An even better Bible
The leaders of the NRSVue project talk about translation, reception, and what Bibles are for.
Last spring, the National Council of Churches commissioned the Society of Biblical Literature to lead a review and update of the New Revised Standard Version translation of the Bible. The new NRSV Updated Edition contains tens of thousands of changes, many of them substantive. The project was led by Joseph Crockett, who has since retired as CEO of the NCC’s publishing subsidiary Friendship Press, and John Kutsko, who was executive director of SBL and is now executive director of Atla.
Why update the NRSV now?
Joseph Crockett: As owner and steward of the RSV and NRSV translations, the NCC recognized the need to review and update the NRSV. God deserves the best each generation can render, and the growth of information in the past 30-plus years makes Bible research, interpretation, and understanding an ever-changing enterprise. Philology, text-critical changes, and notes were the three primary areas that we wanted to address—that came out of conversations with SBL.
