oa [De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling en geestelijke zorgverlening: Een kritische evaluatie, The New Bible Translation (NBV) and Spiritual Care: A Critical Evaluation]

The synod of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands recently released the NBV for ‘testing’ in the parishes for a period of 5 years. Although religious practices can be identified in health care institutions due to the work official spiritual caregivers do, health care was not specifically mentioned as a testing ground for the reception of the NBV. Research indicated that spiritual caregivers working in the fields of general hospitals and nursing homes highly valued the NBV for its hermeneutical and communicative competencies (readability and ecumenical impact); make use of it in liturgical celebrations and their preparation for it, regard it as an adequate ‘tool’ in their work, but generally speaking do not use it for obtaining personal inspiration. The respondents do not regard the NBV as a replacement of existing translations and deal with it in a pragmatic way. Where it can serve a good purpose, it is used. Otherwise it is neglected.