The Bible is a collection of stories, teachings, literature, and religious scriptures that are considered spiritual and sacred for Christians and Jews. It is a holy collection and compilation of the divine teachings of Lord Jesus.
However, the Bible has evolved and has undergone variations due to the discrepancies of different groups and Christianity followers. Catholic Bible and the New International Version are the two among the few versions of the Bible.
Catholic Bible vs NIV
The main difference between the Catholic Bible and NIV is that the Catholic Bible includes all the 73 books recognized by the Catholic church. In contrast, the NIV Bible is a version of the Bible translated in English and published in 1978. The Catholic Bible is believed to be written by Apostle. A group of Bible scholars translated the NIV.
Catholic Bible is the Holy book of the Christians and the actual Christian Bible. It comprises 46 books of Old and 27 books of the New Testament and the Vulgate. Both the Septuagint and the Hebrew scriptures are included in it. More than one hundred scholars, who were the best in Hebrew, Greek, and Armaniac scriptures and texts, joined hands together to formulate the original Bible.
The formation of the NIV Bible was initiated by Howard Long, a follower of King James. He felt the urging need to prepare a version or translation of the Bible that reflected his thoughts. It was translated by the committee on biblical translation that comprised fifteen biblical scholars.
Comparison Table Between Catholic Bible and NIV
| Parameters Of Comparison | Catholic Bible | NIV |
| Definition | Catholic Bible is the basic, original, and official version of the Bible accepted by the church. | NIV is the English translated version of the Catholic Bible done by Scholars under the leadership of Howard Long. |
| Number of books | A Catholic Bible consists of the whole 73-book canon recognized and accepted by the Catholic Church, inclusive of the deuterocanonical books. | NIV Bible has 39 books in the old testament and in the new testament it has 27 books. |
| Apocrypha | Catholic Bible includes the Apocrypha. | NIV Bibles don’t include the Apocrypha. |
| Year of publications | The newest version of the Catholic Bible was published in 2007 following the initial version in 1996 by the Catholic Truth Society. | NIV Bible was published by the formerly known as the international bible society ( Biblica ) in the year of 1973. |
| Languages | It is prevalent in biblical languages like Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. | It is the English translated version of the original Bible. |
What is Catholic Bible?
Catholic Bible comprises the complete 73 – book canon that the church accepts. It includes both the old testament and the new testament that are collectively referred to as deuterocanonical. The term deuterocanonical was coined to refer to the presence and coexistence of the old testament and the new testament. The greek Septuagint collection is included in the old testament.
During the period of Jesus Christ, both the Hebrew scriptures and the Septuagint were in use. The apostles used Septuagint. The new testament books do not include the Hebrew scriptures and consist only of the Septuagint. The Catholic Bible is inclusive of the Vulgate, which is the Latin church’s official translated Bible. In the old testament, the number of books present is 46, and in the new testament, the number of books present is 27.
The Catholic Bible strictly includes only the texts and scriptures that agree with and are per the canon law. The primary factor that differentiates the catholic Bibles and the other bibles are the numbers of books and the order. The Catholic Bibles didn’t undergo any changes during the reformation period and retained all its original content.
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What is NIV?
Howard Long, an engineer who worked in Seattle under General Electric, was the first person to initiate the NIV Bible formation. Being an arduous follower and devotee of King James, he was fascinated and intrigued by King James’s thoughts and teachings. Initially, no one shared his interests and did not understand his ideas.
Later more than a hundred skilled and talented scholars were carefully picked from the different scriptures to formulate the original Bible. Then it was translated to form the NIV Bible. The very first initiative to begin the translation started in Palos Heights, Illinois, where Howard Long and his slowly acquired group of like-minded people met. Fifteen Biblical scholars together led to the formation of the committee of Bible translation a, self-governing body. They were assigned the task of translating the original version of the Bible into the English language.
However, the publication was under the sponsorship of the Biblica. Due to the burgeoning theories and discoveries in the biblical world and the evolving new rules in using the English language, there are many updated versions of the NIV. The council sincerely commits to providing freshly brewed content by meeting every year to review, edit and add the discoveries.
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Main Differences Between Catholic Bible and NIV
- Catholic Bible was formulated by a hundred and more scholars. NIV Bible evolved with the ideas of Howard Long and his followers.
- The Catholic Bible consists of 73 books, including the Vulgate, the old testament, and the new testament. While the NIV contains only 66 books.
- Apocrypha is included in the Catholic Bible. It is excluded in the NIV bible.
- Catholic Bible is an original version containing both the Hebrew and the Septuagint scriptures. NIV Bible is an English-translated version.
- Catholic Bibles retains any changes and remains unchanged. The NIV Bible is continuously updated and edited almost every year by the committee to fulfill their motto of providing updated and accurate content. However, they may change from time to time.
Conclusion
Though there are different types and versions of the Bible, they root back to have the same origins. The discrepancies among other groups, the difference in thoughts, ideas, and theories led to the formation of different versions of the Bible that suited the group and their beliefs more precisely.
Being the most prominent religion practiced throughout the world, Christianity is followed by more than two billion people. The vast expanse of the religion has led to many differences among them that urged a need to create different versions of the Bible that would be well suited for the people of a specific region, culture, and habits.
References
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=DX7O38l4bfsC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=catholic+bible&ots=MI8MgDmK4U&sig=p3OxWr186xtk039Sv6h4TU3PatI
Last update on 2022-04-03 / Amazon Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API