English Biblical Translations and Methods of Translation

ENGLISH BIBLICAL TRANSLATIONS AND METHODS OF TRANSLATION

Date Versions Translators Source(s)

800—1380 (1) English glosses in books such as the Lindisfarne Gospels. Anon. Latin Vulgate (2) Exodus, 50 Psalms, Acts. King Alfred (ruled 871-99) Latin Vulgate (3) Partial OT Aelfric of Eynsham and anon. others Latin Vulgate

1380, 1397 Complete OT & NT Nicholas of Hereford, John Purvey, and John Wyclif (1320?—1384) Latin Vulgate

1525, 1526 NT only William Tyndale (1494?—1536) Luther Bible & Greek NT

1535 Complete OT & NT Tyndale (Pentateuch, NT) Miles Coverdale (1488?—1569; Hebrew OT & rest of OT, Apocrypha) Tyndale’s NT

1537—1568 4 Complete OT and NT Various Protestant translators, Tyndale-Coverdale, each using the previous version etc. as its base.

1582 (Rheims) NT William Allen and Gregory Martin, Latin Vulgate 1609 (Douay) OT English Catholics in exile in France

1611 Authorized or King James Committee of Anglican scholars Hebrew OT, Greek NT, Version (AV/KJV) appointed by James I & earlier Protestant translations

1881 (NT) Revised Version (RV) Committee of Anglican scholars AV-KJV 1885 (OT) Hebrew OT, Greek NT

1901 American Standard Version (ASV) Am. advisory committee of RV AV-KJV, RV, & Hebrew OT, Greek NT

1917 Holy Scriptures According to Jewish Publication Society Hebrew OT the Masoretic Text of America

1952 Revised Standard Version (RSV) Am. Nat. Council of Churches AV-KJV, RV & 1973 Ecumenical RSV (ERSV) (approved by Catholic bishops) Hebrew OT, Greek NT 1989 New RSV (NRSV) (approved by Catholic bishops)

1961 (NT) New English Bible (NEB) Anglican & British/Irish Catholic Hebrew OT, Greek NT 1971 (OT, Apocrypha) churches

1966 Jerusalem Bible (JB) Alexander Jones and other Hebrew OT, Greek NT Catholic scholars

1970 New American Bible (NAB) Catholic Biblical Assn. of America Hebrew OT, Greek NT

1971 New ASV Evangelical churches ASV

1976 Good News or American Bible Society NEB & Today’s English Version Hebrew OT, Greek NT

1964ff. Anchor Yale Bible Individual scholars under Hebrew OT, Greek NT gen. ed. John J. Collins (before 2005, David Noel Freedman) (Also: Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, Reference Library, Commentary)

1978 New International Version New York Bible Society New ASV (Committee of 100 Evangelical scholars)

1985 New Jerusalem Bible Committee of Catholic scholars Hebrew OT, Greek NT, & JB

1985 Tanakh Jewish Publication Society Hebrew OT (collects prev. pub. Torah 1963, of America, under Chaim Potok Prophets 1978, and Writings 1982)

1989 Revised English Bible Anglican, British / Irish Catholic Hebrew OT, Greek NT, & NEB

2011 Jewish Annotated NT, NRSV Ed. Amy-Jill Levine & Mark NRSV with notes Zvi Brettler about Jewish aspects Of NT

METHODS OF BIBLICAL TRANSLATION

Formal equivalence: Word-for-word, phrase-for-phrase translation that stays as close as possible to the form of the original. Bibles using this method are more appropriate for serious Biblical study. Examples: Revised Standard Version (RSV), New Revised Standard version (NRSV), New American Bible (NAB), and New International Version (NIV). The earlier Authorized or King James Version (AV-KJV), on which the RSV is based, also used this method.

Dynamic equivalence: Meaning-for-meaning translation that stays close to the sense or ideas of the original, but not necessarily the form or wording of the original. Dynamic equivalence translations represent the Biblical text in a modern English that is aimed at easing the reader’s way through the text, although in doing so it often changes the word and phrase order of the original, so that the result sounds less lofty and less “Biblical” to the ears of people accustomed to Bibles using the formal equivalence method. For some readers, Bibles using this method feel more comfortable; but because these Bibles are not as close to the original texts as formal equivalence Bibles, they should be used only for personal, reflective reading, which in fact is their intention. Examples: Revised English Bible (REB), Good News Bible (also called Today’s English Version), and the New Jerusalem Bible.

SOURCES:

• Aland, K., M. Black, B. Metzger, and A. Wikren, eds., The Greek New Testament. New York: American Bible Society, 1966. • Binz, Stephen J. Introduction to the Bible. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2007. • Crystal, David. Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. • Gabel, John B., Charles B. Wheeler and Anthony D. York. The Bible as Literature. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. • Gottcent, John H. “The English Bible: A Brief History of Translation.” A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature. Ed. David Lyle Jeffrey. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992. • Hammond, Gerald. “English Translations of the Bible.” The Literary Guide to the Bible. Ed. Robert Alter and Frank Kermode. Cambridge, MA: Belknap /Harvard University Press, 1987. pp. 647-666. • Metzger, B. The Text of the New Testament. Trans. by P. Ackroyd. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963. p. 27. • Jackson, Samuel Macauley, ed. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. 13 vols. London/New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1908-14. Vol. 2, ed. Philip Schaff. See entry “Bible Text, III. Chapter and Verse Divisions,“ online at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc02.html?term=Bible%20Text

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