Bibliology Session 18-Translation

Biblical Translations Elements of Bibliology 1.Revelation: From the mind of God to the Mind of the Human Author. 2.Inspiration: From the Mind of the Human Author to the Document. 3.Canonicity: Which Documents are, or are not from God? Is the Bible Complete? 4.Preservation: From the original Documents down through the centuries to the present. 5.Translation: From the languages of the original Documents to the language of the reader. 6.Interpretation & Illumination: From the Document to the mind of the reader. 7.Application / Animation: From the mind of the reader to the life of the reader. Goals Tonight I. Look at the Issues Facing Bible Translations II. Note the Evidence for Using Translations III. Survey the History of the English Bible Issue of Translation I. Translations are Necessary A. Because of the wide audience of the world B. Because of the dynamic nature of languages II. Yet every translation is subject to error A. Because of the nature of differences in languages. B. Because of human mistake and/or bias. III. So can we still say that we have God’s Word in our own language? We Can Use Translations I. Christ and the Apostles confidently used the Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. This observation gives us great confidence that YES a translation can still be the authoritative Word of God. A. Out of the 250 citations of the O.T. that are contained in the N.T. the vast majority of them come from the LXX. B. They exhorted others to use it (Col. 3:16; 2 Tim. 3:14-16). We Can Use Translations II. The Greek Septuagint is not in complete agreement with the Hebrew Masoretic text. A. Do these differences, which are present in any translation, mean that we can’t trust translations? B. The prolific use of the LXX by N.T. authors profoundly demonstrates that minor mistakes in translation do not harm the character of God’s Word. “The Word of God is a message and a body of truth that so thoroughly saturates the stories, poetry, preaching, and personal correspondence of Scripture that it simply cannot be destroyed by any faithful attempt to copy or translate it.” –“How Firm A Foundation” BJU Press Surveying the History of the English Bible I. Background in the Renaissance & Reformation II. First Attempts at Translation A. John Wycliff (1380-83) B. William Tyndale (1525) C. String of Editions & Translations (1535-1611) III. Modern Wealth of Translations Background of the English Bible: Dissatisfaction in Europe • The English Bible has a long, and fascinating history. Yet that history begins with a rising discontentment in Europe throughout the Middle Ages. • We will quickly list seven things that led to this growing discontentment. #1 The Renaissance - Largely the result of the Crusades, the “Renaisance” (Latin for “rebirth”) began with a rediscovery of Greek & Roman philosophers, artists, and historians, which led to a new fascination with knowledge & a dissatisfaction with Middle Age thought. #2 The Rise of the University - This new knowledge from the East came to the unlearned European masses, which then began to crave education. - Peter Abalard was one of the first clergyman who was paid to teach students, and they met at a ford in the river near London, known as “Oxford.” - As one historian put it, “at this point, Europe began to think!” From here forward the Universities became the laboratory for new ideas. #3 Corruption of the Catholic Church - The Catholic church began to exhibit extreme immorality & over indulgence throughout the Middle Ages. - In fact, from 1378-1417, two Popes ruled simultaneously, one in Rome and one in France. Both Popes excommunicated the other one. - Satire began to emerge written against the Catholic church like Dante’s “Inferno.” #4 The Poverty Movement - This corruption of the Church led many dissatisfied men to come out from the church claiming that the love of money was the root of this corruption. - These men made vows of poverty, and dedicated their lives to holiness. - One such group was called the “fratrum,” (Latin for “brothers”), later shortened to friars. #5 The Greek N.T. - The crusaders brought back Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, and there was a renewed study of Greek. - Discrepancies between the Greek & the Latin Vulgate began to be noticed. #6 Rise of Nationalism - National entities led by strong personalities began to form distinct identities, like France, Germany, England, & Bohemia. These countries did not like to take orders from an “Italian” Pope. - This growing sense of patriotism led to a dissatisfaction with their Italian roots. #7 Rise of Middle Class - As Vikings & Turks began to raid Europe throughout the Middle Ages, we saw the rise of castles, in order for a lord to protect his land. Farmers began look to receive protection from powerful lords, and work for them in return. Feudalism was born. - On the fief we begin to see tradesmen develop, and farming was no longer the sole means of sustaining one’s family. #7 Rise of Middle Class - So now you have educated, nationalistic tradesmen, who have some measure of wealth to carry out new ideas to which they had been exposed. - These men did not like hearing a fat monk tell them they needed to be taxed by the Roman Church. The Beginning of Reform This attitude of discontentment continued to entrench itself in Europe. Revolt or reform was inevitable. It is into this pile of kindling that great names such as Wycliff, Huss, Tyndale, Luther, Zwingly, & Calvin add a spark, which ignites into the raging blaze of the reformation. Recommended resources as easy reads would be “Christian History Magazine,” & “Church History in Plain Language." John Wycliff - John Wycliff was an Oxford professor (1330-1384). - He held that there are inalterable divine laws that even kings are judged by (e.g. Lex Rex, vs. Rex Lex). His ideas form the basis of the U.S. Constitution. - He was one of the first to lift up the Bible as the judging element for all truth, not the papacy, and spoke against issues like transubstantiation. John Wycliff - The Pope excommunicated Wycliff, but England was nationalistic enough, that they let him live, & allowed him to keep teaching. - Before his death he translated the N.T. into English from the Vulgate, and He took a group of college students, taught them, and sent them out to teach, (a.k.a. Lollards, “mumblers”). - Wycliff died before the Catholics could kill him. The Church actually dug up his body decades after his death & burned it at the stake because he was deemed a heretic. William Tyndale William Tyndale was born somewhere around 1493-95. He became a brilliant man who mastered seven langueges ranging from English