www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Scripture and Patristic Writings Retire the New American Bible. Says Cistercian Monk.

After hearing the word "opprobrium" mutilated once again at this evening's Vespers for Dormition, I am inclined to agree to the NAB's retirement.

Dn. David

What is the connection between the 'word "opprobrium" mutilated' and the NAB?

I'll clarify. As I'm sure you know, the third reading for feasts of the Mother of God--Proverbs 9:1-10--according to the NAB includes the word "opprobrium". I have never heard a reader pronounce it correctly. Granted, all Biblical translations include words unfamiliar to most English-speakers, and such issues could be avoided by readers reviewing their reading ahead of time. In any case, the colloquial quality of most of the NAB, but the inclusion of complex words like "opprobrium", strikes me as odd.

Here is the verse from the NAB:

"He who corrects an arrogant man earns insult;
and he who reproves a wicked man occurs opprobrium."

For the sake of comparison, here is the RSV:

"He who corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse,
and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury."

Dn. David

Yes, I did know that. The word opprobrium occurs only twice in the NAB: Pro 9:7 as noted and Bar 6:47. My question, however, incorrectly presumed that the actual reading at the Vespers would not have been from the NAB -- didn't expect it to be used in an Orthodox service.

Only the Baruch verse has in the Vulgate the source word, obprobrium; the Proverbs verse has maculam instead.

It turns out that opprobrium is in a sense a good-old Catholic, pre-VCII word. One of the 6 Latin litanies used in public recitation is the Litaniae de Sacratissimo Corde Iesu, Litany of the Most-Sacred Heart of Jesus. One of the petitions, Cor Iesu, saturatum opprobriis, was commonly rendered "Heart of Jesus loaded down with opprobrium." I heard that enough, properly pronounced, while attending Catholic grade-school, that it stayed with me to this day. I don't recall if I checked the meaning in those days, but I surmised from the context that it was bad-stuff.

Dn David:

Christ is in our midst!!

Which is why I have required readers I've trained to review the reading five times--once each day--prior to the Sunday proclamation. And why I've removed readers who regularly stumble and show publicly that they don't prepare or take the office of lector seriously.

Bob

The lectionaries from Byzantine Seminary Press are widely used in ACROD.

Dn. David

:applause:

As to the OP, I've always found the NAB to be a bizzare combination of intentionally pedestrian language and frequent pedantry. And the psalter IMO is unprayable.......

Here's the section from my introductory class:

III. Practice & Preparation

A. First reading: to gain some sense of flow of ideas;
author's attitudes and emotions
B. Second reading: to heighten reader's awareness of
meaning, idea flow, word groups
C. Third reading: determining specifically author's intent
D. Fourth reading: understanding meaning of each
selection as it relates to others (finding common theme)
E. Fifth reading: practice aloud using full range of voice to
communicate meanings discovered by preparation

My practical approach:

1. Read over the passage; make sure you understand it. Ask about words you don't know how to pronounce. Do not rely on the pronunciation guide in the lectionary--often they were written by illiterates (Example: Peter's other name is pronounced Ke-FAS, not SEE-fas, as some would have it).

2. Write it out, longhand, just as you intend to chant it. Put the line breaks where you intend to break the phrases in your chanting. Add markers to tell you if you are going to end on an up note or a down note. Finally, mark where you will begin the terminal phrase of the reading, which is both a cadence and melodic break.

3. Sing it aloud. Make sure it works. If it doesn't, try variations until you find one that does. Go back and change your hand-written text.

4. Sing your revised text aloud, several times, until you are comfortable with it.

5. Type it up, exactly as you wrote it longhand, in a large font, easy to read. Put paragraph breaks between the phrases. Add your tone marks in pencil.

6. Slip this into the requisite page of your Apostol, and read from it, not the text as written in the book.

Side benefit--by the time you get through with this, you will probably know the passage almost by heart. There is a lot less chance of getting lost if you really know the text.

Stuart:

I've been mystified about that. I've heard it, too. From what regional dialect did that come from?

Bob

You mean "SEE-fas" (or SEE-fus, which is how it is usually pronounced by readers)? Dunno. Guys who flunked Latin, Greek and Aramaic, I reckon, since none of those languages has a soft "C". The spelling "Cephas" probably comes from the Vulgate, since in Greek it would be Kephas.

what about converts? I had no idea that's how you say it. I thought it was see-fas as well. No greek or latin yet sorry ;-)

Kyrie eleison,

Manuel

Back to the original topic:

I would not look for this anytime soon. The USCCB owns the copyright on NAB,RNAB, and Confraternity versions. I think the best we can hope for are corrected versions bringing it closer to traditional renderings. That said as a sui iuris Church we don't have to use the NAB. The hierarchs could adopt any approved version the JB, the RSV-CE(my vote), or the Confraternity.

If the mess the bishops made with the Revised Divine Liturgy is any example, it is far more likely they would replace the NAB with the Reader's Digest Bible - Gender Neutral and Politically Correct Edition.