TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE

The Old Testament was written, for the most part in Hebrew. A few sections were written in Aramaic, a sister language of Hebrew. Some of the later books were composed in Greek. The whole of the Old Testament was translated into Greek about two hundred years before Christ. It is known as the Septuagint (meaning seventy, the number of Jewish scholars who according to an ancient legend, made the translation). The Septuagint was used by Christian missionaries among the Greek pagans. The whole of the New Testament was written in Greek. As long as Greek remained the dominant language in the civilized world, the Bible was easily accessible to readers. But when Latin became the dominant language and when the missionaries took Christianity to other peoples who did not know Greek, it was clear that translations had to be made. The Church always recognized the great importance of translation (or versions) and was concerned that they be as accurate as possible. Accordingly, she has always insisted on the need for official endorsement of a new translation, since the ordinary layperson would not know the ancient languages and be able to make a valid judgment. We will consider here only those translations which made the greatest impact on the English-speaking world. First among these was the Latin Vulgate (meaning common) version done by St. Jerome in the later part of the fourth century A.D. It was an excellent translation and was based on some of the best manuscripts available at that time. It remained the authentic text in the Catholic Church up to the present century before 1943, and all official versions in modern languages were made from it. From this Latin Vulgate, the Douay-Rheims English translation was made in the last part of the sixteenth century. It was done by English Catholic scholars working on the continent (where the towns of Douay and Rheims were located). It became the official version for English-speaking Catholics. All later, official versions, up to modern times, were corrected and updated editions of the Douay-Rheims. Among the English-speaking Protestant Christians the most influential translation was the Authorized Version (more commonly known in the United States as the King James Version), completed in 1611. This translation was the one most widely used in Protestant churches up to the present time. A widely used modern version in the stylistic tradition of the King James Version first published in its entirety in 1952. A more recent edition has included the results of recent scholarly findings. When Pius XII issued his Encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu in 1943, the door was opened for new Catholic translations that were not dependent on St. Jeromes Latin Vulgate. Because of the great increase in the knowledge of the translations directly from them were encouraged. In 1970

the New American Bible, done for the most part of the American Catholic scholars, was completed. Within the last decades, because of the explosion in knowledge of the ancient languages mentioned above, many new English versions of the Bible have been published the major difference between them lies in the degree of their interpretation of the original texts. The Revised Standard Version is the latest representative of all, striving to render the meaning, rather than the word, of the original text. The New American Bible, in which these articles appear, is somewhat interpretative. It is the first American Catholic translation to have been based on the original languages or on the earliest existing form of the text, rather than on the Vulgate. Its scholars have sought to clarify obscure readings and to make the whole mere intelligible to contemporary readers.

INTERPRETING THE BIBLE

Just from what has been said above about translations of the Bible, it should be clear that interpreting the Bible, understanding what it has to say, is not a simple task. Even these highly trained scholars have difficulty in knowing exactly what the original authors meant to say. While the work of interpretation has at least been made possible for the ordinary reader by these translations, this does not mean that all difficulties are overcome. It was once held by some Christians that if everyone would only read the Bible all differences would be overcome. No one today could possibly believe that to be true. One reason for the difficulty in interpreting the Bible is that the biblical authors wrote in a completely different cultural, social, economic, political and religious world from our own. The original writers of the Bible do not try to explain that ancient world to their readers. They assume their readers know all about it. It must be discovered anew by modern readers, not for the purpose of retreating back into it, but in order to know what is being said. Moreover, their manner of thinking and expressing themselves was Eastern (more precisely, Semitic), not Western as is ours. What did the author really mean when he wrote that God loved Jacob but hated Esau (Mal 1: 2-3)? Does God really hate anyone? Again, the literary forms, or types of literature, that they used are in many cases foreign to us (confer the special article on literary forms in the Bible). Then, too, with our vastly increased knowledge of the world, we bring questions to the Bible which the original readers would have never have brought. This is not to frighten the readers in any way or to discourage them from reading the Bible. There are many sections which can readily be grasped by every reader. Also, we hold that the reader who approaches the Scriptures in faith will be guided by the Holy Spirit. But this means that the Spirit will help the human heart to be open to the message that is read and

understood. It does not mean a miraculous intervention that guarantees the right interpretation every time a difficulty is encountered. That would suggest that the Spirit makes puppets of the readers and denies them their need to respond intelligently to the fact of an inspired Book. Does this mean that every reader must be a biblical scholar? That is far from the mind of the Church when she encourages everyone to read the Scriptures. Rather, it means that every reader will do whatever is possible in his or her own way to insure a proper interpretation. Of the more popular and effective ways of doing this is by joining a Bible study group that is led by competent people (confer the special article on such groups). If competent leaders are not present, it can be a case of the blind leading the blind. In the beginning of this article, we spoke of inspiration as a gift given first of all to the community of Israel and to the Church. Through them it was also enjoyed by the individual authors. Later we spoke of the Church as the community guided by the Spirit to recognize canon, or list, of inspired Scriptures. In the same way, it is through the covenant community of the Church that the proper interpretation of the Scriptures is primarily made available to individuals. The Church produced the Scriptures; the Church recognized the extent of the Scriptures; the Church interprets the Scriptures. It is inside the community of faith that we hear the Word of God speaking to us.