Harper San Francisco, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers has launched a new NRSV-centric website, NRSV.net.

A press release on the site states:

February 2007—HarperSanFrancisco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, is now the publishing home of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. The NRSV is widely recognized as one of the world’s finest translation of the scriptures available in English.
...
After many years of allowing various publishers to produce versions of the NRSV, the National Council of Churches of Christ recognized the need for a single lead publisher to direct the NRSV publishing program in a very competitive marketplace and selected HarperSanFrancisco to be the exclusive licensor of the NRSV. HarperSanFrancisco and the NCCC anticipate a new era of growth for the NRSV.

I have to admit this is a bit surprising. A year ago I would have predicted a continued fade out on the almost two-decade-old NRSV. I had confirmed from a source at a major Bible publisher a few months back that sales of the NRSV had fallen to near negligible numbers. But a number of new editions, such as the Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible, and the NRSV's continued use as the academic translation of choice in mostly non-Evangelical circles, have managed to keep the NRSV alive. The translation has not appeared on the CBA translation best seller list in a number of years, but CBA sales focus solely on member stores which don't always stock NRSV offerings.

In addition to the new website, Harper Collins has released new editions of the NRSV: the NRSV Standard Bible, the NRSV Go-Anywhere Bible, and a forthcoming NRSV XL Bible.

The website itself has a number of interesting features including a podcast page! Podcast #1 features a discussion by Walter Harrelson on the NRSV. There is also a page of endorsements with quite an eclectic mix from the likes of Richard Foster to Anne Rice (yes, that Ann Rice). Some of the endorsers, such as Marcus Borg, Dominic Crossan, and Bart Ehrman make this Evangelical feel a bit squeamish, but the NRSV publishers may no longer see Evangelicals as a market with potential (although there is a new NRSV advertisement in Christianity Today).

I don't use the NRSV as much as I used to. It was the recommended translation of choice when I was pursuing my M.Div in the early nineties at a then-less-conservative-than-now SBTS. I used it a good bit at that time. Conservatives tend to often look at the NRSV with suspicion, but in general, I find that to be unfair. Overall, I find the NRSV to be a fairly solid translation (even if I don't use it that much anymore) which had the late Bruce Metzger at its helm, and I tend to respect and trust Metzger quite a bit. The NRSV is certainly a more consistent and readable update to the RSV than the ESV (which in my opinion didn't go far enough). The Conservative/Evangelical Christian community did an about face on the NRSV at some point. My first copy of the translation was printed by the Southern Baptist Holman Bible Publishers, although they don't print any editions anymore. And one Saturday afternoon when I have some time, I'm going to go to the library and wade through the back issues of Christianity Today to find the launch ads that had quite a few Evangelical endorsements at the time of the NRSV's release. When I find it, I'll list their names here.

In the "I-can't-help-but-say-something" department: Since Harper Bibles and Zondervan are both imprints of Harper Collins, perhaps now the marketing department will focus on updating the extremely neglected TNIV.com which has not seen even a complete product listing update in over a year.

Tags: NRSV