Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 35:3 (Summer 2021)
Article: Book Review Surprising Steps In The Right Direction: A Review Of The 2020 Christian Standard Bible
Author: Jeff David Miller

PP 35:3 (Summer 2021) p. 26

Book Review
Surprising Steps In The Right Direction: A Review Of The 2020 Christian Standard Bible

Jeff Miller

Jeff Miller is editor of Priscilla Papers.

In 2017, Priscilla Papers reviewed the Christian Standard Bible (CSB), which is a revision of the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). The review concluded:

The CSB makes some improvements over its ancestor, the HCSB . . . in its translation of gender language. In contrast, the various texts which tend to form and bolster a person’s view of women in Christian leadership tend strongly toward complementarian views.1

Holman Bible Publishers, affiliated with Lifeway Christian Resources and with the Southern Baptist Convention, published the HCSB and, in 2017, the CSB. The CSB was itself revised in 2020. This article is a review of that 2020 revision.

I will focus on certain aspects of the 2020 CSB relevant to the nature and mission of Priscilla Papers. A fuller review could address various other considerations, such as its manuscript base, translation philosophy, and English style. Specifically, this review will point out a significant weakness as well as a surprising strength of the 2020 CSB.

A Significant Weakness

As stated above: In the CSB, “various texts which tend to form and bolster a person’s view of women in Christian leadership tend strongly toward complementarian views.” That 2017 review quoted twelve test-cases from the CSB; each of these remains unchanged in the 2020 revision.2 These twelve, and others as well, tend to facilitate complementarian interpretation. Consider these five examples:

The CSB describes Andronicus and Junia as “noteworthy in the eyes of the apostles”3 instead of “outstanding among the apostles” in Rom 16:7.

The CSB inverts the meaning of 1 Cor 11:16 by translating “such” with its opposite, “other”: “If anyone wants to argue about this, we have no other custom, nor do the churches of God.”

The CSB combines 1 Cor 14:33b and 34 into one sentence: “As in all the churches of the saints, 34 the women should be silent in the churches. . . .”

The CSB has a subheading between Eph 5:21 and 22, separating all Christians’ mutual submission i...