What is the most common version/translation used by Catholics in the US? Is it King James? What about US protestants?
What versions are “standard” for non-English speaking Christians in other countries?
Cant’ answer, other than to say the King James’ version isn’t the Catholic bible; it’s a protestant version. I prefer the New Internation version, myself (modern English), but I’m not Catholic.
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Uh, anyone know how the Spanish refer to King James?
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Iago is the Spanish for James.
Roman Catholics have a slightly different set of books (maybe just one book) in their Bible. A Bible translation in RC faith has to have the approval of certain higher-ups. I don’t think the King Jame version fits this, but I could be wrong.
Who was King James? Was he after the Anglican-Roman split?
At school (catholic school in Dublin) we used “The Jerusalem Bible” if that is of any help in your question. I didn’t even know there were different versions of the Bible until I got the internet. Always thought “The Jerusalem Bible” was the Bibles “full name” :smack:
James Stuart became King James VI of Scotland. After the death of his cousin, England’s Queen Elizabeth I, he became King James I of England. By the time he took the throne, England was thoroughly Protestant (Elizabeth herself had been excommunicated by the Catholic Church). He commissioned the translation of what became known as the King James Bible.
The Catholic Church recognizes some books as valid Scripture that you won’t find in any Protestant Bible. These books, which Protestants call “the Apocrypha,” include Sirach, Tobit, Susannah, Bel & the Dragon, and a few others I can’t recall off the top of my head.
These books were written in Greek, not in Hebrew, which made the books less valid in the eyes of Martin Luther, who chose not to include them in his German translation of the Bible (though Luther did call them “good and useful reading”). Historically, Protestants have followed Luther’s lead. The King James version is no exception: it’s a Protestant Bible (though even we Catholics often find it “good and useful reading”), and does not include the Apocrypha.
Oh, and as for Revtim’s original question- the standard Bible used by Catholics in the U.S. is the New American Bible.
Or, at least, that’s the Bible from which all Scripture readings at Masses come, and it’s the Bible most commonly used for Scripture study in Catholic high schools and colleges.
Here in Germany, there is a version called the “Einheitsuebersetzung” (unified translation). In the early 1960s, the Catholic bishops in Germany had established a board whose task was to translate the Bible from the original texts totally anew, and later on the Lutheran church and churches from other German-speaking countries joined this board, and they presented the new version in the 70s, which has been standard for both Catholic and Lutherans (which combined comprise something more than 80 per cent of Germany’s population). However, Lutherans still enjoy using Luther’s translation dating back to the 16th century.
Well, in The Netherlands the classic Dutch translation is the Statenvertaling or Statenbijbel (States translation/bible) of 1637, commissioned by the States General of Holland. It has a similar stature as the King James version, I guess. Since the language has changed a lot, it sounds pompous and archaic. Which can be a good thing for holy texts.
Modern translations differ, depending on whether they are Catholic (Willibrordusvertaling) or Protestant (NBG-vertaling=Dutch Bible Society Translation). If you really want to know, I would have to look into this deeper.
For general reading, check out Bijbelweb. It is a Dutch site, but with links to lots of Bible translations in lots of languages.
Just FYI: The King James version of the Holy Bible does, in fact, have a translation of the Apocrypha. It’s just not included in most copies of the thing because the Church in England at the time did not consider those books to be of the same inspired status as the others; however, it did consider them to be wrothy of study.
If you’re interested, the Protestant Bible I use at home for Tiếng Việt is unimaginatively entitled “The Holy Bible in Vietnamese” and is published by the American Bible Society, New York. The Bible’s Vietnamese name is Kinh Thánh.
If you find yourself in Papua New Guinea, you might find the Bible in Tok Pisin to be of use. Here’s the first part of the Gospel of John:
What I wonder about when it comes to translating any religion’s scripture is: Exactly how much influence does the translator’s interpretation of his faith have on the translation?
Monty, that’s why I find it useful to have several translations and a couple of transliterations.
I also use reference books defining original language words and phrases.
Some Bibles I have read different enough in certain passages that I could see how easy it would be to teach my own view of dogma providing I had a passage that reads how I would need it to read.
Complex sentences are bad, but you get my point, I’m sure.
In the Church of Christ, just about everyone used New International Version.
Now that I’m in the Disciples of Christ, most people use the Revised or New Revised Standard
But I know there’s lots of churches teaching that the King James is the Only True Word of God.
In other words, it depends on what church you go to.
Actually, Luther did include these books in his German translation. However, he did not believe them to be the Word of God, and placed them in their own section of the book, rather than scattered throughout the Old Testament.
Modern editions of Luther’s translation (just like the KJV) usually omit the Apocrypha.
If you are studying literature, King James is the way to go.
For the OP, it might help you to know that different cultures emphasize different Bible stories. If I remember correctly, the Western World’s fascination with Nativity grew up in the past few hundred years. We’ve sort of drifted from the vengeful god to our pal, Hey-sous.
Reading the religous poetry of a country gives you a pretty good idea of which bible stories they read.
There exist several translations of the Bible into French, of course. In my catholic high-school days, the two most popular versions were the Bible de Jérusalem and the venerable TOB (Traduction Oecuménique de la Bible).
There’s a very recent translation entitled: La Bible: Nouvelle Traduction. It’s interesting in that it was approached as a work of litterature as much as a religious work. Scholars would have their translations “corrected” by famous authors and poets and this version was then submitted back to scholars to make sure it was consistent with the original meaning, thus you have (supposedly) a work that is both accurate and easy to read. It has not been approved of by the RCC IIRC.
There have also been quite a few translations into Japanese, two of the more popular, from what I can glean are: Seisho: Shin-kyôdôyaku and the plainly titled: Seisho by the Shin-Kaiyaku Seisho Kankôkai. (New revised Bible translation publication society) The last one, at least, being used by the RCC.
Ditto - I have a friend who refers to it as the “Now Indispensable Version”. 
Grim
I own (and use) several versions.
NIV mainly, sometimes King James, occasionally Good News, very infrequently The Message, once or twice Jerusalem, if I want something apocryphal.
I prefer the NIV because it is a fairly accurate translation, that keeps the beauty of the phrases, I have a large NIV concordance bible, and a smaller handy one.
I find the King James beautiful, but harder to understand.
The Good News version is accurate, but loses the flow and rythm of the text, and is (to my mind) a little stark.
The Message is a youth bible. It’s very simple, with up to date language, and interactive excercises. It’s fun to read, and can be quite hard-hitting with the language it uses.