MAY 1/5/10, 2013

REVIEWS OF THE NCB ON CATHOLICBIBLESBLOG.COM

For a blog that is dedicated to reviewing, commenting on and recommending Catholic bibles, the blog owner Timothy seems to have done insufficient research on the NCB, notwithstanding the alert given by Francis Sunil Lobo, see his two comments against the first review, below, and not withstanding the fact that Timothy updated the first review.

I say “insufficient research” because he appears not to have come across the twenty critical reports on my web site as well as the same which are on the ephesians511blog that Francis Sunil Lobo refers to.

Is Timothy in favour of the syncretism in the commentaries? Only he can answer that question. I guess we’ll just have to be grateful that he permitted Francis Sunil Lobo to post his two comments which go against the grain of most of the others.

1. New Community Bible (formerly the CCB)

http://catholicbibles.blogspot.com/2013/02/new-community-bible-formerly-ccb.html

http://www.catholicbiblesblog.com/2013/02/new-community-bible-formerly-ccb.html

Posted by Timothy McCormick mccorm45@yahoo.com, Royal Oak, Michigan, USA, February 1, 2013

I teach theology at a local Catholic high school, along with being an instructor for the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan. In May of 2009, I completed my graduate work and was awarded the S.T.B. degree. (The S.T.B. is an ecclesiastical degree conferred by the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, also known as the Angelicum, through the faculty of Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.) As of Summer 2012, I am an Associate Member of the Catholic Biblical Association. I love the Lord, His Church, and the Holy Scriptures. This blog is intended to be a place where Catholics and other Christians can discuss Catholic Bible editions, study tools, and other issues concerning the Catholic faith.

Thanks to reader John for sharing this breaking news
^I:
Archbishop of Brisbane and Chairman of the Australian Catholic Bishops Commission on the Liturgy, Mark Coleridge , formally launched the international edition of The New Community Bible (NCB) in Sydney on the feast day of Blessed James Alberione, the founder of the Pauline Family.
Welcoming the release of the NCB in Australia, Archbishop Mark Coleridge said, “Now is the time when we have to become a more biblical Church, a people more immersed in the word of God. This is the best way to know Jesus whose voice we hear and whose face we see on every page of the Bible. That is why The New Community Bible (international edition) is such a gift. May it find its way into many hands and hearts and homes in this time of grace and faith.”
The NCB published by St Pauls Publications is a revised edition of the popular Christian Community Bible translated by Late Bernardo Hurault, a French Priest, from original languages to Spanish in 1971. Since then it has been translated into many languages and millions of copies have been distributed with its unique feature of a pastoral commentary that accompanied the text which has helped the faithful to understand, assimilate and live the word of God in their day to day life.
The Preface and the Presentation of the NCB states that it is the fruit of a challenging project undertaken by the Society of St Paul who brought together a competent team of Bible scholars who worked hard over a decade and undertook the responsible task of “completely re-writing the introduction and the commentary of each book of the Bible based on sound exegesis and relevant pastoral application” and has done a ‘careful revision of the text’ wherever it was required. Another unique feature of the NCB mentioned is “its many references to the deep spiritual message and biblical values found in the scriptures of other great world religions”.
The international edition of the NCB is published for special promotion in the Year of Faith by St Pauls based in Sydney, London and New York. It is a great resource for all those who wish to have a deeper understanding of the scriptures and a great help for all those who make use of Scripture in daily prayer, in Bible study groups and in small communities.
** You can also read a review of the NCB at the Raking through the Ashes of Christendom
^II.
** I do not think this translation has anything to do with the Lectionary revision of the ESV, that Bishop Coleridge is currently involved in. Perhaps some of our friends in Australian can comment on the NCB.
UPDATE: You can check out a few renderings of the NCB here. ^III
(HT: Servus Dei)

Selected 5 out of 14 comments [Bold emphases mine –Michael]

I bought the CCB a number of years ago out of a sense of obligation, rather than desire (gotta catch ’em all!). In all honesty, I didn’t much like it. When I compared the daily readings at the time, I found I even preferred the NAB Lectionary, which was already not my first choice. I found the commentaries to be hit-or-miss, but I’ve also heard that depends a lot on the edition.
I’ll be interested to hear more about the NCB, though I wish they’d emphasize the fact that it is a Catholic Bible, so I didn’t have to go all apologetic to my friends when they saw it on my shelf. –Chad, February 1, 2013

The NCB seems to be a revision of the CCB made for English speakers in India. –Francesco, February 1, 2013

