Dom Henry Wansbrough, monk of Ampleforth Abbey and internationally renowned Scripture scholar, was invited to speak on ‘The Adventures of a Biblical Translator’ at a Catholic Biblical Association livestreamed event on 23rd January 2021. Henry, a former member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, is the editor of the New Jerusalem Bible and most recently the Revised New Jerusalem Bible.
Dom Henry began with an adventure he experienced near Carchemish many years ago, and went on to recall the trials and tribulations experienced by fellow biblical translators, St Jerome and William Tyndale.
For Henry the real challenges are in producing a biblical text which keeps pace with changes in language and circumstances. Words of yesteryear are often no longer suitable in a modern translation. Issues like inclusive language, dynamic equivalence, and the retention or not of biblical words and expressions have constantly challenged this redoubtable biblical translator.
In a lengthy question and answer session, Dom Henry spoke about the book of Jonah, ‘happy’ or ‘blessed’ in the beatitudes, ‘old-fashioned’ translations, the ‘fear of the Lord’, ‘immediately’ in Mark, and others.
Dr Sean Ryan, chair of the CBA, spoke for all those who participated, congratulating Dom Henry on his engaging talk and on a lifetime of generous dedication to the Word of God.
A transcript of this event is also available as a Word download.
