In Discordance with the Scriptures, by Peter J. Thuesen

The versions of the Bible we choose to carry, display and read are good indices of who we are. Peter Thuesen presents a history of the creation of a translation that became a kind of badge for many, the Revised Standard Version. He explores the controversy that attended its publication and the aftermath of that controversy. He analyzes the attempts of the men who produced the RSV to respond to the criticisms it engendered, and the efforts of some conservative Protestants to create an alternative to it--efforts that eventually led to the publication of the New International Version.

In the hands of a mediocre scholar an analysis of these events might have been of merely antiquarian interest. But because Thuesen, a lecturer at Yale Divinity School and one of the editors of The Works of Jonathan Edwards, is an unusually creative and intelligent scholar who writes vividly and gracefully, his book will appeal to a wide audience.

The movement to create what eventually became the RSV began in 1930. In 1946, the RSV New Testament appeared, and a translation of the complete biblical text was released in 1952. This release was accompanied by a good deal of fanfare. One ad for the book proclaimed that its appearance was the "Greatest Bible News in 341 Years."