Hello Timothy, Thanks to you and your readers for the additional information. Try as I might, I couldn’t find a place – other than Australia – to purchase a copy. So I guess, I’ll have to wait and see if it ever shows up here.
I’m actually more interested in the commentary, which looks intriguing, than in the translation. Although, I do like that they replaced YHWH with the Lord. Personally, I never liked that rendering in the NJB. Pax, John, February 2, 2013

New Community Bible is dangerous Christian faith. This also can be called as Hindu bible.
https://ephesians511blog.wordpress.com/2013/03/07/indias-controversial-st-pauls-new-community-bible-now-sold-in-australia/ –Francis Sunil Lobo, March 9, 2013

Please read more about this bible.
https://ephesians511blog.com/2013/05/08/the-indian-churchs-syncretized-st-pauls-new-community-bible-now-exported-2/

Really dangerous!!!
Even though if you have bible, please don’t read it because it is leaned to non Christian elements and spirituality. –Francis Sunil Lobo, March 9, 2013

^I
St Pauls, Australia, Australia: New Community Bible International Edition Launched
December 10, 2012 http://www.paulus.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2639:australia-new-community-bible-international-edition-launched&catid=106&Itemid=445&lang=en

^II
Raking through the Ashes of Christendom January 30, 2013
http://otagosh.blogspot.in/2013/01/the-new-community-bible-review.html?m=1

2 out of 2 comments

I would sure love to buy this Bible. Does anyone know if this is possible? I live in Canada. –Daesy, March 2, 2013

The New Community Bible [NCB] is highly controversial in India. It has been described as a “New Age” bible and a “Hindu-ised” bible. When it was introduced in 2008, there was a Catholic outcry against its commentaries and drawings. It was withdrawn by the Bishops’ Conference of India and a “Revised” edition was brought out in 2011. The revised edition is not much less syncretized than the first. Its commentaries smack of relativism and religious pluralism.
It is not clear from Gavin’s analysis whether the Australian edition is the withdrawn Indian edition or the “revised” one as in both cases Matthew 6 has the same references to Gandhi as well as the Bhagavad Gita. One wonders if the unsold Indian copies were shipped off to Australia to be off-loaded on the unsuspecting Catholic public. The Australian edition cover is different from both of the Indian editions.
Maybe someone can get back to me with the details of the year of publication and the names of the bishops who gave the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur. The 2011 revised edition does NOT have a Nihil Obstat.
18 Catholic criticisms of the NCB may be read at www.ephesians-511.net. –Michael Prabhu, March 7, 2013

^III http://bibles.wikidot.com/sample-ncb

2. Review of New Community Bible

http://www.catholicbiblesblog.com/2013/05/review-of-new-community-bible.html

Posted by Timothy McCormick mccorm45@yahoo.com, Royal Oak, Michigan, USA, May 2, 2013

Our friend Geoffrey Miller has a review ^I up for the recently released New Community Bible.  Head on over to Austin New Media ^II to check it out! For additional information about the New Community Bible you can go here ^III.

Selected 3 out of 17 comments

I hope NCB will soon reach the Philippines, as it already came to the US. But I think Philippine publishers of CCB (i.e. Claretian) will first empty up their stock before they could market the NCB. I hope NCB will propagate the Philippine Catholic Bible market. For Filipinos like me, the most common English Bible that we encounter, if not the Good News Bible, is the NAB (NABRE is also published by Claretian and most recently by Philippine Bible Society). RSV and NRSV are just hard finds here, especially the RSV-2CE which I bought at a specialty store which almost costs me $28. –Servus Dei, May 2, 2013

I really like the translation but don’t care for the quality of the print and binding. I hope they will release the NCB in multiple editions like they did with the CCB. One more fun fact the OT has returned to the traditional ordering of the book. –Michael Borges, May 3, 2013

Hold on you all, because guess what? Fr. Alberto Rossa, the head of the Christian Community Bible (CCB) project, is sending me a copy of the latest edition of his team’s work from Macau, China. Apparently, the New Community Bible (NCB) is done by a different group of people, and many are determined not to allow it to replace the CCB from which it took inspiration. Folks, it’s a veritable Battle of the Bibles, and in an upcoming ACNM post, I will give the history of the struggle and my opinion of who’s winning. It looks like the NCB won’t be the next step for the CCB, but instead a splinter translation. –pomeraniancatholic, May 3, 2013

^I
Introducing the New Community Bible, Geoffrey Miller, April 27, 2013

http://www.austincnm.com/index.php/2013/04/introducing-the-new-community-bible/#.UYxQV1tK2XZs,
see pages 1 ff.

^II Introducing the New Community Bible, Geoffrey Miller, April 27, 2013

http://www.austincnm.com/index.php/2013/04/introducing-the-new-community-bible/#.UXxMxuC624g,
see pages 1 ff.

