INTERVIEW WITH FATHER MILTON WALSH

Timothy McCormick has posted a terrific interview with Father Milton Walsh on his Catholic Bibles blog. Do read it all, but here's a sample:

... as you have pointed out in your book Ronald Knox As Apologist, that towards the end of his life he saw a need for a new kind of apologetics.  His death in 1957 left that an open question.  So, what do you think he was aiming at in this new apologetics and how might that be applicable to the Catholic Church in 2015?

I’ll try to give a brief answer to a question which generated an entire dissertation!  Knox did “classical apologetics” very well, and his Belief of Catholics is still a good resource for those who want a popular intellectual defense for belief in the existence of God and the unique role of Christ in human history.  This apologetic approach was the heir to the Enlightenment, and tended to put great emphasis on rational argumentation.  Reason was seen to be the common ground between believer and unbeliever; Knox and the other writers I mentioned earlier often approached apologetics from this vantage point.

But we are more than “thinking machines”, and Knox recognized that many intellectual questions are rooted in more existential realities.  This comes across in his conferences to Catholic students at Oxford, in In Soft Garmentsand in The Hidden Stream.  By the 1950s, Knox realized that mere logical defenses were not sufficient for many people.  He was deeply affected by the invention and use of the Atomic Bomb, and his God and the Atom(regrettably, not in print) testifies to an important change in his priorities.  He wanted to write “a new apologetics”, but did not get very far with it.  His final illness from cancer took him very quickly.

If I had to summarize the direction he seemed to be heading in his new approach, it would be this: the classical Catholic apologetics relied perhaps too much on pure logic, and most people are not purely logical.  The dilemma was, then, what can be the common ground for a conversation between believer and unbeliever?  His answer was ordinary human experience, which takes in the intellect but so much more: desire, beauty, heroic ideals, etc.  In fact, Knox incorporated much of this “argumentation” in his sermons, which addressed not only the mind but the whole person.

New Year's Resolutions

If one of your New Year's resolutions is to read the Holy Bible, then consider the following:

New Advent has the entire Knox Bible online.

Baronius Press recently published a beautiful edition of the Knox Bible.

TOASTING KNOX

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.'

News from Baronius Press

A new edition of the Knox Bible — A fitting celebration of the 125th Birthday of Ronald Knox

London, UK, February 08, 2013

In celebration of the 125th anniversary of the birthday of Ronald Knox on the 17th February 2013, Baronius Press announced today that the text of the Knox Bible translation will be published on Newadvent.org— one of the largest Catholic websites in the English speaking world.

Baronius Press’ editor in chief Dr. John Newton said: “Since this edition came back into print — after an absence from our shelves of many decades — it has again been lauded as one of the finest 20th century Bible translation by Cardinals, Bishops and biblical experts alike. The clarity and beauty of this translation will help Catholics to deepen their faith and knowledge of scripture, especially during this year of Faith.”

Kevin Knight of New Advent said he was delighted to be able to offer the Knox Bible to his readers. He commented: “We are happy to be able to offer the Knox Bible translation freely to our readers. This is one of the most elegant and readable translations that I have come across and we will be promoting it widely on our website”.

The Knox Bible translation was described as “a masterful translation of the Bible” by Time Magazine and was the first vernacular version to be approved for liturgical use in the 20th century. It has featured on EWTN, received praise from Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Dr. Rowan Williams and Dr. Scott Hahn among others. It has also received many positive reviews from Catholic Biblical scholars and writers.

ABOUT THE KNOX BIBLE
Monsignor Ronald Knox was commissioned in 1939 by the Bishops of England and Wales to produce a fresh translation of the Holy Scripture and, for the next nine years, he worked alone to achieve this task. He used Pope Clement VIII’s edition of the Latin Vulgate as a base for his translation, diligently comparing it to Greek, Hebrew, Syriac and Chaldean manuscripts to determine the meaning of ambiguous passages.

He aimed at a Bible that was understandable to modern audiences and yet rooted in Catholic tradition and “written in timeless English”. He wanted a Bible that did not merely translate the original but made it read as if an Englishman had written it.

Knox’s Bible received great acclaim when it was first published. Even the Archbishop of Canterbury of the time recommended it, and it became the preferred translation of Fulton Sheen. The Bishops were so pleased with the completed version that it was authorized for liturgical use, and the Knox translation of the Bible was used as the official version in the churches of Great Britain, Ireland and Australia for the decade leading up to Vatican II – and the first version sanctioned for liturgical use in England and Wales.

Available from Baronius Press (www.baroniuspress.com) in a hardback leather edition with gold gilded edges, two ribbons and a complimentary copy of “On Englishing the Bible” in which Msgr. Knox describes himself how he tackled this mammoth project.

ABOUT BARONIUS PRESS
Baronius Press is a Catholic book publisher based in London, England. It was originally founded in 2002 and takes its name from the Venerable Cardinal Caesar Baronius, a Neapolitan ecclesiastical historian from the late 1500's. Its logo is a biretta, which together with a cassock forms the traditional image of a Catholic priest.

Baronius Press as a Roman Catholic company, is completely loyal to the Pope and Magisterium, and is committed to producing good solid Catholic books and resources that reaffirm the faith and the tradition of the Church. Whilst the main office is based in London, thanks to electronic communications, Baronius Press works with individuals and organisations in America, Australia and Europe to produce their titles.

