HizzFeeD Lists

Seven Things You Thought You Knew About the Medieval Bible

…. but really didn’t.

1. After the Council of Nicaea (325) established the canon, the content of the Bible was basically fixed.

Can I go home now?

WRONG!1. The canon was not really fixed until the Council of Trent, 1545-1563.

Good thing I brought sandwiches!

2. The Latin Bible translation used in the Middle Ages was called the Vulgate, and it was the work of Jerome.

WRONG!

Guess who did the Epistles of Paul?

2. Jerome did translate most of it, but not all. And it was not called “Vulgate” until the sixteenth century.

3. The Latin Bible was translated from the Greek, so it was an indirect translation. Luther translated the Bible directly from the Hebrew for the first time.

WRONG!

3. Jerome worked from the Hebrew. Luther can be credited with translating from the Hebrew into German, not Latin.

4. The medieval laity could not read the Bible because all Bibles were in Latin.

WRONG!

Wainey, widi, wiki, what?

Still Greek to me…

4. There were plenty of vernacular translations in the Middle Ages. And learning Latin isn’t as difficult as you think it is!Ah! Amo, amas, amat …

5. All Bibles in the Middle Ages were painstakingly copied by monks.

WRONG!

5. Scribes were just as often lay people, and women.

6. It was not until after the Reformation that Bibles in the vernacular were widely printed.

WRONG!

6. The first complete Bible in Dutch was printed in 1479, before Luther was even born.

7. Preaching was not really done during the Middle Ages, or if it was, it was done in Latin.

WRONG!

Wat zegt’ie? Geen flauw idee. Ik spreek geen Latijn!*

7. Even if sermons were often written down in Latin, they were normally delivered in the vernacular, and they could be quite lively.Je krijgt er geen

speld tussen!Nee, je kan praten als Brugman! * * What’s he saying?

Dunno. I don’t speak Latin !* Non possum inserire aculeolum. Ita vero! Etiamsi loquaris ut Brugmannus!