St. Jerome's translation

[Crumpy]

The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Old Testament Vol 1, Intervarsity Press, discusses Jerome and his “ideal” of the Hebrew text source for scripture. The early church fathers preferred the Septuagint, as that is the only version that they were familiar with. The editor (episcopal priest Thomas Oden) points out that even Jerome relied on the Septuagint for the Vulgate. He must have been influenced, as others have mentioned above, by his study among the rabbis.

He doesn’t really give the controversy more than passing mention, and that probably for its historical value. The modern texts are sensitive to both versions.

 

[patrick457]

I’m toying with the idea of doing more research on Jerome. The more I find out, the more interesting he becomes.

Some tidbit.

I’ve touched upon this for a bit above, but the reason why Jerome left Rome when Damasus died was because his enemies in the Roman church (the secular clergy, of whom he was severely critical) finally had a chance to speak against him, something they could not do when Damasus was still alive. In essence, Jerome was accused of being cruel and hypocritical.

Jerome was surrounded by a circle of well-born and well-educated women, including some from the noblest patrician families, such as the widows Lea, Marcella and Paula, with their daughters Blaesilla and Eustochium. When Jerome spoke against Blaesilla’s lifestyle of luxury and hedonism, the latter sought to adopt rigorous ascetic practices, but it took its toll on her health, eventually killing her after only four months. The Roman public were outraged at Jerome for causing Blaesilla’s death, and his opinion that the grief over Blaesilla’s death was excessive and that she should not be mourned was seen as rubbing salt to the wound. In addition, Jerome was accused of having a relationship with Paula; conshdering that he was big on self-denial and the condemnation of luxury, his close friendship with a scion of one of Rome’s wealthiest senatorial families was seen as an hypocritical act. Jerome denied the allegations that there was something going on between them in a private letter, although he does admit that she was the only woman who could “tame [his] mind.”

 

[ProVobis]

Great research, Patrick. Very interesting read as well.