The Catholic book question I am asked most as an RCIA coordinator is “Which version of the Bible is best?” My answer is always the same “It depends!” How much do you want to spend? How deep do you want to think? With whom will you be reading the Bible? See, it all depends on how you will be reading.
At this stage in my life, I believe that the Revised Standard Version (RSV) is better for me than the New American Bible (NAB) which I bought as a newlywed in 1983. At the time, I was upgrading from my first Bible translation, the Living Bible (LB), that my mom bought me in 1976 when I was in my first Bible study as a junior high student. In our home we had a stack of protestant Bibles that my brother Leo and I had collected from neighborhood Vacation Bible Schools. We never read from them after the VBS week was over as Mom always confiscated them and pointed us to the giant Catholic family Bible and told us we could study that if we wanted to. I knew from a young age that our Bible was different from theirs.
In our parish, we give away Bibles right and left. If you are a parishioner and haven’t been gifted a Bible, where have you been hiding? We always give out paperback copies of the NAB that we buy by the case. Why the NAB? Two reasons, first, it is the translation used in the liturgy so it sounds familiar to our Catholic ears, and second, they are inexpensive. Right now, you can order a paperback version of the NAB from Amazon for $6.95.However, if you are interested in more than pre-reading the Sunday readings or saving money, I want to recommend that you purchase an RSV Bible. My favorite is the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament 2nd Catholic Edition RSV edited by Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch. Right now, on the Amazon store, the paperback version is $17.99. That is still a deal. But note, it only includes the New Testament which is a good thing, because if they added the Old Testament, you would need a wheel barrow to cart it around.
Physical Attributes
I don’t usually weigh my books, but it is worth noting that the Ignatius version weighs twice as much as my old New American version. And, remember, the Ignatius version is only the New Testament! Ignatius tips the scales at just over 3 pounds and my NAB is just over 1 1/2 pounds. Both have leather (ish) covers, but the Ignatius pages are heaver than those in my NAB. Dimension-wise the NAB is 8 1/2 by just under 6 inches and the Ignatius is 7 x 10 1/2. Even with only the New Testament, you will need a bigger tote to get that Ignatius version from place to place. If you will be reading the Sunday readings together, you will need to add a full version of the RSV so you can read the Old Testament too.
I have had the paperback and the leather bound version (I keep giving away my paperbacks) and I honestly prefer the paperback version. I never felt guilty annotating the paperback as I do the leather bound version. The pages of both are very sturdy and it is fine to use a regular pen or highlighter inside.
I’ve been on the lookout for a suitable Bible cover for my Ignatius Bible. If you find one, let me know!
Why is it so much bigger?
One reason is the “Concise Concordance” that starts on page 523 and ends on page 690. Most Catholic Bibles don’t include an extensive concordance like this one does. A concordance is basically an index of key words found in scripture. It comes in handy if you remember part of a verse, but not the whole thing. You can look up some of the key words in the concordance and find all the verses with that word. It also helps you to cross reference different books with verses about the same event. I use it often. Following the concordance are indexes and maps.
To me, this Bible is worth the indexes alone. There are indexes to: parables and metaphors of Jesus, miracles of Jesus, doctrines, charts, maps, topical essays, and word studies.
The topical essays and word studies really set this version apart from the rest. Sprinkled throughout the book are essays about topics such as “Paul, Idol Food, and the Jerusalem Council” and “Who Are the Sadducees?” The first one, I never knew I wanted to know about and the second one, I always wondered about but never felt like I found a good answer. The word studies include studies of words such as “Adoption” and “Mediator” there are 62 total word studies.
The footnotes sometimes take up more space than the actual scripture text. As a former yearbook advisor, I sometimes sit and contemplate what it was like to layout the pages of the Ignatius New Testament because it definitely involved some critical thinking.
It’s all about the notes
If the NAB is used in the Liturgy at Mass, why is the RSV the better translation? The RSV is a newer translation and is considered to be more reliable and up-to-date than the NAB. But that isn’t the only reason it is better.
The NAB has some sketchy and misleading footnotes that sometimes leave the reader with more questions than answers. My regular RSV Bible has very few footnotes (therefore, nothing to lead the reader astray), but the Ignatius RSV NT has footnotes on almost every paragraph. Reading the Ignatius Bible carefully really slows the reader down and helps the reader think more like a Bible scholar and less like an amateur thanks to Bible scholars and editors Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch. Those two have written copious amounts of books, but this has to be their opus.
You may already have an earlier version or two of these if you ever belonged to a Little Rock Bible Study group. The Collegeville Commentaries were included in every LRBSG packet. Hahn and Mitch took all the single item studies and managed to create one giant tome. When my children were young, our parish offered LRBS. That is where I really started to learn my faith.
More about the notes
The reason that I had my children pack one of these Bibles when they went off to college was so they could fend off over zealous proselytizers who prey on unsuspecting Catholic college students. My oldest son went to a public college in a town with 8 Catholic churches, one Carmelite monastery, and a nearby Catholic women’s college. I thought he’d be safe from protestant zealots there. I was wrong. Everywhere he turned he ran into someone spouting misinformation about the Catholic church. What a shame.
I guess it all worked out for the best because he is now a pretty decent apologist. One great resource he turned to was the Bread of Life discourse in the Gospel of St. John 6:35-59. In the middle of the footnote it says, “The metaphorical import of Jesus’ teaching is so obvious that it stands out in the response of the Jews, who ask him, not why he calls himself bread, but how he can claim to have descended from heaven (6:42)” (174). All of the footnotes are geared toward explaining the Catholic teachings that come from the scripture. If a protestant starts to quote scripture, just look it up and read the footnote with him. Maybe the protestant will come to realize the truths behind the Catholic teaching.
How to get the most out of your Ignatius Bible
I was introduced to two types of Scripture study. The first was to meet with Catholic friends either one weeknight or on Sunday mornings and pre-read the Sunday readings and a reflection using the publication One Bread One Body. The second was to do an in depth study of the Bible one book at a time using the Collegeville Commentaries and a Little Rock Scripture Study workbooks. The first type is a bit more difficult with the Ignatius Bible because as I mentioned above, you would also need to have an Old Testament with you to cover all the Sunday readings, plus, the Ignatius Bible pulls me into the footnotes which can be distracting in that sort of Scripture study. When doing a book by book study, one might like to have an Old Testament handy from time to time when the footnote mentions an Old Testament verse or story, but it is feasible to imagine weeks and weeks going by without feeling compelled to look up an Old Testament verse.
If you want to do a study that involves understanding how the Church interprets Scripture and how the Church used Scripture to define doctrine, the Ignatius Bible is the best choice. If you want to be able to answer questions that your protestant family and friends ask about Catholic teaching, the Ignatius Bible is the best choice. If you want to get lost in Scripture study and think critically and deeply about the Bible, the Ignatius Bible is the best choice.
How many should you buy?
First, get one for yourself!
Second, buy one for your favorite new convert this Easter. They also make great gifts for weddings, confirmation, and high school or college graduation. Do yourself a favor, when you buy your copy, order two. You will want to give one away.
What sort of Bible study do you do?
Almost all the Catholics that I know do or have done Scripture study. We aren’t known for memorizing Scripture, but the Catholic Mass is full of Scripture. When a Catholic starts studying the Bible, he is always shocked to see how much he recognizes from his years of regular Mass attendance.
What kind of Bible study do you do? Which Bible translations do you use and prefer?
What is your Scripture study story?