A Word From The Committee

 

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Before we get to "In the beginning..."

I know that a lot of people skip over the preface or introduction to most books but I like to read them. In the book in question here this bit is called "To The Reader" and it was written by Mr. Bruce M. Metzger who apparently ran it by "The Committee" before sending it to the printer.

    The first order of business for Mr. Metzger is to let us know that the book we are holding is the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, being the authorized revision of the Revised Standard Version, which itself was a revision of the American Standard Bible, which "in turn, embodied earlier revisions of the King James Version, published in 1611." As of when the intro was written in or about 1989 there was (and may very well still be) a Revised Standard Version Bible Committee with about thirty members, including Protestant scholars, some Roman Catholics, a member of the Eastern Orthodox church, and even a Jewish member who is allowed to chime in on Old Testament questions.

    So right off the bat we know that over the past few hundred years a bunch of folks have had a chance to have their way with what we're about to read. 

    Metzger goes on to say The King James Version is acknowledged as "the noblest monument of English prose" but follows that compliment with the assertion that the KJV has "serious defects." Evidently the shine of the snappy writing is dulled a bit by the fact that relevant information keeps popping up, prompting serious biblical scholars to initiate large scale and serious blue pencil action. Mr. Metzger does not address the question of why, in spite of those defects the KJV continues in print to this very day, including a certain edition currently being hawked by a political figure whose relationship with God's Word consists largely of an imagined fondness for something he likes to call "Two Corinthians."

    We then are told that "no translation of the Bible is perfect or is acceptable to all groups of readers" and that since the publication of the Revised Standard Version various other committees have produced a couple dozen or more competing versions. I'd say chances are that number has increased mightily since 1989 CE when Mr. Metzger and The Committee rolled this one out.

    After that we get a bit about things like vowel signs, consonantal text, and how sometimes the best that can be done with the original material available is to "follow the best judgment...as to the most probable reconstruction of the original text."

    The style of writing employed in the current version is addressed. They wanted to "follow in the tradition" of the KJV, but make necessary changes for the sake of things like accuracy and euphony, which I had to look up and which just means sometimes you want to be more concerned with how it sounds than how accurate it is, which kinda cancels out the accuracy mandate, but there you go.

    There is a discussion of the attempt to make the Bible at least a little less masculine oriented. We'll see how they did with that.

    Then there is the whole issue of what to call God. Should God be called God or something unpronounceable like YHWH? I had to look up "Tetragrammaton" but it was worth it. Cool word. We're also told that using upper case for pronouns that refer to Mr. (or Mrs.) God is not necessary. I didn't know that.

    And finally there is the reminder that the book one is holding isn't just a historical document or a very large chunk of classical literature but "the unique record of God's dealings with people over the ages" and that the folks responsible for the NRSV really hope that reading it will help people "discern and understand what God is saying to them." Isn't that what any author really wants? To be read and understood? Well, except for maybe James Joyce and Thomas Pynchon and David Foster Wallace?

    I'm about to find out if this reader can discern what's going on in the upcoming 700,000+ words I'm about to tackle.

    Next up, well, you know. The actual "In the beginning."

*The photos at the top of each entry will simply be me sharing photos I have taken. The one here is from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Prints of each photo, wrapped in an illustrated vellum of the Magna Carta as executed by Brother Maynard of the Order of What Have You Got are be available for $59.99 + S&H.