By Donald Senior
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112 of 130 people found the following review helpful:
On second thought....,
This review is from: The Catholic Study Bible: New American Bible (Leather Bound)
This was my original review:
I am an Orthodox Roman Catholic who has searched and searched for a good study bible that was in-line with the teaching of the church. In this study Bible, I found what I had been looking for for so long! It has over 500 pages of reading guides one every single book that help the reader understand how, when and why each book was written as well as the setting of the time when each book was written. It also comes with the footnotes classic of all New American Bibles as well as colorful maps showing such events as Moses' exodus and Paul's journeys. There are also the readings used in the daily and Sunday masses. This Study Bible shows how the scriptures relate to the teaching in the Catechism of the church. Finally a good Study Bible for us real Catholics!! Now to present day: Since I have gone through this Bible in much more detail, I find it seriously lacking. The footnotes are very misleading, and the commentary is hardly insightful. Part of the inherent problem is the version of the Bible: New American Bible. The New American Bible is somewhat "inclusive", which is not good for language ina Bible. A good Catholic should ask himself, which Bible was used for the Catechism writing? Not the New American Bible (which this Bible is). Nope. It was the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition. For a much more thorough, insightful and devotional impact, read any of the Navarre commentary on the Bible. Oh yeah, the Navarre uses the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition! I give this one 1 star.  Comments (2) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you?
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41 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
Leather Bound Bible with Modernist Comments and Analysis,
This review is from: The Catholic Study Bible (New American Bible) (Leather Bound)
Nice quality bible that could have had more room in the margins for my own personal notes but that is just my request to the publishers of study bibles in general.This bible provides easy to follow crossreferences (links) to related passages and concepts. The Reader Guides to each book of the bible provide historical and other information that is easy to digest with a Modernist bent. So, the Reader Guide material shows what the latest intellectuals are theorizing as to what the Bible is as far as its literary aspects and its histroically correct aspects. This Study Bible does not present traditional Catholic teaching well but is very popular today. Some of the guides are sound and offer spiritual insights (since there are different authors for each of the books in the bible). Modern interpretations and datings are presented as facts, even on points where there is much debate. I do like a bible that translates Ecclesiastes 1:2 as "Vanity of Vanities, said the preacher" and not just "All is to no purpose, said the preacher". This bible gives it to me in the more stylish and meaningful "Vanity ..." fashion. The leather cover could have been slightly thicker and the margins could have been slightly wider but the content will show what the most recent studies on the bible have shown. Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you?
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
The Best Study Bible That's Out There! The Reason for My Faith Renewal!,
This review is from: The Catholic Study Bible (New American Bible) (Leather Bound)
I remember the moment well; the moment I took the first step in a virtual renaissance of what had been up to then a very superficial and inaccurate understanding of my Catholic faith and a comfortable Sunday-Catholic existence. Yes, I had read the bible before in a couple of versions but had been left cold as without any kind of guide to inform me of how to approach this great tome, I ended up having more questions than answers and even getting afraid of this quick-tempered Creator who appears to mercilessly slaughter those who didn't follow his ways but who appears to mellow out with age when I got to the New Testament. Not having any kind of guide to inform me about context and the various writing styles of the various books of the bible, I took it literally and naturally totally misunderstood its message.
Then, I remember during my college days, I felt a stirring to get to know my God better and I thought about doing this through reading the bible again but then I remembered my last experience and was almost put off. Thankfully, as if God read my thoughts, I stumbled upon this NAB Study Guide version of the bible and it was as if scales fell from my eyes as I started reading from page one, determined not to skip over anything. What I read shocked me no end and to some extent disappointed me as I realised how little I understood God and how my literal interpretation was the main reason for this. The brilliant introductions and essays by renowned bible scholars of various Christian denominations made it so much easier to go through and understand each and every book of the bible and I felt as if Christ himself was explaining to me the meaning of what I read in the form of the very good footnotes which I turned to the moment I had problems understanding what I had just read. I remember having to make a special effort to resist diving into the bible right away but instead forced myself to read the reading guides like: General Introduction, The Biblical Texts and their Background, The Catholic Study Bible: How To Use It, The Bible In Catholic Life, An Outline of Biblical History, The Pentateuch, The Deuteronomistic History, etc and followed their recommendations on how to proceed with the bible proper. That was the best thing I ever did as reading the bible after that became a relative breeze compared to my previous attempts and lo and behold, I actually understood what I was reading! Instead of the frightening inscrutable God of my previous readings, what I now discovered was an immensely loving and forgiving God; I recall crying several times while I was reading the bible and realising just how patient God had been with my total misunderstanding of Him and His motives in my life and I became determined to change after that. I have since read this version of the bible 3 times and I'm about to begin again but this time with a different version (RSV) but equiped with the knowledge gained from this version, I'm unafraid that I will ever misread the overall message. Each time I've read the bible, I've come up with new insights and new rewards. This version has nice leather binding with gilt pages to which I added index separators. It also has pages to record events such as births, marriages, deaths, confirmations etc in the family. At the end, it also has an extensive glossary, essays on the lectionary, lists of Sunday and weekday readings, biblical archaeology, geography of the holy land, extensive bible maps in color! and even an index to the maps. If your story is something like mine and you really want to truly understand the bible and to read it in the right context as was intended by the original writers themselves as they were inspired by God, I'm convinced the only way is to get a good study guide to help you. My life has changed since I've read this version and I hope yours will too. Thank God for The Catholic Study Bible. Very, very highly recommended. Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you?
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