BiBle STyle Guide - Get a Free Blog

56 The BiBle STyle Guide
bible society 2008
Bishops hit Back at
‘extremist BiBles’
Archbishop of Canterbury masterminds
new ‘toned-down’ translation
Because it was produced in a strongly Calvinist city, the Geneva
Bible was quite a radical translation. This was a problem for many
in the Church of England, who took what they saw as a more
moderate approach. Not only that, the Geneva Bible was much more
popular than the ‘official’ version for parishes, the Great Bible.
This led the Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker, to undertake
a revision of the Great Bible. He worked as editor-in-chief on the
project, together with some other bishops and a team of biblical
scholars. In 1568 CE, the new work was published and became
known as the Bishop’s Bible. It went through several editions, but
never became as popular as the Geneva version.
welsh langUage
‘saved By the BiBle’
Literary translation gives the language
a much-needed boost
An edited collection of biblical history, called Y Bibl Ynghymraec
(‘The Bible in Welsh’), existed in Middle Welsh as early as the
fourteenth century CE. It was only in the sixteenth century CE,
however, that the entire Bible, including the apocrypha, was first
translated into modern Welsh. It was completed in 1588 CE by a
Welsh bishop named William Morgan (1545-1604 CE).
Morgan translated from Hebrew and Greek texts, but also consulted
English translations of the time. His was a translation into literary,
rather than popular Welsh and was revised slightly in 1620 CE.
Many argue that his translation significantly helped Welsh in its
struggle to survive. It became a source of unity among Welshspeakers
and the bedrock of later Welsh literature.
In 1800 CE, a Welsh teenager called Mary Jones saved up for six
years and walked 25 miles, just so that she could buy a copy of
the William Morgan Bible. To help people like Mary, the British and
Foreign Bible Society was set up shortly after, in 1804 CE.