A History
The Bible in English

 Old Testament: 39 books, written in Hebrew
 New Testament: 27 books, written in early Greek
 Apocrypha: 14 books, Greek translations of Hebrew
 Roman Catholic Bible = 77 books, contains 11 from
Apocrypha
 Protestant Bible = 66 books, does not include
Apocrypha
The Bible in English

 David Daniell: “The history of the Bible is a story of
translation.”
 Christians, among the major world religions, are the
only followers of faith who know their central book
only through translation.
The Latin Vulgate

 Translated to Latin by St. Jerome beginning around
376 A.D.
 This was standard European Bible from 400 through
1530 A.D.
 Official stance of Roman Catholic Church: Common
people are not capable of understanding so complex
a text as the Bible
Pre 850 A.D.

Early Biblical Translation in
Anglo-Saxon England
The Ruthwell Cross

 8th century cross
located in
Northumbria (Now
Scotland)
 Possibly the oldest
surviving text in
Old English
 Contains scriptural
elements as well as
text from “Dream of
the Rood.”
Lindisfarne Gospels

 Completed A.D. 698
by Bishop Eadfrith
 Finest example of
Anglo-Saxon
illuminated
manuscript.
 When Vikings
invaded in 875,
accompanied the
body of St. Cuthbert
in 7 year journey
 Book survived
shipwreck
The Venerable Bede

 Primarily known as a
historian, his most
famous work is An
Ecclisiastical History of
the English People,
A.D. 731
 Translated biblical
verse to Old English
and provided early
commentary of
Christianity
Anglo-Saxon Biblical
Texts
850 A.D. – 1066 A.D.

• No complete version of Bible completed in Old English
• Gospels, Psalms, and assorted Old Testament books translated
usually as glosses between lines of Latin texts
AElfric

 Abbot of Cerne in
Dorset, @98 - 1010 A.D.
 Produced first
vernacular translation
of the first six books of
Old Testament into Old
English, the Hexateuch
The Exeter Book

 Traceable to 1050, a gift
of Leofric, Bishop of
Exeter
 One of four surviving
Anglo-Saxon codices
 This the largest,
consisting of 161 pages
 Early version of Lord’s
Prayer appears here
The Vercelli Book

 This 10th century
parchment contains 23
Christian homilies
interspersed with six
poems
 “Dream of the Rood” is
one of these
 Also includes “Fates of
the Apostles” and
reflections on “Soul and
Body”
Norman England
1066-1350

•
•
•
•
•
During Norman period, language of government was French while
language of church was Latin
English was pushed to the hinterlands and the peasantry
For 250 years, there are no attempts to translate Bible into English
By the time translation begins again, Anglo-Saxon is a forgotten
language.
Biblical Translation into English must begin again from start.
Pre-Printing
1350 - 1476

• Printing press invented in 1440 by Gutenberg
• By 1476, William Caxton had opened his press in London
• Nonetheless, in the preceding 100 years, the first hand-copied
translations of the Bible began appearing in English
Thomas Wyclif
(1320-1384)

 Early dissident of Roman Catholic Church:
 Believed in worship in the common language
 Early proponent of “Divinity by grace” (personal
acquiescence to God’s law, not canonical, or man’s
law)
 Renounced doctrine of Transubstantiation
Wyclif’s Bibles

 Translated Roman Vulgate by hand; his followers,
who became known as Lollards, copied and spread
the translation copiously
 Over 250 Lollard manuscript copies survive: 20
versions of the whole Bible; 90 versions of the New
Testament
 In 1411 Thomas Arundel, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, declared the reading of scripture in any
language but Latin a heresy (De heretico comburendo)
and declared that making holy text legible to the
common class was “casting pearls before swine.”
The Lollards

 Believed the Roman Catholic Church had become corrupt, so
turned to personal interpretation of scripture as a direct relation
to God
 As movement grew, it took on broader concerns both social and
theological
 The Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards was posted on the
doors of Westminster hall in Feb. 1395 and included social
criticisms of clergy garnering personal wealth and church
meddling in politics along with theological questioning of the
sacrament and a growing concern over idolatry within the
church
 Lollards were forced underground due to persecution but
resurfaced to merge with the broader Protestant Reformation of
the 16th century
Early Modern English
1476-1700

The first printed Bibles in English
William Caxton

 Invented in 1440, by the
time Caxton introduced
his press in London, 8
distinct versions of the
Bible had been printed in
Germany, 5 in French, and
3 in Dutch.
 Despite this, Caxton chose
to obey the will of the
Holy Roman Church; he
never, himself, printed an
English language version
of the Bible
William Tyndale
1494-1536

 A true polyglot (proficient in
Hebrew, German, Greek,
Latin, and English) and
literary stylist.
 Even though his Bible
translation was condemned
and countless copies burned,
Tyndale’s prose style
nonetheless influenced all
translations that followed,
including the King James
version (4/5 of KJ’s New
Testament is simply recopied
from Tyndale!)
Tyndale

 Tyndale completely translated whole of New
Testament and roughly half of Old Testament
 His 1526 translation of the New Testament was
printed in Germany and smuggled into England
where it became an instant best seller (and was
immediately condemned).
 Tyndale revised his New Testament in 1534
 All editions printed “pocket sized” for easy transport
and reading (and hiding)
 Well over 25,000 copies sold by 1539
Tyndale’s Reward

 Lived in poverty in exile until seized in Antwerp in 1535.
 Tried and condemned, he was tied to a post, strangled, then
burned, in public.
 His last words: “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”
Myles Coverdale

 Printed complete translation
of Old and New Testaments
in 1535 in Antwerp
 Knowing neither Hebrew nor
Greek, Coverdale relied upon
the Latin Vulgate and
Luther’s German Bible for
bulk of his translation
 Was, as well, a known
collaborator with Tyndale,
though they had both stylistic
and theological differences
Matthew’s Bible

 Compiled by John Rogers
and printed by Matthew
Crom, in Antwerp in 1537,
this was actually Tyndale’s
New Testament and half of
Old Testament with
Coverdale’s second half of
the Old Testament.
 The creators could not credit
Tyndale, so created the name
Thomas Matthew, probably
referencing two of the
disciples.
 This version met Henry
VIII’s approval.
The Great Bible

 A revision of Matthew’s
Bible under the direction of
Henry VIII
 So-called due to its size, the
largest printed yet at 14 by 9
inches
 Printed in 1539, it became the
English standard until the
reign of Elizabeth
 Despite Tyndale’s
condemnation, his
uncredited prose and verse
dominates this version as
well
The Geneva Bible of 1560

 Under Mary I, numerous Protestant
dissenters fled to the continent, many
to Geneva where their brand of
Protestantism was welcome
 A scholarly undertaking as much a
theological one, the creators
introduced annotations and crossreferencing, which made scripture
more accessable
 The language, though, was more
forceful than the plainspoken English
of the Great Bible; this, too, contributed
to its popularity
 This, the first truly mass-produced
Bible, became the standard Protestant
Bible and was the Bible carried to
America by the Pilgrims
King James Version of 1611

 The King James version
of the Bible remains the
best selling book in the
history of the world
 While heavily edited by
some of the best writers
of the era (including
Shakespeare), nearly
2/3 or the wording in
the final product is that
of Tyndale.