Research Paper On Vulgate

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Vulgate (382-405)
By Pope Damasus’ discretion, Jerome made a new translation of the Tanakh into Latin that was based from the original Hebrew text. For the revision of the New Testament, Jerome used the original Greek text. Saint Jerome started his work in 383 and finally completed it 22 years later. Once the new version was published, it was widely adopted and eventually overshadowed Vetus Latina. By 13th century, it took the name of Vulgata (Latin). Vulgate is closely translated to “vernacular”. This was because Latin served as a vernacular language of international communication across medieval Europe. During the 16th century, the Catholic Church officially promulgated the Vulgate as the Bible’s Latin version and became the source …show more content…

This caused for a need of an English version of the scriptures. In 640 AD to 735 AD, Aldheim was credited for translating the whole Bible into English. On the other hand, Bede was unable to finish translating the whole Bible into English due to his death on 735 AD. The translations of the English versions were based on the translations of the Latin Vulgate rather than the translations of the original scriptures which were written in Hebrew and Greek.

Wycliffe (1380) The Wycliffe Bible came about because John Wycliffe believed that everyone is directly accountable to God. With this, each man should know the Law of God and this is through the help of the Bible (Bruce, 1984). The Wycliffe Bible had two versions- one in 1382 and the other in 1395 which was done by Wycliffe’s assistant, John Purvey.

Many have criticized the first version of the translation because of it being translated too literal. The Latin Vulgate, rather than the original Aramaic and Hebrew Scriptures, was used as the basis for this translation. The scriptures were translated word per word, without any alteration in the flow of the sentence and the placement of words. Sentences were unedited literal translations even though the translated version did not make any sense when it was translated to English from …show more content…

However, because the ban of reading the Bible was still in effect, he realized that it was not wise of him to make a new translation in England. No one in England also knew or understood Hebrew. This prompted him to travel to Germany and was introduced to rabbis and learned the language of the Old Testament. During his stay there, he has translated the majority of the Bible into English. He stayed in Germany, fearing of his fate in England (Wallace, 2001).

The same way as Wycliffe, he had this passion to get the message of God come across to lay folks, and that he accomplished. He consulted the original copies- Hebrew and Greek- and from there stated his translation, first of its kind. By 1525, he had completely finished translating the New Testament. Printing began in Cologne wherein this version was the first English version after the invention of printing. However, the project was ceased by the authorities. He escaped to Worm and reproduced and sold 6,000 copies in 1526. Three copies of the first edition still exist although only one is completely

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