^III
St Pauls, Australia,
Australia: New Community Bible International Edition Launched
December 10, 2012

http://www.paulus.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2639:australia-new-community-bible-international-edition-launched&catid=106&Itemid=445&lang=en

MY COMMENTS

1. Recall that pomeraniancatholic who commented at Timothy McCormick’s catholicbibles blog immediately above is the tag of Geoffrey Miller, the subject of the present report, who also posted in the austincnm blog, see pages 1 ff. There are other posts of his [not reproduced here] at the catholicbibles blog.

2. Note that St Pauls advertises the NCB as a revised edition of the CCB or Christian Community Bible [the NCB is the same as the CCB [Christian Community Bible] except for minor differences in the scripture texts; [The NCB is] based on Bernardo Hurault’s earlier Philippines-based project, the Christian Community Bible; The New Community Bible (NCB) published by St Pauls Publication is the revised edition of the popular Christian Community Bible; The NCB is a reworking of the Christian Community Bible, which the Filipino Claretian Fathers published in 1988;].

Some of the above excerpts are taken from my NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 19 report. In the same, the title of the February 1, 2013 blog* at the catholicbibles blogspot is “New Community Bible (formerly the CCB)”

*http://catholicbibles.blogspot.com/2013/02/new-community-bible-formerly-ccb.html

To describe the New Community Bible as “formerly the CCB [Christian Community Bible]” is erroneous, false and misleading. There is so much of harping by St Pauls and other promoters of the NCB about its being a revision or reworking of the CCB that I wonder why they didn’t leave the CCB to occupy its niche in the Church instead of trying to replace it with the NCB.

As one result of the “CCB” hype, Catholic analysts, commentators and bloggers have concentrated on comparing the NCB
texts with those of the CCB and lost sight of the greater, serious problem which is with the NCB commentaries and notes.

At $11, the NCB is going cheap. On the basis of its price alone, it could flood other versions out of the market.

MY LETTERS TO A COUPLE OF THE BLOGGERS

1. From:
Michael Prabhu
To:
Michael Borges
Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2013 10:16 PM Subject: NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE

Dear Michael

I saw your comment of May 3 at Timothy’s blog [above] http://www.catholicbiblesblog.com/2013/05/review-of-new-community-bible.html in which you say:

I really like the translation but don’t care for the quality of the print and binding. I hope they will release the NCB in multiple editions like they did with the CCB. One more fun fact the OT has returned to the traditional ordering of the book. –Michael Borges

Whereas you wrote to me a couple of months ago something entirely different:

From:
Michael Borges
To:
michaelprabhu@vsnl.net
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 4:05 AM Subject: NCB Bible

Dear Mr. Prabhu,
I recently read your review of the New Community Bible and found it very informative. I applaud our efforts at exposing the tragic commentary that is accompanying the Bible. I wanted to ask if you had any concerns over the translation itself? I find it curious that a translation that returns to some traditional expressions that are in accord with Liturgiam Authenticam could get it so wrong with the commentary. Are you aware of the recently released International Edition and have there been any corrections or “updates” that make it more acceptable? I appreciate any response you are able to provide.

I am sure that you received and read my detailed response** to your letter to me.

I would be grateful if you could you please explain why your opinion of the NCB has changed in two months or at least why you did not say in the blog the same things that you wrote to me. With regards,

Michael Prabhu

**See
NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE 19-INDIAN CHURCH’S SYNCRETIZED BIBLE EXPORTED

http://ephesians-511.net/docs/NEW_COMMUNITY_BIBLE_19-INDIAN_CHURCHS_SYNCRETIZED_BIBLE_EXPORTED.doc

2. From:
Michael Prabhu
To:
mccorm45@yahoo.com
Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2013 11:52 PM

Subject: NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE

Dear Timothy,

I am a Catholic apologist writing from India.

I’m a critic of the New Community Bible [NCB] and I have strongly opposed it from the day of its launch because of its problematic commentaries and the insinuations as well as overt meanings of some accompanying drawings which are best understood by Indian Catholics [who are conservative (read as faithful to the Magisterium)]

I checked out your two blogs

http://www.catholicbiblesblog.com/2013/02/new-community-bible-formerly-ccb.html of February 1, 2013 and

http://www.catholicbiblesblog.com/2013/05/review-of-new-community-bible.html of May 2, 2013 and all the comments posted therein.

I noted two comments made by one Francis Sunil Lobo who points your readers to the ephesians511blog, which incidentally is neither owned nor managed by me. But the NCB critiques therein are mine, taken from my web site http://www.ephesians-511.net.

