. If someone loves the ESV, then read the ESV.
A keyword study Bible? That's cool. How do you find reading the Bible chronologically? I recently posted about not being a fan of "Bible in a Year" plans, but they're typically the ones that start in Genesis and go through the Bible like you're reading a book.
It is my favorite way! I've read the Bible that way for about 7 years. I don't do the daily ones, because they're not the same, and also annoying, like you said. I find reading the history and the prophets together is amazing, and also Acts and Paul's letters. I'm doing the CSB this year, and the NLT and ESV group all genealogies together (e.g. Numbers/Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah/Chronicles, Genesis/Chronicles) which is more a personal preference as opposed to enlightening. My husband does the Bible Recap. He listens to her podcast, which changes every year; I cannot stand podcasts, so I did the actual book. It was not my favorite. I finished the OT using a CSB, but I was, honestly, too bored with it and didn't make it past the Gospels. It's why I am doing the CSB this year, to get the full experience (I also didn't like flipping back and forth while reading; it ruined my concentration.) The advantage of The Bible Recap is you read chapters at a time, while chronological Bibles may have sections. I'm usually doing an individual book study as well, adding another layer. Every year I read, I see something new, another dimension. It's also why I read it chronologically in different versions.
Finding marg and bare marriage changed the course of my life!
I was fortunate that I had amazing professors who helped me, and through research I found some great resources.
My big four these days are the NIV, NRSVu, NLT, and CEB. The politics behind the ESV (and the fact that their whole translation committee is male) are infuriating. Surprisingly the CSB, although it is a LifeWay/SBC translation, is fairly gender inclusive (much more than the ESV).
Thanks for sharing. I have the "Life with God" Bible which is the NRSV translation. It was put out by the Renovare institute, which has some wonderful resources for spiritual formation. My CEB is the Lectio Divina prayer Bible, although I did see a new Lectio Bible while I was looking around Amazon, which intrigues me as well.
I'm interested to get my hands on the "Every Woman's Bible." DiscipleDojo reviewed it, and I appreciated his thoughts. However, I'm always going to wonder... is there a way to raise women's voices, while still acknowledging men's as well? I guess that's where the tension comes in.
I have that CEB Lectio Divina, too! And that's a great question. As a man, I'm trying to do two things: first, respect women's spaces. Second, celebrate and honor women's voices in shared spaces. It's easy for men who have grown up in the church to talk too much, interrupt women, or assume too much authority even when we don't mean to do so. I've been co-leading our Sunday School (and a Thursday study) with a woman for three years now. It took each of us awhile to get to the place where I don't talk too much and she doesn't defer too much. She's the smarter one - I could listen to her all day. But she spent so many years in spaces that made her feel like she should let men lead.
Bobby, you brought a smile to my face when I read this. I'm so sorry to hear that your co-leader went through that, but I'm so happy to hear how you're helping her find her voice again. Kudos to you, my friend.
I switched to ESV many years ago, because of all the furor over NIV and NLT being "paraphrases." However, I have found reading the ESV to be ok for study, but not for just enjoying the Word. My favorite is the CSB
I'm glad you found a version that you enjoy. I'm in a reflective mood, so I'm sharing more than I likely would. Feel free to disregard whatever you'd like, and remember, you don't have to agree me.
I find that term "paraphrases" interesting. It's hard to translate any language word for word. Like, the word "love." In ancient Greek there are many different words for love that all mean something different - phileo, agape, eros, etc. Yet, English versions translate it love. It certainly makes a difference when you're reading John 21:15-19, the interaction between Peter and Jesus. Jesus is asking about one type of love, while Peter is responding with another. (Hmmm, maybe this could become a post?)
Consider also, that the original translations were from ancient languages into Latin, then English, then English (again, and again... and again). Finding the actual transcripts helped, and having ancient documents that we could cross reference also helped. But then Paul comes up with a word like "arsenokoitai." It gets translated one way traditionally, but modern research has shown that it may actually be two words put together that hasn't really been seen in other documents. Scholars include William Loader, Richard Hays, Robert Gagnon, Dale Martin, David Gushee, and many more. This leads into a whole other question - which commentary can we trust? But perhaps that's a post for another day.
It's also really hard to translate from those languages into English because we have cultural meanings attached to words that were very different in ancient times. It's not a bad thing, it's just a fact. The church today is different from the church of... well, even 5 years ago.
I actually have a beautiful ESV study Bible with gorgeous maps and graphics. When I'm checking out verses for studies/sermons/groups I take a look at how it's translated in the ESV for reference.
Just some thoughts for today. Thanks for sharing your comment.
Thank you for the information! I was actually being a little sarcastic about paraphrases; I find them just as Holy as a "literal." There's a danger when people assume that a version is wrong because of the people who translated it, in my opinion. We will always read the Bible from our viewpoint, because we are humans. But the Holy Spirit is more than capable of refuting our biases. I switched to the ESV not realizing that the true objection to the NIV was that they made it more gender-inclusive: i.e., they said "people" not "men" or "brothers and sisters." Since learning about their motives, I am not as devoted. I like it because of the maps, and the Scripture references in the middle, plus the notes at the bottom. I have a Keyword Study in CSB (they also have NKJV, NASB, ESV, NIV) that has a Hebrew abd Greek concordance in the back! That one is harder to write in, or highlight, though. I did my yearly chronological reading in the ESV last year - I have read the whole Bible in that version, just not chronologically - and realized how much I missed having measurements translated to the imperial system.
Oh I heard the sarcasm. LOL I may have even added a little bit of my own. ;) I think the biggest thing I wanted to do with this post, was to raise to awareness. If someone loves the ESV, then read the ESV.
A keyword study Bible? That's cool. How do you find reading the Bible chronologically? I recently posted about not being a fan of "Bible in a Year" plans, but they're typically the ones that start in Genesis and go through the Bible like you're reading a book.
I've read the the Bible through too many times to count now, but chronologically remains my main way.
It is my favorite way! I've read the Bible that way for about 7 years. I don't do the daily ones, because they're not the same, and also annoying, like you said. I find reading the history and the prophets together is amazing, and also Acts and Paul's letters. I'm doing the CSB this year, and the NLT and ESV group all genealogies together (e.g. Numbers/Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah/Chronicles, Genesis/Chronicles) which is more a personal preference as opposed to enlightening. My husband does the Bible Recap. He listens to her podcast, which changes every year; I cannot stand podcasts, so I did the actual book. It was not my favorite. I finished the OT using a CSB, but I was, honestly, too bored with it and didn't make it past the Gospels. It's why I am doing the CSB this year, to get the full experience (I also didn't like flipping back and forth while reading; it ruined my concentration.) The advantage of The Bible Recap is you read chapters at a time, while chronological Bibles may have sections. I'm usually doing an individual book study as well, adding another layer. Every year I read, I see something new, another dimension. It's also why I read it chronologically in different versions.
Great research and thanks for sharing. The versions I use most are NLT & NIV.
Thank you Sylvia. I'm really enjoying the Common English Bible, but often bounce between different translations.