Daniell,
David. The Bible in English: Its History and Influence. New Haven, CT:
Yale University Press, 2003. http://www.amazon.com/The-Bible-English-History-Influence/dp/0300099304/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385668294&sr=8-1&keywords=david+daniell+english+bible
1.
Introduction, pages 1ff.
To many, the Bible is “ridiculous irrelevance.” To others,
varied course syllabi “have made men hostile to the Word of God.” For
Christians, the Bible is “the Word of God” with the story of “the forgiving,
redeeming and regenerating work of Jesus, the `Word made flesh.’” But, it began
to be felt by “senior clergy in Rome (though not in the East, dominated by
Constantinople), that ordinary people were not capable of understanding a book
as complicated as the Bible” (9). It was
“too sacred to be touched by any but the most learned” (10). The Cathars of southern
Franc, the Hussites of Bohemia, and the Lollards of England were “blocked by
the increasing power of the Pope.” The
Greeks saw the hubris of Rome and were never amused by the claim to universal
supremacy. The Reformation can be summarized: “the people reading Paul.” As a
result of the English Reformation, there were 10 separate versions/editions of
the English Bible from Tyndale’s to the 1611 KJV—compared to 2 editions in
Germany, Luther’s in 1522 and another in 1600. There were 2 vernacular versions
in France over the same period, but, as always, unlike Germany and England, never
intended for the populace. The Bible was not to be “locked up,” like the
Italians accomplished from Wycliffe’s times in 1380 to the 1970s, the very work
of Anti-Christ himself, that foul devil.
PART
1: BEFORE PRINTING, pages 17ff.
2.
The Bible in Britain from the Earliest Times to
AD 850, pages 19-48.
Mr. Daniell discusses Aldred, Old English, the Latin Bible
in England, Jerome, the period after Jerome, Christian England, the mission
from Rome, Celtic missions, the “Gospel Books,” Bede, Caedmon, Bible knowledge
in Saxon times, and the Gothic Bible by bishop Ulfilas.
 |
| Lindisfarne Gospels |
Lindisfarne
Gospels. It’s an
early, large, elaborately decorated and medieval text produced by Eadfrith in c. AD
698 to c. AD 720ish on Lindisfarne, northeastern England, a missionary, educational, academic
and monastic center. AD 698 is the terminus a quo and
721 the terminus ad quem, the date of
Eadfrith’s death. Lindisfarne was founded by Aidan in 625, not terribly long
after Mr. (Canterbury) Augustine the Lesser arrived in 597ish. The Gospels were requested by the King Edwin,
King of Northumbria. The Rule of
Benedict stressed reading, privately and communally. There was a high demand for such books.
Aldred.
Between AD 946—968, he provided “glosses” of
Latin with running English translations in the Northumbrian dialect. The four Gospels were included with the
Psalter. But, 100 years before this, the
Psalter had been “glossed” in the Mercian dialect. These were used in the monastery and
collegiate church. Mr. Daniell, cryptically, notes without development that
vernacular versions were also in use on the Continent. By the 1380s, Mr. Daniell notes that the
Lollards’ Bible was widespread (230 manuscripts which survived the repression
of the 1401 Act of De Haeretico
Comburendo and Canterbury Arundel’s 1409 Constitutions of repression; 230 surviving to this day compared to
60 of Chaucer’s). By the 1520s with
Tyndale circulating covertly, “large numbers of men, women and children,” like
Europe itself, were reading the whole
Bible.
Old
English. Old
English ranges from AD 450 to 1150. The language was brought by the Angles,
Saxons and Jutes. There were 3 dialects:
Wessex (south and west), Mercia (the midlands) and Northumbria (northeast and
north of the Humber River). The language
merged with the French that had come with William the Conqueror in 1066. While Old English continued, it fused with the
dominant French language. By 1450,
Middle English developed, something that is still recognizable to English
readers today.
Christian
England. By 200,
Tertullian of Carthage, northern Africa, would state that the Gospel was firmly
entrenched: Britannorum inaccessa Romanis
locis, or, “places of the British not approached by the Romans.” As such,
the Gospel must have, inferably, been taught to native speakers (not in Latin
either and not with Pentecostalist gibberizing). The story of Alban in the
early 3rd century survives: a Roman officer, converted himself,
hiding a Presbyter, and offering himself in the place of the discovered
Presbyter. Alban dies; a church was built there and visited by a French bishop
in AD 427. Furthermore, three bishops
from London, York and Colchester attend the Council of Arles in 314, a council
to deal with Donatism and the schism amongst the north African churches. Patrick, AD 390-460, is in the church annals.
