At St Johns Papatoetoe, the pew bible approved by Session is the New Standard Revised Version (NRSV) of the Bible. It is used by Church Lectionaries world-wide across denominations.
Although the NSRV was published in 1989, its origin began in 1611 with the Authorised Version (AV), commonly referred to as the King James Version.
- The AV was revised in 1881 giving the English world, the Revised Version (RV).
- The Revised Standard Version of the Bible (RSV) was published in 1952.
- The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) we currently use was first published in 1989.
And finally, we have an updated edition for the 21st century: the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVue).
Quoting from the marketing document:
The National Council of Churches, which holds the copyright of the New Revised Standard Version, commissioned the Society of Biblical Literature to direct the NRSVue revision project thirty years after its original publication. The editors of this edition encourage readers to read the excellent prefaces to both the Revised Standard Version (1952) and the New Revised Standard Version (1989).
Bible nerds will enjoy reading the entire document. It covers the philosophy of their new translation, how it began, where it is different, and how it has incorporated the most recent discoveries.
It faithfully carries the tradition of philology and linguistics, “the historical study of the social, cultural, and economic contexts in which the Bible was written.”
I’ve already pre-ordered my -edition!