Contrary to a widely spread misunderstanding, the name does not mean that a common translation of the Bible by the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches should be created.
Linguists and experts in liturgy, catechetics, didactics, educational media, and sacred music worked with the theologians to secure the comprehensive usability.
The comprehensive introductions to the individual biblical books which include historical Bible criticism, as well as the numerous explanations of the text, contribute to the understandability and wide application potential.
The objective of the Second Vatican Council was to produce a "suitable and correct" translation of the Bible "especially from the original texts of the sacred books".
A conflict between the Roman Catholic church and the Protestant side arose during the work which resulted in the EKD terminating the 1970 contract in 2005.
The chairman of the Bishops' Conference at the time, Karl Lehmann, spoke of a "considerable burden" for the ecumenism and suddenly put the blame on the EKD representatives without clarification.
The EKD also regretted the development, but explained that it "made every imaginable effort to avoid the current result" [6] The revised standard version became available in December 2016.