I wonder if you could give me any idea if you have any plans to release a Mantis edition of "The Orthodox Study Bible" (Conciliar Press) or of "The New English Translation of the Septuagint" (Oxford University Press).

Olive Tree Software have a version of The New English Translation of the Septuagint" for other mobile devices, and I'm sure they'll be converting it and adding it to their iPhone range at some point. As for "The Orthodox Study Bible", there is already a Kindle version, and when the Kindle App comes to iTunes in the UK, I guess I could get it that way.

But I would prefer to stick with Mantis, as I like the software, and have purchased a number of volumes, which all work well together.

There are millions of Orthodox Christians out there, so I think there would probably be a market for both of these books. Additionally, the Septuagint is also of interest to a wide range of people of all faiths. The new edition has been much heralded.

I hope you can help

Thanks

Martin :)

Thanks for the suggestions. It's a good idea to send an email to our support department for stuff like this, and include as much info as you can. (You already have a lot of good information here.) We'll definitely look into these.

Do I still need to contact your support department, or can you look into it?

What I can tell you is that English-speaking Orthodox Christians have never had a good bible translation which meets all their needs. The Orthodox Study Bible (OSB) was a good attempt, but is essentially the New Testament of the NJKV, to which has been appended a "modification" of the Old Testament of the NKJV, to bring some of it's texts in line with The Septuagint, and with the addition of the Books which are only found in Orthodox Bibles (i.e the complete canon of the Septuagint). On top of all that, the book was put together with some Orthodox study notes, and aids of various kinds, as well as a lectionary, and maps. It has had a slightly mixed reception, but is widely used by many parishes. But, in the absence of a really good translation that meets Orthodox needs, many/most parishes still use the King James Version. It's not that they like the old language, as much as the fact that the bible is not an "eclectic" bible. It's not an obsession, and many also like to use the RSV or NRSV for their private use.

The great situation with "The New English Translation of the Septuagint"(often just called NETS - not to be confused with the NET bible, which you already sell) is that it is highly thought of by pretty well everyone, regardless of their faith. If there was a really good New Testament to go with it, Orthodox would be in 7th heaven! :)

But having the OSB, and NETS on Mantis would be a REAL step forward.

Just for info, the basics to a good Orthodox Bible are:

a) a good Septuagint translation for the Old Testament (which, as a result would include many extra books - just as you find in the Mantis versions of the RSV and NRSV - but fully integrated)

and b) a scholarly fresh New Testament translation based on the Byzantine text, rather than an eclectic text. The definitive, "official" Orthodox New Testament Greek Text is called the "Majority Text". The overall view seems to be that so far, no truly satisfactory English translation of this text exists. There are Orthodox New Testament translations filtering through,but none has gained universal approval. Apparently, the difficulty is in translating things like "action" words, which I don't understand, but apparently make it a hard job hard to translate into smooth-flowing English. Sometimes you hear Orthodox say that the only option is to learn Greek! I'm afraid you'll have to count me out on that one! :)

But, to get back to original request, NETS is considered good by pretty well everyone, Orthodox or not. As a full bible, the OSB is considered to be a "decent stab at it" and the added commentary etc is useful. From a commercial point of view, I think that whatever uncertain feelings some people may have about the OSB, it still has the Septuagint in it, plus the commentary, and they'd snap it up if they were a Mantis user, and may even start using the Mantis system simply in order to have the OSB, and NETS to hand.

As a final note, and this is no criticism, most of the products you have available have a somewhat protestant/evangelical bias. This is fine, as people need choice, but it does mean that you don't really have things such as a wide range of commentaries which would suit someone like me. By that, I don't mean "Orthodox" commentaries, but simply ones that are considered more "neutral". I have the following on my iPhone at the moment - KJV with Apocrypha, RSV, NRSV, Naves, and Vine's Expository.

Oh - one extra final note! How about some Gospel parallels etc. Just thought I'd complicate things!

I'm sorry to have gone on rather, but I hope some of my added notes may be helpful.

Many thanks

Martin :)

Just re-read my last post. I seem to to have rambled on, and on and on. :w00t:

Must have become overcome with enthusiasm!

Sorry about that. :blush:



Martin :)

No problem. You've got some great information, and we're thankful for it.

PHEW!

Martin :)

Just thought I'd better correct something I wrote in an earlier post. I said that the "Official" Orthodox Greek New Testament was "The Majority Text". This was incorrect. The "official" Orthodox Greek New Testament is the ecclesiastical text published in 1904 by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and known as "The Patriarchal Text". Like the the Majority Text and Textus Receptus it differs from the text that is used in most modern bibles, in that it is not an eclectic text based on a variety of different sources, including the text discoveries of the last century, and requiring judgements about their relative merits. The RSV, NRSV etc are all of this nature. The NRSV is a great bible, but its just a different approach. In Orthodoxy, the fact that the church has accepted the same text(the Patriarchal Text) unchanged in its entirety, since (I think) about 400CE gives it an authority of a different nature. I'm not pushing the merits of that view, but I simply mention it to explain how it comes to be that the Orthodox approach is slightly different, and why there is a sparsity of good modern English translations which are based on that very old text, as modern bibles have all taken the "eclectic text" route.

Hope I haven't muddied matters further. If Mantis were to commission a completely fresh, and scholarly translation of the Patriarchal Text, and combine it was the NETS Septuagint, you'd completely clean up! :)

Thanks for your patience

Martin

Sorry to keep adding, but I just noticed that the main publishers of "The Orthodox Study Bible" are Thomas Nelson publishers. Sorry for the confusion. It may also make things easier for you if the title is of interest to you.

Thanks again,

Martin :)

That does make it easier, as we have a good relationship with Thomas Nelson.

I though it might - I saw it in another thread!

So that's the OSP from Nelson's and the NETS from Oxford. What could be simpler? :laugh:

Thanks again, Martin