The New Revised Standard Version.

Sorry Ben, I hold to the "that does not take into account newer information on older documents" so would be unable to help discern which of those two is better.

Is the NRSV a dynamic translation like the NIV?

 

We used the NRSV at the Southern Baptist university I attended.

I suppose then that KJV especially, as well as NIV and other old translations, are inappropriate for college study?

 

The NRSV is completely gender neutral, changing "brothers" to "brothers and sisters," "man" to "humankind," "son of man" to "mortals," "him" to "them," "he" to "God" whenever possible, etc., etc.

Yours,

Bluefalcon

 

The NRSV is OK but not great. It is slightly more literal than the NIV but nowhere near the NASB or ESV. What I see as its biggest problem is that it tries to be everything to everyone--they even have a Catholic version with the Apocrypha. Its attempt to be as ecumenical and inoffensive as possible has the end result of having a watered-down, milquetoast message.

If I had to choose between the NIV and NRSV I'd probably go with the NIV but I still prefer my NASB.

 

The NIV is a conservative, Reformed, evangelical dynamic equivalence translation.

The NRSV is a moderate, ecumenical, primarily formal equivalence translation with the exception that it uses gender neutral language.

The NIV is suitable for use as a very brief commentary from a Reformed perspective, but in my opinion it is not suitable for use as a Bible.

The NRSV, when the reader understands that it uses gender neutral language when the Greek and Hebrew do not, is, in my opinion, suitable for use as a secondary translation of the Bible when the primary translation is the NASB or the NASB updated version of 1995.

I would have nothing to do with any Bible “college” that uses any particular translation of the Bible. The Bible needs to be taught in the original languages with the use of whatever study aids are necessary.

 

NRSV is Gender neutral but it is MUCH more literal than the NIV. I wouldn't recommend using either one as your main text.

 

You "rule out" a translation of the Bible because it uses the American spelling rather than the British spelling of two words? I would think that the accuracy of a translation would be infinitely more important than whether it uses American or British spelling!

 

Ben, interesting that you would be marked down for using either spelling. My copy of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines Colour (chiefly Brit) as a variant of Color, and Centre (chiefly Brit) as a variant of Center - but either are still correct and acceptable spellings of the two words. By the way, I know that this is getting off topic, so to stay "on topic" I would choose the RSV over the NRSV or NIV (if those were my only three choices). Bruce

 

(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)

Any college teacher who would consider either “colour” or “centre” an incorrect spelling is grossly incompetent and should tell you something about the “college” where they teach.

 

I was never marked down for British spelling and I would use it a lot simply because I liked it. I don't recall a single complaint.

As a matter of fact, it is a little interesting that some papers are marked down due to spelling anyway. Unless you are preparing a formal report (for the practice of formal reports) often the info is what is graded rather than punctuation or spelling.

In Engineering, I turned in many papers where I wrote so fast that it came out a lot like my posts here. I was out-thinking my hand. The professor recognized that and ignored it. Now, if it was a Term-paper or higher (as in my masters) then if your spelling was horrible you might take a hit.

Typical tests were fast and written in the little blue-books by hand. Therefore, the teachers pretty much ignored spelling, grammar, etc. unless it was unreadable.

Your teacher almost sounds like a high-school or junior high teacher that will mark your grade down for not using a number 2 sharpened pencil.

 

My copy of the NASB nor the one on my computer uses those spellings of those words

 

No, of course not. The NASB is an American translations using spellings that are chiefly American.

 

If you absolutely must select between the NIV and the NRSV, I think I would go with the NIV. But of the "Modern versions" I think I would choose the NASB95 above either of the others...