Translating God’s Word – Four Factors Leading To the Rebirth of Translating the Bible

In the previous post we saw that due to a number of factors, the practice of translating the Bible from Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek into the local languages virtually ceased in the West. Furthermore, as we saw in that post, the Western Church even began to oppose and forbid translating the Bible, insisting that the Vulgate was the only version of the Scriptures needed. However, beginning in the late middle ages four key factors prepared the way for a rebirth of translating the Bible into local languages.

First, the Renaissance, which began in the 1200s and lasted until roughly the early 1500s, led to a rebirth of a desire to read ancient sources. One of the cries of the Renaissance was “ad fonts”, a Latin phrase meaning “to the source.” Rather than reading commentaries on commentaries of works, the Renaissance led to a desire of wanting to read the original texts themselves. Furthermore, scholars wanted to read them in the original language if possible. 

Second, the fall of Constantinople in 1453 brought the Eastern Roman Empire (usually known as the Byzantine Empire) to an end. As this happened, people fled from the East to the West, bringing knowledge of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek with them. They also brought ancient biblical texts in the original languages with them as well. Thus, for the first time in many centuries, scholars in the West had access to the Bible in its original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek – and the knowledge of those languages!

Third, around 1440 Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable-type printing press. This meant that books could be mass-produced quickly, cheaply, and accurately. Combined with the new access to the Bible in its original languages, this meant that copies of Greek texts of the New Testament could be produced and distributed to scholars. This was done most notably by Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, usually known simply as Erasmus. Although a few earlier scholars had produced Greek texts of the New Testament, it was the version done by Erasmus that became dominant. This was first published in 1516 and is one of the most important milestones in the history of the Bible.

Finally, the Protestant Reformation used these three previous factors to produce an explosion of Bible translations. The Reformation recovered the Biblical and early Church belief and practice of giving the Scriptures in the languages of the people. It recovered the Biblical idea that the Word of God was not to be reserved for scholars and clergy but was rather given to all the people of God.

Next time we will look at a few key Bible translations from the period of the Reformation.

In Christ,

Bret