An important part of biblical and historical reflection in the old Mediterranean world includes the early church Fathers. One such pastor, scholar and servant is Jerome (lived 347 A.D.-420 A.D.). Bethlehem was his home from roughly 384 A.D. to 420 A.D. He’s best known at the popular level for his translation work and editorial scholarship of the Bible. He worked at producing a translation into the vulgar speech of the Latin Christian world of his own day. It became recognized as the Latin Vulgate. He began this venture in 381-382 A.D. and completed the project there in a Bethlehem monastery in 405 A.D.
Historians look back on Jerome and interpret his life with shades of controversy: was he truly the capable linguist, well versed in the biblical languages, as he’s been made out relative to the Vulgate? What about his loose interpretative commentary on the types and metaphors in the Bible in the area of biblical studies? But one matter over which there’s little debate is the access he provided for subsequent scholars with respect to the later work of Bible translation. His work with the Vulgate became an epoch-making contribution for comparative study for the Middle Ages and Reformation period. And with respect to the language of Latin, his work paved the way for Ecclesiastical Latin, the Latin of the church and of theological scholarship, and we know today, there’s a huge debt owed to Jerome in this light.
G. Mark Sumpter
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