The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible is an English translation of the Bible released in 1989 in the USA. It is a thorough revision of the Revised Standard Version (RSV).^[1]

There are three editions of the NRSV:

1. the NRSV standard edition, containing the Old and New Testaments (Protestant canon);
2. the NRSV with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books in addition to the Old and New Testaments (this edition is sometimes called the NRSV Common Bible);
3. the NRSV Catholic Edition containing the Old Testament books in the order of the Vulgate.

There are also editions of the NRSV that use British spelling and grammar.^[2]

History[link]

The NRSV was translated by the Division of Christian Education (now Bible Translation and Utilization) of the National Council of Churches, an ecumenical Christian group. There has also been Jewish representation in the group responsible for the Old Testament.^[1] This translation is meant to replace the Revised Standard Version, and to identify it in context with the many other English language translations available today. It is called the New Revised Standard Version because it is a revision of the Revised Standard Version of 1952.

Principles of revision[link]

Improved manuscripts and translations[link]

The Old Testament translation of the RSV was completed before the Dead Sea Scrolls were generally available to scholars. The NRSV was intended to take advantage of this and other manuscript discoveries, and to reflect advances in scholarship since the RSV had been released.^[1]

Elimination of archaism[link]

The RSV retained the archaic second person familiar forms ("thee and thou") when God was addressed, but eliminated their use in other contexts. The NRSV eliminated all such archaisms. In a prefatory essay to readers, the translation committee said that "although some readers may regret this change, it should be pointed out that in the original languages neither the Old Testament nor the New makes any linguistic distinction between addressing a human being and addressing the Deity." The essay does not mention that the original languages do make a linguistic distinction between second person singular and second person plural, whether addressing human(s) or deity, and that this distinction is now no longer translated.

Gender language[link]

In the preface to the NRSV, Bruce Metzger wrote for the committee that “many in the churches have become sensitive to the danger of linguistic sexism arising from the inherent bias of the English language towards the masculine gender, a bias that in the case of the Bible has often restricted or obscured the meaning of the original text”.^[1] The RSV observed the older convention of using masculine nouns in a gender-neutral sense (e.g. "man" instead of "person"), and in some cases used a masculine word where the source language used a neuter word. The NRSV by contrast adopted a policy of inclusiveness in gender language.^[1] According to Metzger, “The mandates from the Division specified that, in references to men and women, masculine-oriented language should be eliminated as far as this can be done without altering passages that reflect the historical situation of ancient patriarchal culture.”^[1]

One of the conventions NRSV uses is to expand gender-specific phrases. For example, if a translation used brothers to refer to a group that is not known to be all male, NRSV may use brothers and sisters. Where such adjustments are made the literal translation is noted in a footnote.

Approval of the NRSV[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2011)

Many of the older mainline Protestant churches officially approve the NRSV for both private and public use. The Episcopal Church in Canon II.2 added the NRSV to the list of translations approved for church services. It is also widely used by The United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Presbyterian Church (USA), the United Church of Christ, the Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Canada.

In the Catholic Church, the NRSV has been approved for use privately but for public worship it is not approved. An adapted version is under consideration for approval in England and Wales, in Ireland, and in Scotland.^[3] In accordance with the Code of Canon Law Canon 825.1, the New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, has the imprimatur of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, granted on 12 September 1991 and 15 October 1991 respectively, meaning that the NRSV (Catholic Edition) is officially approved by the Catholic Church and can be profitably used by Catholics privately in study and devotional reading. For public worship, such as at weekly mass, most Catholic Bishops Conferences in English-speaking countries require the use of other translations, either the adapted New American Bible or the Jerusalem Bible.^[4] In Canada, an adapted form of the NRSV was approved in 2008 by the Canadian conference and the Vatican.^[5] Although the United States Conference approves only the New American Bible as adapted for liturgical use, the NRSV, along with the RSV, is adapted and quoted in the English-language edition of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Controversial passages[link]

In several places the NRSV committee ignore traditional translations in favour of renderings they believe better reflect the original meaning of the text. For example, the NRSV translates Isaiah 7:14, originally written in Hebrew, as:

