I thought i read, somewhere, that its uncertain how many New Testament books Jerome translated.
We only have direct evidence for the gospels. Jerome claimed that he had “restored the New Testament to its Greek original” in his work
De viris illustribus (On Famous Men), but scholars are still debating whether we should take his claim at face value or whether he was merely exaggerating or expressing an intention that he never fully realized. Nowadays the general opinion seems to lean on the latter, considering a number of factors.
The thing is, when Jerome quotes from the Epistles in his other works he actually often provides a version that differs from the Vulgate text. (Sometimes he even seems to reject readings which are found in the Vulgate version of the epistles!) Jerome wrote commentaries for Galatians, Ephesians, Philemon and Titus, but he never attributes the Latin text he uses there to himself or referred to a translation that he would have made, but often uses the phrase
Latinus interpres of the translator and criticizes said translator on several occasions.
One thing that gives me doubt regarding the supposed “Damasene decree” (and the 73 book canon) from the Council of Rome, is the fact that Jerome did dispute the deutero books. If he was at the Council, and knowing he had such respect for the Bishop of Rome, why would he not have accepted/defended a Canon pronounced there?
St. Jerome’s dislike for the deuteros stems from his
Hebraica veritas mentality. He wasn’t very positive about the deuteros mainly because the Jews did not consider them Scripture, not to mention that many of them only existed in Greek. (He recognized that a few books like 1 Maccabees had a Semitic original, so it’s not like his problem was with the language; it’s more with their reception among the Jews.)
You can actually see a sort of evolution in Jerome’s thought as he was translating the Old Testament.
When he was translating Samuel-Kings (the very first OT books he translated) in 390, he still sort of held them in something close to disregard. He thought that the number of the protocanon was perfect: twenty-two books (five books of the Torah, Joshua, Judges-Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah-Lamentations, Ezekiel, the Twelve Prophets, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Daniel, Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther) equals the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. If you choose to count Lamentations and Ruth as separate books, that’s still okay, says Jerome, because twenty-four books equals the twenty-four elders that stand before the throne of God according to the Apocalypse.
Midway through his project, Jerome was now saying: “just as the Church also reads the books of Judith, Tobias, and the Maccabees, but does not receive them among the canonical Scriptures, so also one may read these two scrolls for the strengthening of the people, (but) not for confirming the authority of ecclesiastical dogmas.” He now held them as valuable reading, although not still quite ‘Scriptural’. ‘Inspirational’, but not ‘inspired’.
Finally, by the time he was working on Tobit and Judith (the last OT books he worked on) - this was somewhere around 405 to 407 - Jerome was essentially saying, okay fine, since the Church is now saying they’re inspired Scripture, they’re Scripture.
“But because this book [Judith] is found by the Nicene Council to have been counted among the number of the Sacred Scriptures, I have acquiesced to your request….” (
Prologue to Judith)
“For the studies of the Hebrews rebuke us and find fault with us, to translate this for the ears of Latins contrary to their * canon. But it is better to be judging the opinion of the Pharisees to displease and to be subject to the commands of bishops.” (
Prologue to Tobit)
Old habits sort of die hard, however, since one might say Jerome’s translation approach to Tobit and Judith was freer than the other books. Also, he never got around to translating the other deuteros. (I think he did the Greek bits of
Daniel and
Esther only because since he was already working on those books, he might as well get around to that.)*
St. Jerome was the proto-critical translator of the Bible!
