Show GERMAN BIBLE translations among the Luth lutherans erans of germany and in the scandinavian countries it has hitherto generally been taken lor granted that the translation of the scriptures into german by luther was almost the first attempt to place the sacred records within the reach of the general public and this work is often characterized character aej as the grandest of the great reformer but it now seems that the luea of translating the scriptures into grman german was waa far from original with luther recently prof walther has made researches into the history of german bible versions previous to the time of luther and according to the blotto he liss found not less lees than eighteen eighteen complete editions of the bible in german and 0 e in dutch and also thirty one editions of portions of the bible this thia becomes more remarkable from the fact that a great many of these are copies of older translations translation a proof that considerable effort must have been put forth by learned men long before the reformation to diff diffuse use the word of god among the masses of the people by whom these translations were made and how distributed has not yet yel been discovered only this much seems to be sure that neither the and who by cruel persecutions were scattered all over europe nor the official leaders of the established church were inspru mental in bringing them forth this discovery in the theological field to is of great interest to students stir dents of ecclesiastical history and if full light shall be thrown upon the subject by further researches some important facts may yet be discovered which hitherto have escaped the historians historiano it must be confessed that the data so far obtained does not detract from the merits of luther in the least it is not likely that he knew of the existence of these translations it is well known that he had never seen seea a bible till he be found a copy of the latin vulgate chained to the shelves in the library of a monastery the circulation of books at that time when a bible was worth three times the price of a fat ox could not be extensive luthers position among german bible translators must always remain somewhat similar to that of f columbus among the discoverers of america through him the bible became the property of the masses mama of the people the excellencies of his translations too are win undisputed disputed the knowledge of the original lual languages in his time was merely rudimentary Y biblical arcase was almost unknown and other sources of information were equally barrier barrer but lo in spite of all this the great reformer seemed to know intuitively the correct meaning if f disputed pa sages sager anu adu recent discoveries have proved abe th soundness sound nees of his bia Ju judgment dment in ing german substitutes for the original words and phrases this fact becomes most moet clear to those who attempt to improve on the translation as numerous translators blicha io baelli elis among the rest have been forced to admit notwithstanding this there are aft errors in his version sometimes he did not 0 jm the idioms of the original and rendered coudere 1 them literally thereby unwittingly giving to the sentence another sense than Int intended ened by the author sometimes the translation is wrong sometimes he evidently translates with a view ot of procuring evidence for his bis ewt doctrines against the roman cherish ch he was but human after all anu who cannot forgive a weakness so eo natural to human nature in spite ol of all thip thi the he work completed by luther while he be was ostensibly a captive or OB wartburg is in a m aument to the greatest of bible translators latora as an well as to the most moist successful reformer that thai oval lifted his volee voice against heresy ln the continent ol of europe |