Well, I have been trying to decide what book off my list I should read next. Here is my dilema. I will be going on a long trip including driving through more than a dozen states. So I need to find something that I won't read through in 4 hours and won't be the size of the Encyclopedia Britannica. After pondering my list, I think I've got it. I've certainly read many parts of it, but never the whole thing all the way through. SO....
I'm going to read the Bible.
My only remaining question is which edition to bring. Since James and I are students of Theology, we have The Catholic Study Bible (NAB with lots of commentary), The New Jerusalem Bible, The St. Joseph NAB, The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha (NRSV) and a pocket NAB Bible ("pocket" being mildly amusing since it is as long as my hand and the only people I know with pockets that big are farmers in baggy overalls and nuns). We may have more but I'm not going to go digging for them. The pocket NAB would certainly be the easiest to pack being smaller and lighter than all the others, but hence it also has the smallest print. While the NRSV can be a better translation it also tends to drift into inclusive language, so I think I will take a NAB version. Since my only hesitation in taking the pocket version is the size of the font, I am going to start reading it before we leave and see if it bothers my eyes or head to read so much in such a small font. If so, I'll bring the St. Joseph Medium Size NAB, if not, pocket we go.
I have no idea how I will review The Bible. It is too long to give a plot summary, I dare not criticize its author, and people have written for milleniums on its significance. Oh well, I'll figure that out when I'm done. In the mean time, wish me luck!
UPDATE: James bought me a revised RSV by Ignatius Press, so it should be a good translation and I'm going to aim to read that version.
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May I suggest the KJV edition? The language is a touch of history and you can take along a reference book that will help you understand phrases such as "quit ye like men", or make note of them to refer to later. The 1828 Webster dictionary defines terms in the KJV, but even without it, it shouldn't be a problem understanding if read in its context. Remember, Shakespeare was written in a similar language, and reading KJV helps us understand many modern day expressions--you will be very suprized.
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