The comments were posted by him in your first mentioned blog.

Even your second blog reviewing the NCB three months later ignores the disclosures of Francis Sunil Lobo.

I wonder what could be the reason for that.

In doing so, you are promoting/recommending the NCB as a worthy Bible for Catholics to use, whereas it is exactly the opposite of that. My web site has a total of twenty NCB critiques written over the course of five years.

Those commenting at your blogs appear to be concentrating on the text of the NCB, not on the commentaries, some of which are heretical. You’ve got to be an Indian Catholic and know the ground realities in the Church here, the spiritual environment, and the backgrounds of the theologians who wrote those commentaries to see the picture the way Catholics here see it.

It is a tragedy for the universal Church that St Pauls is succeeding in hoodwinking Catholics in the US, Australia, the Philippines and elsewhere with the low-priced NCB and its erroneous commentaries, wiping out and replacing existing popular versions. Having failed to make much of an impact in India, St Pauls is apparently seeking to recover its “investment” in the NCB by flooding the market with a cheap substitute.

I also note that many bloggers — including on other blogs — keep parroting that the NCB is the same as the CCB [Christian Community Bible] except for minor differences in the scripture texts. I have been referring to the CCB notes and commentaries for years, though my favourite is the New American Bible [NAB]. I have never found a problem with the CCB notes and commentaries or with those of the NAB. I could never use the commentaries of the NCB if it were the last Bible version on earth.

Michael Prabhu

Catholic apologist

INDIA

www.ephesians-511.net, michaelprabhu@vsnl.net
From:
Timothy McCormick
To:
Michael Prabhu
Sent: Friday, May 10, 2013 6:47 PM

Subject: Re: NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE

Michael,

Thanks for your email and concern. As you can imagine, I receive a number of emails from time to time over various issues relating to Bibles. For example, not unlike your critique of the NCB, I hear from many American Catholics who consider the NAB to be heretical, particularly the notes. There seems to be a commonality between the NAB and NCB in that way. Both Bibles, of course, have ecclesiastical approval and so I certainly try to give them the benefit of the doubt. Neither of the two would I consider my own personal favorite.

However, I would be happy to allow you to do a guest post that examines a few of the main issues you have with the NCB. Would that be something you might be interested in? While my primary readers come from the West, I do have a number of people who read from India and parts of Asia. (As a matter of fact, my wife is 100% Indian and a convert from Hinduism.) Perhaps your guest post could address concerns not only from an Indian perspective, but also give some insight as to why you think this Bible may not be good for Western Catholics as well.

Would you be open to this?

Timothy Paul McCormick
Catholic Biblical School of Michigan
http://www.cbsmich.org

http://catholicbibles.blogspot.com

From:
Michael Prabhu
To:
Timothy McCormick
Sent: Saturday, May 11, 2013 7:54 AM

Subject: Re: NEW COMMUNITY BIBLE

Dear Timothy,

Thank you for your reply.

I greatly appreciate your invitation to a guest post on your blog in the matter of the NCB.

However, I must decline, because of a couple of reasons, one being that I have many other pending matters to investigate, research and write on, and the other being that I have always avoided taking recourse to writing on blogs even though I know that I could reach more Catholics that way; again largely due to the time factor. Since all of my work is available at my web site, I leave it to those who are aware of it to use what I upload there.

I follow the same procedure even locally although there are a couple of blogs that take up my reports. I do not interact with them or comment in their blogs.

I am shocked to hear about the charges against the NAB. I am even more shocked that I did not hear anything about controversy with the NAB text or commentaries as I consider myself well-attuned to what is happening in the universal Church. I would greatly appreciate any information that you can give me in relation to that issue, including links to articles or reports from other Catholic apologists.

I am happy to hear that your wife is a convert from Hinduism to Catholicism.

Not all Indian Catholics are able to appreciate the seriousness of the errors in the NCB commentaries. It requires one to be knowledgeable about many things especially when Hinduisation is being enforced under the guise of inculturation.

Once again thanking you, and praying for God’s blessings on the both of you and your apostolate,

Michael
Related Article:

1. https://ephesians511blog.com/2013/05/08/the-indian-churchs-syncretized-st-pauls-new-community-bible-now-exported-2/

https://ephesians511blog.com/2013/04/30/indias-controversial-new-community-bible-is-a-delight-says-a-camaldoli-benedictine-oblate/

Categories: Hinduisation of the Catholic Church in India

Tags: Bernardo Hurault, Bible, Catholic, Catholic Church, Christian Community Bible, Mark Coleridge, NCB, Pauline Family, Sacred Heart Major Seminary