Pelagius, a British product, was Augustine’s antagonist in the late 4th
century.
Mission
from Rome. After
the Romans pulled out, a power vacuum developed, and the Angles, Saxons and
Jutes invaded. Christianity suffered. By
Gregory the Great’s time, England was viewed as “pagan and barbaric,
worshipping stocks and stones.”
According to Bede, Gregory was moved by the presence of English
slave-boys in Rome. As an aside, it is
noteworthy that the Imperial center of power had moved from Rome to
Constantinople (along with the elites); further, it is noteworthy that varied
invasions of Italy had further reduced Italy to a shell of its former self;
furthermore, the city of Rome, once populated by about 1,000,000 in Paul’s
time, had been reduced to about 60,000 by Gregory the Great’s time (cf. Gibbon’s
Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire). So,
one beggar, Gregory the Great, noteworthy in several respects, organizes a
mission to England. Augustine the
Lesser, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, arrived in England in AD 597ish
with 40 assistants.
Augustine
the Lesser. Augustine was successful with the conversion
of King Aethelbert and his Frankish wife, their seat of power being located in
Canterbury. Gregory the Great would crow
that within 1 year, 10,000 baptisms had been registered in southern England. Augustine
established York and Canterbury (at this point, we have some questions for Mr.
Daniell, but we’ll press onwards). Bp. Paulius at York was successful in seeing
the King of Northumbria converted (only and exclusively by God’s grace). But, the political disorders were
common. Between the Romans’ departure
and the Conqueror’s arrival in AD 1066, there were 200 kings. Notably, the
Synod of Whitby, AD 664, was the final arrangement that finalized Italy’s
dominion in England, not to be broken until the English Reformation (although
there were plenty of chest-pounding between the English state and the Romanist-church-state).
Theodore
of Tarsus. AD 669—690. He became an Archbishop of
Canterbury. He came via Antioch,
Constantinople and Rome; he was fluent in several languages. He was learned; he
attracted students. Yet, Rome controlled
Canterbury for the next 900 years. Educational and academic centers would be
established, Monksearmouth in AD 674 and Jarrow in AD 681. Jarrow would nurture Bede, a man who had the
entire Psalter memorized (and he wasn’t alone).
Celtic
missions. Western
islands were evangelized by Celtic missionaries. Also, as Mr. Daniell tells it,
they sent “missionaries to the darkness of Continental Europe.” As an aside, I’ve
enjoyed joking with some (serious, Confessional) Lutheran friends that England
gave the Gospel to the Germans in the 7th-8th centuries; Luther obliged and sent the Gospel back to
England in the 16th century; as always, God worked the details of
His eternal plans for individuals, families, cities, churches and nations—He
does so with infinite ease. Iona evangelized the north and west of England.
From Iona in the west, Aidan in AD 635 founded Lindisfarne, noted above, a
center for the energetic evangelization of northeastern England.
Gospel
Books. Lest one think the Lindisfarne
Gospels are alone or unique; it is not. There is the “Book of Armagh,” dated
about AD 800, an instrument for use with the Irish. Similarly, the “Book of
Kells,” c. AD 750 to c. AD 850, was used in Ireland. In short, the complete
English Bible was published in England before AD 700. The Codex
Grandior of Cassiodorus was brought from Italy to Northumbria and at least
three copies were put into Old English.
Two of those copies, made at the scriptorium of Jarrow, were put in the church
“for anyone to read.” This tells one
something about English scholarship of this time. The Codes
Aureus was put forth in Kent, again, in Old English. Boniface (c. AD 650 to
c. AD 750) notes that manuscript productions were occurring in southern England
and that other Christian literature, patristic commentaries and Bible studies
were circulating in England and Ireland.
Venerable
Bede. His History of the
English Church and People was written at Jarrow c. AD 731. He told stories
about the Churchmanship and ministries of Patrick, David, Augustine, Ninian and
Columba. Bede was influenced by the historical labors of Eusebius of Caesarea
and Gregory of Tours.
Bible
Knowledge in Anglo-Saxon Times. Among the learned, it was “moderately wide
knowledge.” The Life of Gregory the Great cited quotations from the Psalter and
7 OT books. The Life of Saint Guthlac (AD
730-740) had 35 direct quotations. Bede’s Life
of St. Cuthbert abounded and was rich with Biblical references. Bede’s
knowledge was “wide and deep.” He had
access to the entire Bible. He died in
AD 735. Viking raids disrupted English life.
Lindisfarne was sacked in AD 793.
