Historical facts regarding translation of the Holy Scriptures

[LuigiColetta]

I wanted to ask an Apologist, but they are close for the weekend. Is anyone aware of the Historical facts about the translation of Holy Scriptures? Mainly, was there a translation, other than the greek, hebrew, and latin, of the Scriptures prior to Martin Luther’s translation and other subsequent translations like the first King James version? I have heard there were some existing translations even in English, but I need to have factual proof, (time of translation, version, author(s), etc.)

I just read an earlier post kinda answering the same question I pose, but the answer isn’t sufficient enough for what i need it for. Another related piece of information I need is the truth/lack of truth about prohibition in translating the Bible. (prohibition can be bad or good, depending on the circumstances. I don’t think the church would want just anybody to translate the Bible without some kind of charitable communion with the Bishops)

Thank you in advance if you are able to answer this question.

In the loving peace of the Lord,

your brother in Christ Jesus,

Luigi

 

[Pax]

THE 1st PRINTED BIBLE was the Gutenberg Bible printed in 1452 (i.e.the Latin Vulgate Catholic-bible with all 73 books). Over 200 copies printed in the 1st edition.
There were124 editions in the first 50 years, and all were sponsered by the catholic church. By the time Luther’s German New Testament appeared in 1522 there were 14 complete printed editions of the Catholic Bible in German. Parallel with this in time were 11 Italian translations, 10 French, 2 Bohemian, 1 Flemish, and 1 Russian.

1st complete Catholic ‘‘modern’’ english translation was the Douay Rheims NT 1582, OT 1610.

The English Language as we know it today did not emerge as a definite language until the 15th century.

King James version was first published in 1610. The seven dueterocanonical books were included at the back of the 1610 edition and there was a penalty of one year in prison if a KJV bible was printed without these books.

Reformation began in 1517

Wyclif’s was a pre-Ref.
Old English translation written around 1380.

Aelfric, Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury from 994 to1005, translated 1st seven books and the Book of Job into old English.
Between 721 and 901, various writers (i.e. Bede, Eadfrith, Alcuin, and King Alfred are believed to have translated parts or all of the bible into ‘‘Old English.’’

The name Vulgate means ‘‘disseminated’’ or people’s bible. The Latin Vulgate was translated by the Catholic monk, Jerome around the year 384.
The Catholic canon of scripture was settled at the Council of Hippo in A.D. 393. This is the identicle canon as that of the Council of Trent, 1546.

Luther rejected the 7 deuterocanonical books of the bible and also eliminated Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelaton from the NT, but later Protestants reinserted them.
Today the Catholic and Protestant NT books are identicle. Until 1873 the authorized version of the King James had the 7 books they call the apocrapha. Some new editions are restoring these books.

Prohibitions on translations of the bible were designed to pevent incompetant translators from creating bibles that contained errors. Even authorized versions would sometimes need correction. Wycliff wanted to translate the bible into English and was not authorized to do so because of his lack of competance, poor demeanor, and defiance of authority among other things. His translation proved the point of his critics.

 

[jaralenio]

Pax, is there a solid Catholic website in which we can retrieve the data you listed.

 

[Ghosty]

The Armenian Alphabet was created in 406 with the original intention of translating the Bible from Greek into the until-then unwritten language of Armenian. In fact, Armenian writings are some of the oldest translations of Greek and Latin works in existance, and are often used for comparison when modern translations are made.

 

[Todd_Easton]

I recommend The Right Rev. Henry G. Graham’s 1911 book, Where We Got The Bible: Our Debt to the Catholic Church. Here’s a link to an online version: geocities.com/militantis/biblecontents.html

The question of vernacular Scriptures is dealt with in Chapter Eleven, “Abundance of Vernacular Scriptures before Wycliff.”

 

[jaralenio]

Thanks for the web link Todd Easton!!