HAVE ALREADY admitted how much I admire Msgr. Ronald Knox as a writer. In essence, this 113-page book is an apologia for his famous translation of the Bible. 1 I hope you find this book as fascinating as I have:
* * PDF • TRIALS OF A TRANSLATOR (1949)
—It was also published as: “On Englishing the Bible”.
The Italians have a phrase: “The translator is a traitor.” Some love the Knox Bible, others hate it. There will always be people who quibble with translations—no matter what. If you search hard enough on the internet, you can even find people who claim that the 1970s ICEL translation of the Roman Missal was more accurate than the current one. For myself, I don’t see how they can hold this view:
I’m fine with folks offering substantive criticisms of the current ICEL translation, which is far from perfect. However, I find interesting that the same people desperate to poke holes in the new translation never opposed things like:
* * PDF • Theologically goofy hymn lyrics (Examples)
* * PDF • 1996 Publication by NPM
By remaining silent on atrocities like that, they have disqualified themselves (in my opinion) from commenting on the new translation of the Roman Missal. 2
I probably spend too much time trying to find the “perfect” translations for my choir. If you look at the Hymn on page 35 of this Good Friday booklet you’ll catch my drift…
NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:
1 The complete Knox Bible is available online.
2 For the record, many of these same people calmly accept rulings which say the GIRM can be ignored. The GIRM requires that any texts replacing the entrance antiphon must be approved by the local bishop or bishops’ conference.
