Quote:
Originally Posted by Sleeping in EQ
Perhaps my sources are incorrect. They say that the NAB is not what is used in Mass. What is used is a revision of the NAB, that while based on the NAB, only exists for clerical use. A lay Catholic can't go out and buy and read this version. While Vatican II authorized the NAB, conservatives at high levels have gained influence since then and have monkeyed with it.
Here's a guy writing in First Things: A Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life:
"At present, three translations are approved for Catholic liturgical use: the New Jerusalem, the RSV, and the New American Bible (NAB). The lectionaries and the several publishers of Mass guides, however, use only the NAB.... The bishops had the NAB updated to the Revised New American Bible (RNAB), but Rome had objections to that and hurriedly appointed a committee to fix it up into what might be called the Amended Revised New American Bible (ARNAB), which will soon become mandatory in lectionary use. Technically, the RSV and New Jerusalem are still permitted but, with ARNAB as the mandatory translation of the future, nobody has any interest in printing lectionaries or Mass guides using those versions. There is the additional oddity that you cannot buy an ARNAB Bible, since only the pericopes (liturgical readings) exist in ARNAB-talk. So Catholics do not have a Bible for personal or group reading that uses the same text that they hear at Mass."
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I get lost in all the acronyms. Perhaps the RNAB is what I called the NRSV in my post, the concept is the same with the "inclusive language" and a few other changes for smoothing out the English. At the time I was keeping up with things, just a few years ago, the whole thing was in such a state of confusion that the training and study materials they gave to the lay lectors had two translations in them because they were printed in advance for the liturgical year and the publisher didn't know what the decision would be. This happened at least two years in a row.
To me this is about schematics of the readability, inclusive language. Perhaps to serious Biblical scholars its a bigger deal. I wasn't aware of any substantial changes in interpretation among the versions of the NAB nor between the revised version they were planning to use and the NRSV popular in some Protestant churches. And, yes, there is a Lectionary printed with the selected biblical texts to ease readability. The study guide books are provided to ensure what you study at home is exactly what you see on Sunday. I presumed that once the dust settled, you'd be able to buy a complete Bible in the same translation as the Lectionary and study guides.