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

The NRSV thus retained the RSV decision to translate the Hebrew "almah" as "young woman", though a footnote acknowledged that the ancient Greek translation, the Septuagint, reads "virgin" (that is, "parthenos"). A significant quotation of Isaiah in the Gospel of Matthew also translated the word into Greek as "parthenos" (virgin), and English translations of Isaiah prior to the RSV had followed the Greek. The traditional translation of the phrase "will conceive", which likewise is the Greek translation given in Matthew, was rephrased as the present tense "is with child". This and other non-traditional translations were criticized^[who?] (e.g. preferring "wind" instead of "spirit" for "rûach" in Genesis 1).

Regarding gender-neutral language, previous translations in this tradition (from the Tyndale Bible to the RSV) adhered to the original text over concerns about readability or gender neutral language; the NRSV departs from this practice. In particular, the NRSV frequently—but not always—substitutes the word "person" or "adult" when the text reads "anēr" (often, but not always, meaning a male adult human being). For example, 1 Corinthians 13:11 in the RSV read: "when I became a man, I gave up childish ways," while the NRSV rendered this passage "when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways". Because the NRSV frequently departs from a literal translation of the text in favour of gender neutrality, critics argue it departed from the heritage of preserving the literal text of Scripture that was the distinguishing feature of translations in the Tyndale/King James tradition.

Orthodox reaction[link]

In spite of Orthodox Christian participation in the translation, and while annotated versions of the RSV were accepted by some Orthodox, the Orthodox Study Bible chose the New King James Version New Testament as a starting point, and the Old Testament committee chose to make a new translation of the Septuagint rather than use any existing English translation or returning to the original Hebrew. Orthodox criticism of the NRSV generally followed conservative Protestant lines, but in addition criticized the use of the Masoretic text as the Old Testament textual basis. In 1990 the synod of the Orthodox Church in America decided not to permit use of the NRSV in liturgy or in Bible studies.^[6]

Study editions[link]

• The Harper Study Bible (1991, ISBN 0-310-90203-7)
• The HarperCollins Study Bible with Apocrypha (1997, ISBN 0-06-065527-5)
• The Spiritual Formation Bible (1999, ISBN 0-310-90089-1)
• The Access Bible with Apocrypha (1999, ISBN 0-19-528217-5)
• The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha, 3rd edition (2001, ISBN 0-19-528478-X)
• The New Interpreter's Study Bible with Apocrypha (2003, ISBN 0-687-27832-5)
• The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible with Apocrypha (2005, ISBN 0-06-067108-4)
• The Oxford New Revised Standard Version Anglicized Cross-Reference Edition (1995, ISBN 978-0-19-107050-1)
• The Green Bible 2008
• The Wesley Study Bible (2009, ISBN 978-0-687-64503-9)
• Lutheran Study Bible (ELCA) (2009)
• The Restored New Testament (RNT) (2009, ISBN 978-0-393-06493-3)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• National Council of Churches
• Religion: Farewell To Thee's and He's, Time magazine

Kool Savas
Kool Savas in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Savaş Yurderi
Also known as	King Kool Savas (KKS), Juks, Jux, Essah
Born	(1975-02-10) February 10, 1975 (age 37) Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Origin	Turkey
Genres	German hip hop
Labels	Essah Entertainment
Associated acts	M.O.R., Azad, Samy Deluxe, Lumidee, 40 Glocc, Ying Yang Twins
Website	Official website

Savas Yurderi (born 10 February 1975) also known as Kool Savas (or as well King Kool Savas), is a German rapper and hip hop artist. Savas is mostly referred to as "King of Rap" or "King of German Rap".^[1]

"Savaş" is the Turkish word for "war".

