From the "Revised Version" to the "Revised Standard Version"

The History of the Revised Standard Version

The Revised Version was designed to replace the King James, but it soon ran into trouble. One of its main deficiencies are the many differences between the RSV and the King James Version.

There were hundreds of changes made in the RSV, which did not correspond either to the Textus Receptus (Greek) or to the King James Version.

[Source for this statement: 1. The Revision Revised by John William Burgon (Dean Burgon)/560 Excellent pages and 2. Which Version by Philip Munro]. We offer both books for sale.

The American version of the RSV became the ASV, the 1901 American Standard Version. This effort was largely headed by Philip Schaff, who was President of Union Theological Seminary. [The ASV essentially is the RSV with a very few minor cosmetic changes. Its descendant today is the NASB].

In anycase, the history of the Revised Version does not end with the Original RV which was produced in 1881.

The Revised Version of Westcott & Hort apparently had not made enough changes. It was not liberal enough. Consequently, it was

revised and became today's RSV.

There was a translation committee appointed to the task. Those who undertook this revision were 9 men who "improved" the Revised Version with their translation committee. These men worked to issue their "better" translation, yet they rejected the message of the Bible and the message of Salvation through the death & resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This translation committee issued the entire Revised Standard Version in 1952 (Though the New Testament was published in the U.S. in 1946). These were the 9 translators (We have also posted their main affiliation):

Walter Russel Bowie - Union Theological Seminary

Millar Burrows           - Yale University

Henry J. Cadbury      - Harvard University

Clarence T. Craig      - Oberlin Graduate School of Theology

Edgar J. Godspeed   - University of Chicago

Frederick C. Grant    - Union Theological Seminary

James Moffat           - Union Theological Seminary (Moffat died in 1944)

Luther A. Weigle      - Yale Divinity School (Weigle was its dean)

Abdel Ross Wentz   - Lutheran Theological Seminary

There is no doubt that these scholars gave themselves good publicity by publishing the RSV which was based on the Corrupt texts of Westcott & Hort. However, by traditional Christian standards of Biblical Christianity, these translators did not believe in the message of the Bible or the need to personally accept Jesus Christ. These men are not considered Christians.