www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Books Patristic Study Bible - Consolamini Publications

I've noticed several discussions on this forum about good study Bibles. I'd like to make all readers of this forum aware of a Church Fathers study Bible written from a Catholic perspective that is currently in the works. The Scripture translation will be the DRB and there will be copious quotes from the Church Fathers on every chapter of the Bible! There will also be various articles in each book promoting and explaining the Catholic faith. At this time, the Penteteuch is almost finished. It is expected that the entire study Bible will be complete by mid 2015, but individual volumes will be released as they are finished. Below is a link to a few samples of the Patristic Study Bible, as it is called.

http://consolamini.org/2014/11/22/announcing-the-patristic-study-bible/

The Douai-Rheims Bible? Are you serious! For seventy-five years now the Church has endorsed translation from the original languages. The DRB is a revision of a translation of a translation! I checked the first page of your potboiler: it reassuringly asserts that Genesis was written by Moses. There go another two centuries of scholarship! Denounce any Modernists lately to the Sodalitium Pianum?

I'm not sure I agree with this.

Certainly the original editions were translations from the Latin Vulgate. But the Douay-Rheims Challoner (DRC) revision is considered to have been thoroughly updated to reflect the original languages, with most of those changes by Challoner being very close to the KJV. One can argue with some of the commentary, but the text itself is considered accurate (even if in Elizabethan English, and considering the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts of that day - though the OT sometimes seems to be an eclectic mix of Heb and LXX). I've done a side by side comparison of the Psalter using the DRC, KJV, and a number of other psalters and the DRC measures quite well. A number of people (including scripture scholars and liturgists) have recommended my using the DRC as a base text for a LXX Psalter (updating to standard English and the LXX) for use in liturgical texts (the RCs are planning to use the Amended Revised Grail, but it is still problematic).

What translation(s) do you use and why?

I grew up with the NAB but moved to the RSV-CE years ago. The past few years I've tended to use the ESV, and have come to appreciate the majesty of the KJV. Since September I've been using the "Modern English Version", which is a very nice update to the KJV (it updates the language style to standard English but without the awkward and inaccurate political correctness of gender neutral English). It was just published in September.

I'm very interested to know your thoughts on the various translations.

Thank you for the reply. The DRB was chosen because it is in the public domain and this is primarily a project that uses public domain material. There are some good new translations like the RSV2CE but it is not in the public domain.

As to Moses being the author of Genesis, the Pontifical Biblical Commission investigated the modern claims and found them wanting. It highly recommended that the traditional view that Moses wrote the Penteteuch not be lightly dismissed. Also, there is nothing in modern scholarship that has disproven Mosaic authorship and the evidence is consisten with Mosaic authorship.

Thank you for your feedback.

Accordingly then, what is the Church's position -- endorsement or lack thereof -- on translating from the LXX?

And those are?

I suggest then that a constructive, informative case be made against Mosaic authorship of not only Genesis but the Pentateuch, instead of this inappropriate, repugnant sarcasm.

For starters consider John 5:46, Jesus saying: For had you believed Moses, you would have believed me: for he wrote of me.