re: "There has never been and will never be a true ecumenical Bible since different faith communities view the Word Of God and doctrines according to their own received understanding."
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That is so true! All this "translation" stuff falls right out the window for Jewish people, who look to their Rabbi to explain the various possible interpretations of the original Hebrew text.
I have just finished a Judaism class with a Hebrew speaking Rabbi, and I was quite amazed to learn that a LOT of the Torah (especially) can be interpreted in several different ways. It is NOT as though there is ONLY ONE correct translation at all, since the language is so different!
The Torah was written without vowels - and many of the words contained within it, can become other words, thus totally skewing the meaning!
In fact, Jewish people also have the Talmud, which explains the Torah (first 5 books of Old Testament) and it is composed of TWO AND A HALF MILLION WORDS! It is the LONGEST book ever written, and it is ONLY commentary, on the FIRST FIVE BOOKS of the Bible!!!
The Lord has given us a guidebook, but we must also use our minds to sort right from wrong.
See:
http://www.hti.umich.edu/r/rsv/
That's one of my favorite websites, an online switchable Bible!