What are the most accurate and well regarded English translations of major religious texts (the Christian bible and Qur'an in particular) for academic study.

by Sumbog

I was looking through the AskHistorians book list, and found a lot of great reads on the early Islamic and Christian churches. However I realised that I really didn't have a comprehensive understanding of these religions mythologies.

I wanted to know what versions of these text are typically used by English speaking historians. Additionally, texts with commentary by leading experts in the field would be welcome.

talondearg

Academics tend to default to the NRSV (New Revised Standard Version) for an English bible, but it is far from universal.

If a work involves a particular period of history where a bible translation version is relevant (usu King James), then quotations will generally go to that.

If it's academic work on biblical texts directly, authors tend to analyse the original languages and may or may not give their own translations.

edit: corrected 'far universal' to 'far from universal'.