The Perfect Anglican Bible? Review: ESV-CE

If you listen to this podcast you have no doubt heard scripture read from the ESV (English Standard Version) translation. There are essentially four reasons for that. 1) It’s my preferred translation 2) It’s the ACNA’s (Anglican Church of North America / Publisher of the BCP 2019) preferred translation 3) It is used throughout the BCP 2019 (which the podcast is loosely based on) and 4) It is well suited for liturgical use (being in the lineage of the KJV).

I want to start by saying that I love the ESV. While I’m not a translation snob or aficionado I must admit that the ESV speaks the language of my heart. It’s the one I’ve read through, memorize, teach from, and have been taught from. There is a multitude of great options for the ESV, you can find a bible that will fit almost any need. There are readers, preaching bibles, journaling bibles, wide margin bibles, compact bibles, premium bibles, and Thinlines. Crossway (publisher of the ESV) has done an amazing job of meeting the needs of the varied breadth of bible use. There has been one area though, that until recently has not been covered, the Apocrypha.

Most Protestants recognize the Canon of Scripture as being the 66 books that make up the Old and New Testament, but there are other OT books found in liturgical use by other traditions (Catholic, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, to name a few). These books generally are referred to as the Apocrypha (or Deuterocanonical books), they were included in the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Hebrew bible that was widely circulated and used in Christ’s day). I could go on and on about the pros and cons of including them into our bibles, and especially our liturgies but I will save it for another time. For the sake of this blog post, the Book of Common Prayer includes Apocryphal readings, and here is the reason why taken from the 39 Articles (the only official Anglican Statement of Faith).

And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine; such are these following:

The Third Book of Esdras, The rest of the Book of Esther,
The Fourth Book of Esdras, The Book of Wisdom,
The Book of Tobias, Jesus the Son of Sirach,
The Book of Judith, Baruch the Prophet,
The Song of the Three Children, The Prayer of Manasses,
The Story of Susanna, The First Book of Maccabees,
Of Bel and the Dragon, The Second Book of Maccabees.

Article VI. Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation.

So with all of that in mind, it’s great to have an option available that has the entire 66 canonical books as well as those that are needed occasionally for the Book of Common Prayer’s Morning and Evening Prayers. Enter the ESV-CE (or Catholic Edition). Evangelical friends, please do not be scared off by the words “Catholic Edition.” I assure you this version is the ESV 2016 with very minor (often grammatical) updates and the addition of the Apocryphal books that are used by the Catholic Church. (See the full list of updates here)

Ok, with all of that preliminary information out of the way on to the review.

This particular edition is created by the Augustine Institute. It is a Navy Premium Bonded Leather (not the greatest, but not the worst). It’s a black-letter text edition with two decent ribbons. It has great paper that was printed and bound in Italy and is only marginally bigger than an ESV Thinline. Now that I think about it, it is an ESV Thinline with Apocryphal books placed in their Catholic Canonical Order and additions to books like Esther and Daniel placed within the book itself and italicized. I have long been a fan of the ESV Thinline bible, in pretty much any edition they’ve put out. If you’ve ever used or loved the Thinline, then you will love this bible as well.

I’m a nerd about bibles, and I must admit that I like a Premium Edition. I think this bible has great potential as a rebind candidate. I made my first highlight and pen mark in it on Sunday while in Church and the paper took it pretty well. Since it is based on the same block as the ESV Thinline it also suffers from some of the same problems the Thinline has, mainly a lack of line matching (when text lines up on both pages so ghosting isn’t as noticeable). All that said it’s a great bible, and a great edition with the Apocrypha. If you’ve been looking for a nice edition to use daily for Morning and Evening Prayer I cannot commend this one enough. It’s available in a variety of bindings (Several Bonded Leather Covers, Hardbacks, and Paperbacks) so there should be something that works for everyone. If you are looking for a new edition of the bible that works with this podcast, or the daily office in general I think that you will enjoy this particular edition of the ESV-CE.

If you liked this review or would like more information please leave a comment below. I intend to fill this section with more Book Reviews, Bible Reviews, and Liturgical Tools to help all of my fellow pilgrims on the way.

Grace and Peace to You,

Michael