Islam - The Summit of Religious Evolution — Page 145
145 INTRODUCTION This edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible has been prepared for the use of Catholics by a committee of the Catholic Biblical Association of Great Britain. It is published with ecclesiastical approval and by agreement with the Standard Bible Committee and the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. The Revised Standard Version itself needs no lengthy introduction, being already well known and widely read. It is, as its preface states, “an authorized revision of the American Standard Version, published in 1901, which was a revision of the King James Version, published in 1611. ” In Britain, the King James Version is more commonly called the Authorized Version. It occupies a unique place in English Biblical and indeed literary tradition. The Standard Bible of 1901 was the work of an American committee revising it in the light of modern textual criticism. In 1937 it was decided to make a revision of the Standard Version which should “embody the best results of modern scholarship as to the meaning of the Scriptures, and express this meaning in English diction which is designed for use in public and private worship and preserves those qualities which have given to the King James Version a supreme place in English literature. ” The New Testament in this new version was published in 1946 and the whole Bible in 1952. The remarkable success which attended the new revision on its appearance seems to be ample justification of the revisers’ aims and it has been acclaimed on all sides as a translation which combines accuracy and clarity of meaning with beauty of language and traditional diction. For four hundred years, following upon the great upheaval of the Reformation, Catholics and Protestants have gone their separate ways and suspected each other’s translations of the Bible of having been in some way manipulated in the interest of doctrinal presuppositions. It must be admitted that these suspicions were not always without foundation. At the present time, however, the science of textual criticism and philology, not to mention others, have made such great advances that the Bible text used by translators is substantially the same for all - Protestants and Catholics alike. Today, and indeed since the appearance in 1943 of the Encyclical Letter Divino Afflante Spiritu, encouraging Biblical studies, Catholics like every one else go back to the original languages and base their translations on the same critical principles. With the improvement in interdenominational relations and the advance of Biblical knowledge, the possibility of producing a Bible common to all Christians was mooted as far back as 1953. It was felt that, if such a thing could be achieved, it would be of incalculable benefit in wiping away remaining misconceptions and prejudices and in fostering still further good relations between the Churches. The Word of God would then not only be our common heritage and unifying link but be recognized as such, and those engaged in theological discussion could appeal to the same authoritative text. A decisive step towards this objective could be made by editing the Revised Standard Version for Catholic use. A small committee of members of the Catholic Biblical Association was formed and permission obtained to examine this translation and suggest any changes that might be required to make it acceptable to Catholics. The Standard Bible Committee of the U. S. A. was then approached and they gave a warm welcome to the proposal. Here was a wonderful opportunity to make a real step forward in the field of ecumenical relations. However, ideas of this kind take time to penetrate all levels and many difficulties and delays ensued. But a change of mind has taken place and what seemed to many in 1953 to be a novel idea of doubtful value or even of no value at all is now generally recognized to be a legitimate and desirable goal. In the present edition the aim has not been to improve the translation as such. No doubt there are many places where a different rendering might have been chosen on critical grounds. This has been avoided. But there are other places where, the critical evidence being clearly balanced, considerations of Catholic tradition have favoured a particular rendering or the inclusion of a passage omitted by the RSV translators. In the Old Testament it has not been thought necessary to make any changes in the text. There is however, the very important difference in the number of books. Catholic Bibles include seven extra books and part of two others. These are known to Catholics as “deuterocanonical” and are regarded as an integral part of the Canon of the Old Testament. They are here printed in the order in which they appear in the Latin Vulgate, with the exception of the extra parts of the Book of Esther. As these parts do not occur in the Hebrew text of Esther, St Jerome extracted them from their place in the Greek in deference to the view favouring their canonicity and included them in his translation of Esther. But not regarding them as canonical he put them together at the end of the Hebrew text regardless of their historical or logical sequence. In this edition of the RSV they have been restored to their proper place in the narrative. These books and parts of books are regarded by Protestants as apocryphal.