I have decided to start again for two reasons: 1) St. Jerome is an obvious choice, so I would rather pick someone less obvious; 2) Theophrasus reminded me of Dr. Gregory Martin so I wanted to include him. Sorry for the reboot!
You left out the "father" of Catholic English Bible translation -- Dr. Gregory Martin -- the primary translator of the Douay-Rheims Bible. He translated under tremendous adversity.
No problem. I know they translated single or individual books of the bible down thru the years in the Anchor series, but thanks for letting me throw their names out there anyway. I still love their original 1968 edition commentary. I absolutely love it and use it to this day.
He was also co-editor (with Bruce Metzger) of the first NRSV New Oxford Annotated Bible, which is arguably the closest thing we have to an "official annotated" edition of the NRSV.
Despite being a major Catholic Biblical scholar and translator, I do not think Murphy was quite at the same level as the names you listed though.
He was almost added, but your points are pretty much the reason why I didn't include him. Now if Bruce Metzger had been Catholic, I would have included him. But alas...
One thing many people may not know about Martin: he was young (by the standards of Bible translators, at least). We do not know his exact birth year, but it is commonly believed to be 1542 (that is what appears in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, for example.)
Martin was about 38 when he finished his translation -- he died two years later.
In comparison, Challoner was 58 when his New Testament appeared.
Thumbs up for Martin. The guy is a genius. The accuracy of the 1582 Douay Rheims (if not always the readability) translated in exile (from the Latin, Hebrew, Greek, etc) is phenomenal and unmatched.
For what it's worth, I think if Jerome is out of the mix, than it should be Martin. Other than Jerome's translation, what other Catholic translation has had as much influence as Martin's!?
I decided to include only those involved in translating the Bible into English. If I let Haydock in, that would simply make the list too long due to others who could righty be included as well.
Martin had more of a genius, though, so I'd probably vote for him, even though I already cast my lot for Challoner.
Martin translated afresh, and broke a good deal of new ground, even if his translation was infelicitous (he did have some good phrases: "publish...and blaze abroad", etc.), whereas Challoner essentially conformed Martin to English, while using the King James Bible as a template (no better template could be had, but his work was still, therefore, highly derivative).
15 comments:
You left out the "father" of Catholic English Bible translation -- Dr. Gregory Martin -- the primary translator of the Douay-Rheims Bible. He translated under tremendous adversity.
How about Frs. Raymond E. Brown, Joseph Fitzmyer, and Roland Murphy of Jerome Biblical Commentary fame?
Russ,
Good question. I want to stick to those who have been involved in English translations of the Bible.
No problem. I know they translated single or individual books of the bible down thru the years in the Anchor series, but thanks for letting me throw their names out there anyway. I still love their original 1968 edition commentary. I absolutely love it and use it to this day.
FYI: Roland Murphy, O. Carm., was one of the NRSV translators and a translator of the 1970 NAB, the 1991 NAB Psalms, and the 2010 NABRE OT.
He was also co-editor (with Bruce Metzger) of the first NRSV New Oxford Annotated Bible, which is arguably the closest thing we have to an "official annotated" edition of the NRSV.
Despite being a major Catholic Biblical scholar and translator, I do not think Murphy was quite at the same level as the names you listed though.
Theophrastus,
He was almost added, but your points are pretty much the reason why I didn't include him. Now if Bruce Metzger had been Catholic, I would have included him. But alas...
One thing many people may not know about Martin: he was young (by the standards of Bible translators, at least). We do not know his exact birth year, but it is commonly believed to be 1542 (that is what appears in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, for example.)
Martin was about 38 when he finished his translation -- he died two years later.
In comparison, Challoner was 58 when his New Testament appeared.
Knox was 57 when his New Testament appeared.
Orchard was 55 when the RSV-CE appeared.
What, no St. Jerome? Are you kidding me?
vladimir998
I had him up there earlier but decided to take him off. He is too obvious really. Why not pick someone else?
Thumbs up for Martin. The guy is a genius. The accuracy of the 1582 Douay Rheims (if not always the readability) translated in exile (from the Latin, Hebrew, Greek, etc) is phenomenal and unmatched.
Fred.
JEROME
For what it's worth, I think if Jerome is out of the mix, than it should be Martin. Other than Jerome's translation, what other Catholic translation has had as much influence as Martin's!?
Pax,
John
Martin or Challoner.
Martin "invented" the English Catholic Bible, and Challoner refined it and gave it the form that became customary.
George Leo Haydock should have been an option.
I decided to include only those involved in translating the Bible into English. If I let Haydock in, that would simply make the list too long due to others who could righty be included as well.
Martin had more of a genius, though, so I'd probably vote for him, even though I already cast my lot for Challoner.
Martin translated afresh, and broke a good deal of new ground, even if his translation was infelicitous (he did have some good phrases: "publish...and blaze abroad", etc.), whereas Challoner essentially conformed Martin to English, while using the King James Bible as a template (no better template could be had, but his work was still, therefore, highly derivative).
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