Pre-teen bible

ABEACHGIRL · #1 Aug 8, '12, 7:02 am

I am looking for suggestions for Bibles. My 11 year old daughter has been reading her children's Bible, but needs something more suited to her age. I do not think the Children's Bible is a Catholic one, but let her read it because I did not find anything that contradicted the church's teachings. However, now that she is older and ready to move on, she needs a Bible with an imprimatur. I have not been able to find any for this age group, and cannot believe that none exist. She is a very advanced reader (ninth grade level at beginning of fifth grade) but still only 11 years old and about to enter grade six. I think she could understand a teen Bible, but the ones I have seen do not seem to be actual Bibles. They all appear to be Bible stories, or Bibles with question & answer sections. I am looking for a regular Catholic Bible with language that a child of her age will be able to understand. If anyone can make a recommendation I would appreciate it. Thank you very much.

MaeganFlinchum · #2 Aug 8, '12, 9:02 am

OK first off the Protestant Bible is not going to contradict Church teaching. It is the same Bible, but the Protestants removed 7 books during the reformation, so no worries if she's reading it. I did some looking for you and you can order one from amazon. Just type Catholic teen Bible. It would be about 22-35 dolloars. Hope I helped! God Bless

**Joe 5859** · #3 Aug 8, '12, 9:07 am

Saint Mary's Press has a youth-oriented Bible which contains the full text of the Catholic Bible. I haven't looked through it myself to comment on how good the "extras" are, but it's somewhere to start.

maryjk · #4 Aug 8, '12, 9:48 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe 5859

Saint Mary's Press has a youth-oriented Bible which contains the full text of the Catholic Bible. I haven't looked through it myself to comment on how good the "extras" are, but it's somewhere to start.

I would be careful with St Mary's Press bibles. Although, I think the youth bible is okay.

Their Breakthrough Bible, is more of a story book than a bible.

Quote:

The Birth of Jesus Christ
(Luke 2:1–7)
18This was how the birth of Jesus Christ
took place. His mother Mary was engaged to
Joseph, but before they were married, she
found out that she was going to have a baby
by the Holy Spirit. 19Joseph was a man who
always did what was right, but he did not
want to disgrace Mary publicly; so he made
plans to break the engagement privately.

**Joe 5859** · #5 Aug 8, '12, 11:29 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by maryjk

I would be careful with St Mary's Press bibles. Although, I think the youth bible is okay.

Their Breakthrough Bible, is more of a story book than a bible.

I agree about being cautious. They're not my favorite Catholic publisher, but they seem to have a quasi-monopoly on all things "Catholic Youth." Although, now that I think of it, Fireside Catholic Publishing has a Youth Bible, too. Their youth Bible doesn't really integrate the youth material into the text as much as SMP does. It is really just the plain NAB text with mulit-page, colorful inserts every 60 pages or so.

If it were me, I would just go with the regular Bible and supplement with other Youth-oriented resources like the YOUCAT and Amy Welborn's Prove It! series. But it's hard for me to say since my kids aren't that old yet. I guess I'll see when the time comes.

josephback · #6 Aug 8, '12, 11:34 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaeganFlinchum

OK first off the Protestant Bible is not going to contradict Church teaching. It is the same Bible, but the Protestants removed 7 books during the reformation, so no worries if she's reading it. I did some looking for you and you can order one from amazon. Just type Catholic teen Bible. It would be about 22-35 dolloars. Hope I helped! God Bless

A Protestant Bible with study notes very well could! Protestantism is a mixture of truth and error - with far too much error.

tabhairt · #7 Aug 8, '12, 11:45 am

I find the Good News Catholic Edition quite good for simplifying difficult language. I am now 19 and trying to read more 'scholarly' translations, but if I am struggling with a section I feel that the Good News Edition is always good to fall back on.

tabhairt

**Joe 5859** · #8 Aug 8, '12, 12:02 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by josephback

A Protestant Bible with study notes very well could!

I agree.

A Protestant Children's Bible doesn't worry me that much. They're mostly a collection of the more well-known Bible stories written at a child's level with lots of pictures. It's hard to mess that up.

A Protestant adult translation doesn't (usually) worry me either. There might be a few areas of concern, but probably no more than many Catholic translations.

But a Protestant study Bible with lots of extra notes and explanations is almost certainly going to take some stances that depart from Catholic teaching (such as with the "brethren" of Jesus, etc.). If you're trying to teach your child other viewpoints, that could be fine, but it probably wouldn't be something I'd just hand an 11 year old without explanation.

ABEACHGIRL · #9 Aug 8, '12, 6:49 pm

I would never purchase a Protestant bible for the same reason I would not allow my child to go to a Protestant, rather than Catholic, Mass - they are not the same. I do not want a Bible with notes or any extras, just full-text . I had The Good News Bible when I was in elementary and high school and was thinking of going with that. I have found the language used in most Bibles to be either high or low so that children of this age are overlooked. It is quite sad actually. This is the time when many children need the guidance of Catholicism because they are seeking answers to life's questions.