IT is perhaps particularly fitting that in a building named after one of the great Bible translators of the twentieth century, Mgr Alexander Jones (died 1970), the teaching of the biblical languages is once again being undertaken: New Testament Greek has been taught at Hope since 2000, while biblical Hebrew has been run on a trial basis for the first time during the academic year 2002–03. Both have proved attractive to students. While biblical languages have been taught at Hope and the former constituent colleges before, this present move towards making both Greek and Hebrew (and perhaps later Aramaic) fully available to undergraduates who may pursue such studies as part of their degree is a relatively new (or at least revitalised) development. So too is the proposed Postgraduate Certificate in Biblical Languages, which should be available within the next two years.

To those involved in both the teaching and learning of the biblical languages at Hope, the photograph of Mgr Jones, which hangs just inside the main entrance of the building that now bears his name, ought to be an inspiration. He was formerly Head of Theology at Christ's College and as such played a central part in laying the foundations of what would later become (though he did not live to see it) the ecumenical institution of Liverpool Hope University College. He is more widely known for the central role he played in the production of a text that was to become of great importance and influence in the English-speaking Roman Catholic world: the Jerusalem Bible (1966). In fact, as general editor, Jones was without doubt the single most important individual in bringing that vast work of scholarship to completion. The achievement should not be forgotten.

The idea behind the Jerusalem Biblewas simple enough when it was first conceived in the world of mainly French-speaking Roman Catholics. In 1943 Pope Pius XII had issued the encyclical letter Divino Afflante Spiritu which enabled Roman Catholic scholars seriously to consider a departure from tradition and the preparation of a ‘Catholic’ Bible that was not based upon Jerome's Latin Vulgate. The challenge was quickly taken up by French scholars, who determined to produce a translation of the Bible based on the very best Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts that twentieth-century textual critics were able to deliver. The Bible translation would contain also extensive scholarly notes.