to Latin, to Greek and Hebrew. Around 1512, Tyndale went as a student to Magdalen College at Oxford. At some point after gaining his M.A. in 1515, he moved to Cambridge University for a time, where he most likely became Protestant. At a later date he expressed his dissatisfaction with the teaching of theology at the universities: “In the universities they have ordained that no man shall look on the Scripture until he be nozzled in heathen learning eight or nine years, and armed with false principles with which he is clean shut out of the understanding of the Scripture.” William Tyndale Tyndale began to clearly feel the call to translate the Bible into English and distribute it. At this time the only English translation available was the hand-copied Wycliffe Bible, which was distributed by the Lollards. But this had never been printed. Furthermore, it was inaccurate in many ways, having been translated only from the Latin Vulgate, rather than from the original Greek and Hebrew. Additionally, because of the perceived threat of the Lollards, the Church had in 1408 banned translation of the Bible into English. William Tyndale So in 1524 he sailed for Germany, never to see England again. In Hamburg he worked on the New Testament, which was ready for the press by the following year. A suitable printer was found in Cologne, and the pages began to roll off the press. But one of Tyndale’s assistants spoke too freely over his wine, and news of the project came to the ears of Johann Dobneck, a leading opponent of the Reformation. He arranged for a raid on the press, but Tyndale had been warned—just in time, and fled with the pages thus far printed. Only one copy of this incomplete edition survives. William Tyndale Tyndale moved to Worms, a more reform-minded city, where the first complete New Testament printed in English was published the following year. Of the 6,000 copies printed, only two have survived. Yet this scarcity is easily explained. As more and more of the small testaments trickled into England, the bishops there did all they could to eradicate them. The following year William Warham, the archbishop of Canterbury, had the ingenious idea of himself buying up copies of the New Testament in order to get them off the market and then destroy them. Unbeknownst to him, the substantial monies he paid simply provided Tyndale with funding to produce a better, more-numerous second edition! William Tyndale Tyndale translated directly from the Greek and Hebrew, with occasional reference to the Latin Vulgate and Luther’s German translation. His style is homely and intended for the ordinary man, in keeping with his original aim to make the Bible widely accessible. In this extract from the 1526 edition (Romans 12:1–2), the original spelling has been retained. The foretaste of English translations for centuries to come is obvious: “I beseeche you therefore brethren by the mercifulness of God, that ye make youre bodyes a quicke sacrifise, holy and acceptable unto God which is youre resonable servynge off God. And fassion note youre selves lyke unto this worlde. But be ye chaunged [in youre shape] by the renuynge of youre wittes that ye may fele what thynge that good, that aceptable and perfaicte will of God is.” William Tyndale Tyndale planned to complete the translation of the Old Testament. In 1534 he attained a position of greater apparent security. He took up residence with the English merchants of Antwerp. But his newfound security proved to be an illusion. In May of 1535 he was betrayed by a fellow Englishman named Henry Phillips. This man gradually befriended Tyndale, then induced Tyndale to venture onto the streets of Antwerp with him. There, Phillips signaled soldiers who ambushed Tyndale and seized him while he was walking down a narrow passage. After a year-and-a-half of confinement, Tyndale was strangled, then burnt at the stake in Brussels on October 6, 1536. His last words, reportedly, were “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes!” Tyndale’s Legacy Many of the translational choices of Tyndale not only reflected his protestant theology, but also set a precedent for future translations. Where the Vulgate translated “priest,” Tyndale translated “elder.” Where the Vulgate translated “church,” Tyndale said, “congregation.” Where the Vulgate said, “do penance,” Tyndale translates “repent.” Tyndale’s Legacy Tyndale can justly be called “the father of the English Bible.” It would not be much of an exaggeration to say that almost every English New Testament until recently was merely a revision of Tyndale’s. Some 90 percent of his words passed into the King James Version, and about 75 percent of them into the Revised Standard Version. String of Editions & Translations First, the strong English nationalism under Henry 8th, then the subsequent rise of Protestantism in England led to a flurry of new English editions & translations for the next 80 years after Tyndale. Henry the 8th was originally resistant to Tyndale’s translation, but later approved the Coverdale Bible, and even authorized other versions. 1. Coverdale Bible (1535) was actually published while Tyndale was still in prison, and was largely based on Tyndale’s work. Miles Coverdale finished the translation of the O.T. largely leaning on Luther’s German O.T. 2. Matthews Bible (Rogers Bible)(1537) was a pseudonym for John Rogers. This translation was approved by Henry the 8th because he had already broken with the Catholic church at this time, and wanted a new Bible for Anglicanism. 3. Great Bible (1539) was actually the first “authorized” Bible because Henry the 8th actually commissioned its translation, & made it England’s official translation. Henry ultimately ordered other versions destroyed. 4. Geneva Bible (1560) was produced in Geneva Switzerland underneath the supervision of John Calvin, and became probably the best translation to this point. These translators added expositional & applicational notes, thus becoming essentially the 1st study Bible. This was the Bible of the Pilgrims. 5. Bishops Bible (1568) was authorized under Queen Elizabeth I. She commissioned this Bible to update the Great Bible, and compete with the Geneva Bible, but to remove the notes, which they believed to be too highly Calvinistic, and anti-Monarchial. This is the first translation that used a committee to translate. 6. King James Bible (1611) was authorized by King James I, who originally intended it to be a revision of the Bishops Bible, but the translators decided to start over and create a new translation. This translation became the standard for several centuries. Goals Next Week I. Survey of Modern Translations II. Survey of Modern Translation Debate