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February 15, 2018

Different printed Bibles

The early bibles had to be copied by hand in manuscript form, since there was no printing press until the 15th century.  The classic Bible of the middle ages was the 4th century Latin Vulgate translation of St. Jerome.  The first book ever printed in the 15th century was the Latin Bible.  In the 16th century, the various translations began to appear, the most famous being the German New Testament translation of Martin Luther.  The English, under King James I (1603-1625) decided to set up a committee to translate the Bible into Elizabethan English.  They finished their task in 1611.  The King James Bible became the only authorized Bible in the English language and has dominated the American religious scene, because of its use among the American Puritans.  The Roman Catholics produced an English Douay-Rheims translation of the Bible in France about the same, in 1609-1610.

 

February 13, 2018

How to read the Bible

Be a faithful reader, regularly and with the eyes of faith.  Be an active reader, intelligently and critically.  Put the texts in context, read from a tradition and a believing community.  Read the Bible as a whole, not isolating passages.  Understand the background of each book.  Try to understand the consensus opinion about texts.  Appreciate the major themes and narratives.  Be open to God and his word.  Be aware of the continuity and discontinuity.  Try to translate the Bible to your life situations

February 8, 2018

The canonization of the New Testament in the fourth century

In his Easter letter of 367 CE, Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria, gave a list of the books that would become the 27 book New Testament canon.  He actually used the word canonized, (κανονιζόμενα).  The first council that accepted the present canon of the New Testament may have been the Synod of Hippo Regius in North Africa in 393 CE.  In 397 CE and 419 CE, the Councils of Carthage, also in North Africa, accepted this canonical 27 number of books.  These North African councils were under the authority of St. Augustine (354-430 CE), who regarded the canon as already closed.  Pope Damasus I (366-384 CE) in the Council of Rome in 382 CE, issued the same biblical canon.  This same Pope Damasus I commissioned St. Jerome (347-420 CE) to translate and produce the Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible around 383 CE.  Thus, the fixation of the canon in the West was complete at the end of the 4th century CE.