Revising Biblical Translation: Luther's Lexical Choices in Matthew between 1522 (Septembertestament) and 1545, Compared with the Greek Source Text

1995 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-246
Author(s):  
Geoffrey S. Koby
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Gospel Of Matthew ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Source Text ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Greek Source ◽  
Biblical Translation ◽  
Over Time

After Martin Luther first translated and published the New Testament in 1522, he immediately began the work of revision—work that would last through his lifetime and beyond. Working with a group of biblical scholars, he made thousands of changes to the text, continuing until his death in 1546. Although some critics have seen Luther's earlier language as vulgar and coarse—particularly in the Gospels— and have suggested that he refined his language over time, others suggest that a more differentiated view is necessary. This article examines the lexical differences in the Gospel of Matthew between the Septembertestament of 1522 and the last Bible published during Luther's lifetime, in 1545. Major lexical changes are compared with the Greek source text, and assigned to three major classes: (I) changes that bring the translation closer to the original Greek meaning; (II) changes that diverge from a close rendering of the source text, for comprehension or esthetic reasons; and (III) changes that are neutral with regard to the source, originating from target language (German) considerations. Most major changes arise from either the source text or understandability considerations. The original lexical choices in the 1522 version are not as coarse or extreme as some have suggested.

scholarly journals Ideologia unitariańska a strategie translatorskie i styl przekładu Nowego Testamentu Marcina Czechowica (1577)

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-313
Author(s):  
Izabela Winiarska-Górska
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Specific Method ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Religious Attitude ◽  
Translation Strategy ◽  
God's Word ◽  
Religious Formation ◽  
Greek Source ◽  
Title Pages ◽  
Selection Of

The paper discusses the strategy of translation of Marcin Czechowic’s New Testament translation (1577). The authoress applies the theoretical categories of so called global translation strategy such as scopos, the potential reader, religious attitude as Czechowic’s New Testament was devoted to the unitarian communities. It was arranged as a multifunctional book for religious formation which contained institutionalized transmission of God’s Word. Denominational assumptions are manifested in the selection of translation strategy, style, and method of organizing the text in the book. Both the choice of the specific method of translation and the linguistic form of translations such as Iōannēs Baptistēs – Jan Ponurzyciel were marked by denominational optics of interpretation. The development of humanism broadened the general cognitive horizon. Czechowic’s translation was based on humanistic Greek editions of the time. It is not without reason that we find translators’ assurances as to the method of translation on title pages and in introductions, which were expressed by the concept of “diligence” (Lat. diligentia, Pol. pilność), as well as assurances with regard to the translator’s relationship with the source text – faithfulness to the Greek and Hebrew (veritas graeca, hebraica), or following of an “approved” text (Lat. textus probatus, Old Pol. doświadszony) or “contribution” by confronting different records. Marcin Czechowic, like most Protestant translators, declared faithfulness to the Greek source, however his translation of the Holy Scripture ware also in line with the postulate of veritas confessionis, which was interpreted in various ways depending on doctrinal foundations.

Jeremiah and His Prophecies in the New Testament

2021 ◽  
pp. 519-538
Author(s):  
Catrin H. Williams
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Gospel Of Matthew ◽  
Book Of Revelation ◽  
New Covenant ◽  
Epistle To The Hebrews ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Paul's Letters

This chapter examines the various modes of reference to Jeremiah in the writings of the New Testament. It begins with an investigation of the three explicit references to the prophet Jeremiah in the Gospel of Matthew before expanding the discussion to examine various allusions to the content of Jeremiah’s prophecies in the four canonical gospels. The study will then consider the contribution of Jeremiah to Paul’s understanding of his apostolic ministry and also focus on the influence of the Jeremianic concept of “new covenant” on the understanding of the salvific significance of Christ both in Paul’s letters and in the epistle to the Hebrews. It concludes with an exploration of the various ways in which Jeremiah’s prophecies are employed in the book of Revelation, including the oracles of judgment against Babylon.

Poetics or Homiletics? Hearing and Feeling the New Testament in Erasmus’ Paraphrases

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-126
Author(s):  
Reinier Leushuis
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Affective Response ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
Biblical Narrative ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Emotional Aspects ◽  
The Senses ◽  
Over Time

Abstract One of the unique homiletic challenges of the Erasmian paraphrase is the transmission of faith in divine matters from the page to the reader’s mind. By which form of imitation is the acquisition of faith by the disciples and their communities not only cognitively understood by, but also imitated in the reader’s mind? Constituting what can be called a poetics of Erasmus’ paraphrastic writing, questions of literary imitation and transmission are exemplified in his enrichment of the sensorial and emotional aspects of the biblical narrative. This essay examines instances where the biblical text highlights the disciples’ witnessing of Jesus both in earthly life and as a risen but living presence. Such instances lead to paraphrastic developments that exemplify reader-oriented imitation by instrumentalizing the senses, in particular hearing and touch, to steer the reader’s inner affective response, and thus to facilitate the acquisition of faith. Although sight is not neglected, I argue that in this process hearing and feeling (both as touch and emotion) are poetically and homiletically privileged to lodge the holy Word in the innermost affective sanctuary of a community of readers and listeners over time who, unlike the witnessing disciples, can no longer see, hear, and touch Christ.

