{"id":21401,"date":"2015-05-20T06:00:51","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T10:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=21401"},"modified":"2015-05-20T03:01:18","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T07:01:18","slug":"god-is-in-every-syllable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/05\/god-is-in-every-syllable\/","title":{"rendered":"“God is in every syllable”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Popular author James Reston, Jr., has written a book entitled Luther\u2019s Fortress: Martin Luther and His Reformation Under Siege<\/a>\"\", about Luther\u2019s time in Wartburg Castle, when he was in hiding from the Emperor\u2019s death sentence.\u00a0 Here he began his translation of the Bible.\u00a0 It took him a mere 10 weeks to translate the New Testament.<\/p>\n

After the jump, a link and an excerpt to Reston\u2019s revealing discussion about Luther\u2019s translation, his method and his approach, including a comparison with the King James translation, which took 48 translators 10 years.<\/p>\n

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From James Reston, Jr.,\u00a0 No Iota in Vain: Martin Luther\u2019s \u2018Great and Worthy Undertaking\u2019 | The Behemoth<\/a>:<\/p>\n

One can only imagine the spare look of Luther\u2019s cell as he settled into his monumental task of translating the New Testament. With only his Greek and Hebrew texts as physical references, and no library to consult or clutter, delay or confuse his labor, his concentration was total. It would be easy to romanticize the process. But a more realistic vision involves sweat and frustration, long hours, and a feeling of being overwhelmed. He approached the assignment with awe. Later, he would call it \u201ca great and worthy undertaking\u201d and say that, given the unsatisfactory Bibles then available to the common person, \u201cthe people require it.\u201d But the language of the Bible dazzled him.<\/p>\n

He truly believed that he was dealing with the very words of God.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne should tremble before each letter of the Bible, more than before the whole world!\u201d he would say later. \u201cGod is in every syllable. No iota is in vain.\u201d<\/p>\n

His first challenge was to establish the rules for his translation. Above all, he needed to keep his audience upmost in his mind. What could a typical German understand? What should be the tone? What should be the grammar? \u201cIt is not enough to know the grammar of a biblical passage,\u201d he would say later. \u201cOne must observe the sense. I held fast to the meaning . . . as if I understood neither Greek nor Hebrew nor Latin.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his first days of labor, he evolved two basic principles of translation. The first was to reduce all things to the most general, basic origin and type. \u201cIf a passage is obscure I consider whether it treats of grace or of law, whether wrath or forgiveness of sin, and with which of these it agrees better. By this procedure I understand the most obscure passages.\u201d The second was to submit ambiguous passages to the original Hebrew and not lazily fall back on literal translation, as he felt the Talmudic scholars had done. . . .<\/p>\n

When one compares the complexity, speed, and intent of Luther\u2019s translation not only to the Vulgate but also to the King James Version of the Bible 90 years later, Luther\u2019s translation is even more impressive. If Luther\u2019s fundamental approach was to make the Bible accessible to the common person, the approach of King James\u2019s translators was to please and glorify the king himself with elegant, poetic verse. Their process in the early 1600s would take ten years, not ten weeks, and there were forty-eight translators, not one.<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . .]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n