Biography[link]

Born in Aachen, Germany to a German mother and a Turkish father, Savas' family moved back to Turkey when he was one year old. His father, who is from Çorum, Turkey, was arrested because of his political posture against the government in Turkey, and as a result of his father's arrest, his mother was forced to return to Aachen with Savas.^[2] By 1987, his father was released and the entire family was reunited and relocated to Berlin. It was in Berlin where Savas first came across Hip Hop music.^{[citation needed]}

Savas lived with his girlfriend, Melbeatz, in Berlin for an extended amount of time. As a result, the majority of Savas' beats were produced by her. Although Savas and his girlfriend are no longer together, they remain close friends.^{[citation needed]}

Although Savas is popularly called a "Berlin rapper," he resides in Heidelberg. He is also a vegetarian.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

2000: Early career[link]

Savas started his rap career with the EP Warum rappst du, containing rather provocative lyrics in songs such as "L.M.S.", "Schwule Rapper" and "Pimplegionär". He first started under the name Juks and rapped mostly in English. He became successful through the groups Masters of Rap (M.O.R.) and Westberlin Maskulin.

In 2001, he and all of M.O.R. left former label Put Da Needle To Da Records, because of personal and artistic differences. They released a diss track against former label CEO Peter Sreckovic titled "Track gegen Peter" where Savas gave reason for his exit.

Beginning in 2002, he founded his own label, Optik Records, where he released his first solo album titled Der beste Tag meines Lebens, for which he won a Comet award. For the album, Savas worked together with several domestic and foreign musicians including Azad, Samy Deluxe, Kurupt, 40 Glocc, Dem Franchize Boyz, Lumidee, RZA, Moses Pelham, J-Luv, Bligg, Jadakiss, Royce da 5'9", Xavier Naidoo, Mobb Deep, Ying Yang Twins and Illmatic. The album sold over 90,000 copies worldwide.

With his record label, Savas tried to build up other artists. He discovered Eko Fresh and signed many upcoming artists such as DJ Nicon, Melbeatz, Ercandize, Caput, Amar, Sinan and Moe Mitchell.

In 2004, Savas released his first mixtape, "Kool Savas goes Hollywood" which was later made available as free online download.

Since early 2005, Savas has been supporting the efforts of his younger brother Sinan, his cousin Dimi and his brother-in-law Igor in their blooming rap careers.

In 2005, he released his mixtape titled "Die John Bello Story". It was the most successful mixtape in Europe in 2005 and also Savas' best to date at over 60,000 sold copies. In the same year he produced the album "One", together with Azad. The hit single "All 4 One" peaked at 4 in the German Top 100 Singles.

In 2006, Savas released the label sampler "Optik Takeover", a collaboration with several other artists signed to Optik Records. Also in 2006, he released an album with Optik Schweiz, the Swiss counterpart of Optik Records, titled "Wer Hatz Erfunden".

His second solo album, Tot oder Lebendig (eng. Dead or Alive), was released in 2007 and proved to be successful at 50,000 sold copies.

Savas released the sequel mixtape "Die John Bello Story 2" in 2008. He then went on to release an updated version labeled the "Brainwash Edition".

In 2009, he released the EP "Was hat S.A.V da vor" with the Hip Hop Magazine Juice. The same year saw the release of a collaboration album with Optik Russia which was called "New Russian Standard".

On March 12, 2010, Savas released "Die John Bello Story 3" which sold roughly 50,000 copies. The album featured fellow rappers Azad, Curse, Ying Yang Twins, Olli Banjo, Ercandize, Moe Mitchell, Amar, Franky Kubrick, Kaas, Mo Trip, Sinan, Tua, Vega, Kitty Kat, Laas Unltd. and more.

His 2011 album Aura included a single with the same name and a song featuring Xavier Naidoo, titled LMS 2012.

Controversy[link]

Eko Fresh[link]

In 2002 Eko Fresh and Savas began to dispute. Eko Fresh left the label and continued his career without his colleague. He released "Die Abrechnung", a song which spoke out against Kool Savas and other German rappers. Savas replied with "Das Urteil", which also became a hit song.

Discography[link]

• 2002: Der beste Tag meines Lebens
• 2004: Die besten Tage sind gezählt
• 2007: Tot oder Lebendig
• 2011: Aura

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kool Savas

• YouTube
• Official Homepage'
• Official Facebook Page'