Book Reviews and More: Holy Bible - English Standard Version Catholic Edition

Friday, 14 March 2025

Holy Bible - English Standard Version Catholic Edition - Augustine Institute

Holy Bible

English Standard Version Catholic Edition

Augustine Institute

ISBN 9781950939312

In the summer of 2024 I found out that the church in England, Scotland, and Wales was getting a new lectionary. One based on the English Standard Version Catholic Edition. I started looking for an Anglicised edition, one that used British or in my case Canadian Spelling rather than the American. I could not find one. So I picked up this volume to be able to start reading the ESV-CE version of the bible. My children took a look at it and my youngest daughter has this same edition now, and my son had the blue paperback edition.

The description of this bible states:

“The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® Catholic Edition is an essentially literal translation in elegant, contemporary English. The ESV-Catholic Edition emphasizes word-for-word accuracy, literary excellence, and depth of meaning. This Catholic Edition was reviewed in accord with the norms of Liturgiam authenticam and abides by Catholic hermeneutical principles. It was granted the Imprimatur by the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India in 2018 and was approved for liturgical use by the Vatican s Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2019. This gray hardcover edition offers readers a beautiful Bible, which is ideal for anyone who desires to study, read, and pray the Word of God.”

It highlights the following features:

Gray with gold foil stamp (cover and spine only)

Anti-scuff matte lamination

Navy and gold ribbons

1,232 pages

8 pages of maps printed after last text page

Printed in Italy

We are informed that the ESV-Catholic Edition emphasizes “word-for-word” accuracy, literary excellence, and depth of meaning.

I enjoyed reading through this translation. It is not my favourite reading edition, which would be The Jerusalem Bible or the New Jerusalem, or Revised New Jerusalem. But this one is pretty close. It is also solid for study. When I was in university doing my religious studies degree with a focus on Roman Catholic Thought, I often compared numerous translations and editions, when working on essays and other papers. This would have been a great edition for that detailed work.

I was hesitant but also excited to give this new translation a try. The ESV-CE has been available since about 2017. And the Augustinian Institute has had editions since 2020. I believe late in 2025 the Catholic Truth Society will have a UK edition available. Reading Hearing Christ’s Voice A New Lectionary for the Church by Bishop Hugh Gilbert, OSB on why a new Lectionary and why this translation for that new lectionary helped me to eagerly approach this translation. I am thankful I gave it a read. I am thankful I was able to pick this edition up and give it a read. As mentioned I believe this is a good edition for just reading and for study, as such I can recommend it. The Augustine Institute has several editions and styles available. I like this clean crisp edition with minimal footnotes to use as a reading bible. I just really wish there was a Kindle edition available, I have a dual form of dyslexia and with eBooks I can change the font, and the colour of the page and font to make reading easier. I have found several different eBooks of the ESV translation but none of the ESV-CE. A great reading copy of the bible, if you have not read the ESV version this would be a great place to start!