Synopses & Reviews
A vibrant history of the myriad English translations of the Bible and what they meant to their translators, readers, and times.
The greatest of the earlier translators of the Bible into English, William Tyndale, was martyred in 1536 for his work. Immediately after him, however, translations proliferated: the whole Bible, or significant parts, has now been translated into English from its original Greek and Hebrew more than three thousand times. This major new book tells the extraordinary story of the Bible in England from approximately the fourth century, and its later translation into English in Britain and America to the present day.
Eminent scholar David Daniell charts the profound impact successive versions of the Bible have had on the people and communities that read them. He explains the work of major translators, the history of influential translations following Tyndale, including Coverdale's, the Geneva Bibles and the King James Bible, and how greatly Americans have contributed in the late twentieth century, especially after the American Revised Standard Version.
Encompassing centuries of change from a time when no one except priests had knowledge of the Bible beyond a few traditional stories mixed with saints' lives, through later years when ordinary people were steeped in Biblical doctrine and language, to the present, when popular knowledge of the Bible, we are told, has disappeared this eloquent book reveals how the endeavor of translating the Bible into English has changed religious practice, the arts, society, and the English language itself.
Review
"This is an enormous and exhilarating work of scholarship that sweeps through the centuries....David Daniell has an epic story to tell that bulges with heroes and martyrs, scholars and zealots, the devout, the paranoiac, and the frankly unhinged." Godfrey Smith, Sunday Times (London)
Review
"Although highly opinionated, Daniell has the learning and the obvious love of the Bible to back up his arguments." Library Journal
Synopsis
The greatest of the earlier translators of the Bible into English, William Tyndale, was martyred in 1536 for his work. Immediately after him, however, translations proliferated: the whole Bible, or significant parts, has now been translated into English from its original Greek and Hebrew more than three thousand times. This major new book tells the extraordinary story of the Bible in England from approximately the fourth century, and its later translation into English in Britain and America to the present day.
Eminent scholar David Daniell charts the profound impact successive versions of the Bible have had on the people and communities that read them. He explains the work of major translators, the history of influential translations following Tyndale, including Coverdale's, the Geneva Bibles and the King James Bible, and how greatly Americans have contributed in the late twentieth century, especially after the American Revised Standard Version.
Encompassing centuries of change--from a time when no one except priests had knowledge of the Bible beyond a few traditional stories mixed with saints' lives, through later years when ordinary people were steeped in Biblical doctrine and language, to the present, when popular knowledge of the Bible, we are told, has disappeared--this eloquent book reveals how the endeavor of translating the Bible into English has changed religious practice, the arts, society, and the English language itself.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. [852]-866) and index.