Scholar Emphasizes New Testament's Jewish Roots

Article on the new Jewish Annotated New Testament

Focusing on the Jewish Story of the New Testament

"The book she has just edited with a Brandeis University professor, Marc Zvi Brettler, 'The Jewish Annotated New Testament' (Oxford University Press), is an unusual scholarly experiment: an edition of the Christian holy book edited entirely by Jews."

Volunteers Wanted to Transcribe Texts in Search of 'Lost Gospels'

"Thousands of volunteers are needed to help transcribe two million segments of ancient Greek writings in a bid to find the next 'lost gospel,' researchers at the University of Oxford said. Some 200,000 segments of the ancient papyri, found in Egypt, were uploaded to the website www.ancientlives.org -- and now volunteers are needed to transcribe the Greek letters using character-recognition tools."

Special Software For Analyzing the Biblical Text

"The new software analyzes style and word choices to distinguish parts of a single text written by different authors, and when applied to the Bible its algorithm teased out distinct writerly voices in the holy book."

A World Without the King James Version

"Where we would be without the most popular English Bible ever?"

Leading Atheist Publishes Secular Bible

"The question arose early in British academic A.C. Grayling’s career: What if those ancient compilers who’d made Bibles, the collected religious texts that were translated, edited, arranged and published en masse, had focused instead on assembling the non-religious teachings of civilization’s greatest thinkers?"

New NIV Bible Draws Critics of Gender-Neutral Language

"The 2011 translation of the New International Version Bible, or NIV, does not change pronouns referring to God, who remains 'He' and "the Father." But it does aim to avoid using 'he' or 'him' as the default reference to an unspecified person."

New Edition of the (Catholic) New American Bible

"The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has ordered up a new translation of the Bible, one it says is more accurate, more accessible and more poetic."

New Bible Drops Gender-Neutral Language of '05 Version

"Since its debut in 1978, the New International Version — known as the NIV — has been the Bible of choice for evangelicals, selling more copies than any other version. But a 2005 gender-inclusive edition bombed after being condemned as too liberal. Translators hope their latest edition, which debuted online this month, will avoid a similar fate."

Lost Bible-Era Languages to Be Resurrected by Computers?

"A new computer program has quickly deciphered a written language last used in Biblical times—possibly opening the door to 'resurrecting' ancient texts that are no longer understood, scientists announced last week."

Accidental Discovery Pieces Together Ancient Biblical Manuscript

"Two parts of an ancient biblical manuscript separated across centuries and continents were reunited for the first time in a joint display Friday, thanks to an accidental discovery that is helping illuminate a dark period in the history of the Hebrew Bible."

A New Online Project Seeks to Purge Liberal Views from the Scriptures

"The conservative online encyclopedia is hosting a project of amateur conservative readers that are putting together their own interpretation of the Bible, to counter what they say is liberal bias by scholars."

New Research Explores How Different Generations View and Use the Bible

"A new research report from the Barna Group examines recent nationwide studies on how different generations of American adults view and use the Bible. For the purposes of this research, the Mosaic generation refers to adults who are currently ages 18 to 25; Busters are those ages 26 to 44; Boomers are 45 to 63; and Elders are 64-plus."