Common En;glish Bible (CEB)

 Fifth Thursday of Easter

Lectionary Texts:

Acts 10:1-23

John 16:12-15

I have reserved judgement about the Common English Bible for a couple of years. My feeling was that I should give myself plenty of time to get used to it before I said much about it. Frances's question and comment seem to make now the appropriate time.

The purpose of the CEB was the render the scriptures in the common American English used by most Americans today. On measure, I think it has done that. Yet I find myself asking whether that is the best goal. 

The team of scholars, about 120, of whom about 25 are women, represent all the mainline Protestant denominations, with a few Catholics and a couple of Reform Jewish scholars. United Methodists are more heavily represented than any other denomination. All are college or university professors. Some are professors at Evangelical seminaries. Many represent a more conservative viewpoint than is found in most universities. There appear to be no atheists or agnostics. 

I did some counting on representation from major universities or seminaries represented. Here are my results:

Harvard--0

Yale--2

Princeton--3

Duke--3

Chicago--0

Emory--7

 

The website listed all denominations represented but not the denomination of each scholar. Most of the scholars from Evangelical schools are United Methodists.

 

The CEB prefers gender neutral pronouns when they do not make a sentence utterly awkward. It does use masculine pronouns for God. Most controversial has been  the use of "the human one" instead of "son of man," in texts in which Jesus refers to himself with that term. The editors give an extensive explanation for this in the preface, but I don't find the explanation convincing.

 

Another controversy point has been the consistent use of contractions. It may be Common English speech but I have  not gotten used to it and I don't think I will. 

 

Religious/politically the CEB is middle of the road. I don't see any political agendas in it.

 

The principal publisher of the CEB is the United Methodist Publishing House, though that is not mentioned in the Bible. It's use in UMC Sunday School literature and in more and more UMC churches has made it effectively the UMC Bible. 

 

My strong preference is still the NRSV,  although I would take the CEB over most of the rest of what's out there. If you are wanting to buy a new Bible for personal use, I would recommend one of the many editions of the NRSV.

 

God,

Make us better readers of your holy Word. In the name of the Word made flesh, Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

 

Faithfully,

Christian