The Christian Standard Bible is an excellent Bible translation that fills the gap between the English Standard Version (ESV) and the New International Version (NIV) 2011. But it does need to be anglicised.
It was Adrian Reynolds (then at the Proclamation Trust and now at the FIEC) who first introduced me to the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). It was a new and original English translation and aimed to be faithful and clear to modern American readers. It was a joy to read in my personal devotions, but was also in places a bit quirky. I was a fan but not a devotee. In 2017 everything changed. LifeWay released their revised and improved version with a new name – the Christian Standard Bible. I bought a Reader’s Bible and read it through in 90 days. The quirks had gone and I was hooked.
Optimal
Firstly, it balances the translation philoso-phies of dynamic equivalence (NIV2011) and formal equivalence (ESV), calling this Optimal Equivalence. This makes the ver-sion highly readable for modern Western readers, yet at the same time great for study. I found this to be true as I read large chunks of Old Testament narrative which flowed beautifully. But I also appreciated the small-er details. Time after time I would pick up on differences in how the CSB translates familiar verses. But when I stopped and studied the changes I found them spot on. With Tom Schreiner (Professor of New Testament Interpretation at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) on the trans-lation committee, this is not surprising.