scholarly journals Der Heros und die starken Frauen

2021 ◽  
pp. 237-258
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hagedorn
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Latin Translation ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Source Text ◽  
German Translation ◽  
Intersectional Analysis ◽  
Greek Source

ZusammenfassungThis paper takes a critical look at how the first German translation of Homer – Simon Schaidenreisser’s Odyssea from the sixteenth century – deals with the identity-forming categories of gender and divinity. The shifts in power structures within these categories, which occur in the transcultural target language-oriented translation, are examined in an intersectional analysis. For this purpose, the translation is contrasted with the Latin translation of the Odyssey by Raphael Volaterranus (1534), Schaidenreisser’s direct source, as well as with Homer’s Greek source text. The subjects of this analysis are the two powerful, antagonistic, female divinities of the Odyssey: Circe and Calypso. The paper illustrates how the depiction of the goddesses is reshaped in the Early Modern cultural context of the translation and how power structures shift within the narrative, resulting in a loss of power and intersectional complexity for the goddesses and a re-evaluation of the narrative’s hero, Ulysses.

Martin Luther in Modern New Testament Scholarship

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lincicum
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
Genealogical Relationship ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Sacred Scripture ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
History Of ◽  
Institutional Church ◽  
New Perspective

Martin Luther is intimately interwoven with the history of New Testament scholarship. Histories of modern biblical interpretation often begin their treatment with Luther and other Reformation currents, suggesting a direct genealogical relationship between the Reformer and modern criticism. Indeed, Luther’s frank criticism of the theological utility of certain books in the New Testament—James, Hebrews, Revelation—were to prove a warrant for the later development of historical critical approaches to Scripture that would also entail judgements about the authenticity of biblical texts. Later scholars increasingly came to use historical, philological criteria rather than material, theological criteria to reach these judgements, but they relied on the possibility Luther established of criticizing sacred scripture while remaining within the institutional church, even if certain tensions with ecclesiastical authorities were inevitable. In the 20th century, the decisive influence of Luther can be found on a series of influential New Testament scholars and their interpretative efforts. To consider only an exemplary few—Rudolf Bultmann, Gerhard Ebeling, Ernst Käsemann, and Martin Hengel—one can begin to grasp the enormity of the Reformer’s imprint on modern New Testament scholarship, due in part to the outsize influence of the German Lutheran theological academy on the development of the discipline. In recent decades, Luther has been invoked above all in the lively debates surrounding the so-called “New Perspective on Paul,” and the question of whether Luther fundamentally misconstrued the Pauline message by unconsciously conforming it to his own experience of and reaction against late medieval Catholicism. While Luther has often been asked to shoulder the blame for a host of exegetical problems in this regard, more sophisticated recent approaches have allowed him to be an interpreter in his own right, with justified contemporary concerns that motivate his actualizing exegesis of Paul. In the end, with the turn toward reception history and the reinvigorated retrieval of the theological tradition in contemporary biblical scholarship, more of Luther within New Testament study is likely to be seen in the years ahead.

The New Testament and Martin Luther

2019 ◽  
pp. 60-69
Author(s):  
Judith N. Shklar
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Religious Belief ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
God's Word ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The New Testament

This chapter is occupied with the question of religious belief, different “official” religions and related competing notions of what it means to believe in God’s word. It looks in particular at the period of the Reformation, differing interpretations of the New Testament, and the problems such interpretation raise in relation to both loyalty and obligation.

Junker Jörg on Patmos

2015 ◽  
Vol 95 (4) ◽  
pp. 435-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Orr
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Radical Shift ◽  
Distinct Role

During his time spent in the Wartburg Castle, Martin Luther experienced an intense exile and a crisis of identity that played a distinct role in the formation of his theology. This crisis of identity was brought about by his loss of friends, family, and purpose. My attestation in this article is that this exilic crisis quickly moved Luther to a radical rejection of monastic celibacy, thus preparing him for his own marriage three years later, and also created the perfect conditions in which Luther was able to accomplish the astounding feat of translating the New Testament into German in the course of only eleven weeks. Understanding Luther’s experience at the Wartburg as an exile allows us to properly assess the intense transformation of identity that Luther underwent and better understand how this radical shift of theology and impressive feat of translation were possible.

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