Tim McCormick, S.T.B., is the author of the Catholic Bibles blog and an admirer of Msgr. Knox and his writings. Every Sunday he posts a comparison of one of the Lectionary readings with Msgr. Knox's translation, entitled 'Sunday Knox'. Knox's Bible translation, other writings and all things Knoxian come up for discussion on a regular basis.
Here is a post of particular interest, taken from the archives of The Tablet. It is the transcript of the toast given by Cardinal Griffin, at a banquet held in Knox's honor in 1955, and Msgr.'s reply.
Excerpts:
Cardinal Griffin: "The first appearance of his translation of the New Testament was awaited eagerly. It found its critics and it found its admirers, but the only point on which there was universal agreement was that here for the first time were the epistles of St. Paul in understandable form."
Msgr. Knox: "The book which has coalesced today into a single volume has come to be known, not by my wish, as the Knox Bible. Such a phrase dazzles you, for a moment, with a hint of immortality ; but a little reflection will convince you that there is no immortality about lending your name to a product. Become a household Word, and you are speedily forgotten. What housewife ever wastes a thought on the memory of President Hoover ? What traveller even recalls the existence of George Mortimer Pullman ? In what refreshment-room will you find a portrait of the fourth Earl of Sandwich ? The Knox Bible has become a mere name ; already, several years back, a Downside boy, doing a history paper on the sixteenth century, informed the examiner that 'John Knox was a cruel Protestant ; he wrote a book we have today, the Knox Bible.'
