2 results
Chapter III - Continental Versions to c. 1600
-
- By Hans Volz, Weimar Lutherausgabe, Kenelm Foster, R. A. Sayce, Worcester College, Oxford, S. Van der Woude, Amsterdam University, E. M. Wilson, Cambridge University, R. Auty, London University, Bent Noack, Copenhagen University
- Edited by S. L. Greenslade
-
- Book:
- The Cambridge History of the Bible
- Published online:
- 28 March 2008
- Print publication:
- 02 October 1963, pp 94-140
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
German Versions
Luther
A German Bible printed by Sylvan Otmar at Augsburg did indeed appear during the year 1518—only a few months after Luther had published his theses. But it belonged to the series of editions of the German translation made in about 1350 and first printed in 1466 by Johann Mentelin at Strassburg. In the next fifty years or so there were thirteen further editions. This translation was not made from the original languages but only from the Vulgate, and was moreover—despite several revisions, especially in 1475 and 1483—clumsy in its linguistic form, and partly incomprehensible. Hence it answered neither of Luther's two requirements for such a translation, that it should be based on the original texts and should use a German comprehensible to all; and it is not surprising that this medieval version did not have Luther's approval. He had already used the Greek original in his lectures on Romans in 1515–16, and the Hebrew in his commentary on Hebrews in 1517–18. And since it was one of his cardinal principles that the Scriptures were the only true key to the faith, it is not surprising either that he decided to translate the Bible into German himself. It seems as if the idea of such a translation was already current in Wittenberg in 1520. Andreas Carlstadt's treatise on the canon (Welche bucher Biblisch seint), which was published at Wittenberg in November, said ‘Shortly, as I hear, new German Bibles are to be printed’. But it was a whole year before the plan was put into effect.
Chapter IX - Continental Versions from c. 1600 to the Present Day
- Edited by S. L. Greenslade
-
- Book:
- The Cambridge History of the Bible
- Published online:
- 28 March 2008
- Print publication:
- 02 October 1963, pp 339-360
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
-
Summary
German Versions
Protestant Versions
It is plain from the history of the Bible that every age has attempted to come to fresh terms with it, to form its own image of it. This is also true of Luther's version of the Bible, which has been the one most commonly printed and by far the most widely accepted in Germany during the period under review.
The linguistic superiority of Luther's Bible had moved Calvinists such as Tossanus and Pareus—especially in the Palatinate and Frankfurt am Main—to print the text and to add, instead of Luther's, prefaces and glosses of their own which had an entirely different spirit. Lutherans protested against this, particularly in Württemberg. But Johannes Piscator went even further, for he also dispensed with Luther's translation, and produced a most uneven one of his own in 1602–3. It was still being printed in Berne in the nineteenth century.
The Thirty Years War both hampered and helped the dissemination of the Bible. The losses were enormous, and the subsequent general poverty made it hard to replace them. The more handy and cheaper formats came into common use as well as the folios. Bible printing ceased entirely in Wittenberg, and the most important printing towns were now Lüneburg, Nürnberg and Frankfurt am Main. In the very middle of the war Sigismund Evenius promoted the production of one of the most important German bibles. The first printing of this ‘Weimar Bible’, with its many notes, accessories and pictures, was commissioned by Duke Ernst the Pious of Gotha in 1640 at Nürnberg. Though not cheap, it went through more than a dozen editions in 150 years.