Portal:Bible/Featured article/November, 2006

The Revised Standard Version (RSV) is an English translation of the Bible that was popular in the mid-20th century. The RSV is a comprehensive revision of the King James Version of 1611, the English Revised Version of 1881-1885, and the American Standard Version of 1901, with the ASV text being the most consulted. It sought not only to clearly bring the Bible to the English-speaking church, but to "preserve all that is best in the English Bible as it has been known and used through the centuries." The copyright to the ASV was acquired by the International Council of Religious Education in 1928, and this Council renewed the ASV copyright the next year. In 1935, a two-year study began to decide the question of a new revision, and in 1937, it was decided that a revision would be done and a panel of 32 scholars was put together for that task. The New Testament was released in 1946, and the Old Testament in 1952. The RSV New Testament was well received, but reaction to the Old Testament was different. Many accepted it as well, but many also denounced it. Minor modifications to the RSV text were authorized in 1959 and completed in 1962. In 1971, the RSV Bible was re-released with the Second Edition of the Translation of the New Testament. In 1989, the National Council of Churches released a full-scale revision to the RSV called the New Revised Standard Version. There have been many adaptations of the RSV over the years. 2002 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1952 edition of the RSV. To mark this event, Oxford University Press issued a special edition of the RSV.

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