The main objective of Baronius Press is to raise the quality of traditional Catholic books in order to make them more appealing to a wider audience. In an age of mass production and cost cutting overriding aesthetic beauty, Baronius Press is re-typesetting (rather than producing facsimiles) classic Catholic books, to obtain clear text which is easy to read. These are then published in high quality bindings that are beautiful and durable. The time and effort that is invested into each title is enormous, but this is a small gesture of love for the treasures of the Holy Mother Church whose literary treasures Baronius is publishing.

The first title Baronius Press published was the Douay-Rheims Bible – the first re-typeset edition for several decades. Since then, this title is available in three different sizes and three colours and also as a pocket size Psalms & New Testament only.

The company has made history by updating and republishing a number of titles that previously were out of print for many decades. In 2004 the company was the first to publish the 1962 Daily Missal with an Imprimatur since the mid 1960s and in subsequent years continued to expand the range with a series of Christian Classics in both paperback and leather bound editions. These included the only edition of the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin to include the Gregorian Chant and the republication of the Carmelite classic Divine Intimacy. In 2012 after five years of preparation, Baronius Press released the first 1963 Roman Breviary in nearly fifty years. Currently, the company has over 50 titles in print.

FR. WALSH REVIEWS THE KNOX BIBLE

It is a great joy to see the entire Knox Bible back in print.  After more than fifty years during which this treasure lay hidden in the field of second-hand bookstores, Baronius Press has made this, the only English translation of the Vulgate Bible apart from the Douay-Rheims, available once again.  The edition itself is of the highest quality, as befits the word of God, and Knox’s Bible is accompanied by a collection of essays in which he describes his approach to translation, and some of the difficulties he faced – both from the text itself, and from his intended public. 

            Today we are awash in translations of the Bible, good, bad, and indifferent, but to appreciate the boldness of Ronald Knox’s endeavor, we must recall that until the mid-twentieth century there were, for all intents and purposes, two principal English versions: the Protestant Authorized Version and the Catholic Douay-Rheims.  While it may seem tame today, Knox’s translation was a pioneering effort.  Even apart from its intrinsic worth, this translation deserves to see the light of day again because it represents a milestone in Catholic biblical scholarship.

            But what of its intrinsic worth? I would underscore three characteristics of this Bible which should make it a welcome addition both to your bookshelf and to your prie-dieu. 

1.      It is a translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible.  Within a few years of the completion of the Knox Bible, Rome gave permission for translations to be made from the original languages of Scripture. While encouraging this, the fathers of the Second Vatican Council spoke of the “place of honor” enjoyed by the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament) and the Vulgate (Dei Verbum, #22).  The Vulgate has nourished Christian piety for over fifteen centuries; it has enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with the Church’s worship and remains a touchstone for biblical texts used in the liturgy; it bears witness to how the Church has traditionally interpreted the word of God.  There can be no doubt that modern translations from the original languages are a great blessing, but certainly there should be a place among these for a modern translation of the Vulgate.   

2.      It is a translation of the entire Bible by one man, who was a master of the English language.  We know that the Bible consists of many writings composed over hundreds of years in diverse circumstances.  But we also recognize that the Holy Spirit has inspired the entire canon of Scripture, and there is a unity to the Bible as a whole for this reason.  When the work of translation is done by a committee (as most translations are) that organic unity can be obscured; to have one translator carry out the entire project emphasizes the integral unity of Scripture.  And in Ronald Knox we have a translator who was a master of English prose.  When you read any of his writings, you encounter a very careful writer indeed, who always sought the apt word, the elegant turn of phrase that would best convey his thought.  Knox brought that lifetime’s experience to the work of translation, and the result is a version of the Bible that is marked by freshness, imagination, and a profound sense of the beauty of the English language.  His translation is modern, but never pedestrian.

3.      It is a translation shaped by faith.  This is a challenging attribute to capture in words, but the way I would express it is this: most modern translations aim at conveying as accurately as possible the meaning of the texts in their original languages.  This is noble ideal, and Knox himself consulted many biblical scholars in crafting his translation.  But the Bible is more than a collection of ancient documents: it is the inspired word of God, and Knox approached his effort as a work of devotion.  When we read Knox’s sermons, we hear a preacher who was deeply immersed in Scripture; when we read his translation of the Bible, it reflects a lifetime of prayer and preaching on the word of God.  It is this, even more than his mastery of style, which imparts to the Knox Bible an atmosphere of serene majesty, and an occasional turn of phrase that goes right to the heart.

You may already have a favorite translation of the Bible that you read for spiritual nourishment; if so, I urge you to dip occasionally into Knox’s translation to gain fresh insight into familiar texts.  You may be preparing a homily or engaging in Bible study; the Vulgate translation, in this modern translation, will enrich your scholarly endeavors.  Or, you may be looking for a translation that is both accurate and original; look no further than the Knox Bible.

                                                            Milton Walsh, author of Ronald Knox as Apologist and

Second Friends: C. S. Lewis and Ronald Knox in Conversation, both published by Ignatius Press.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE NEW KNOX BIBLE

Book lovers such as me relish the prospect of spending hours in musty used-book stores and browsing online. I've done quite a bit of both over the years. But there’s always been one volume which I've dreaded searching for and that’s been Msgr. Knox’s Bible. I've dreaded it because, until now, my only options were to find an extremely rare soft-leather covered edition and pay hundreds of dollars for it, or settle for the [always dirty] cloth-bound 3 volume set, or parts thereof. So I was delighted to receive my copy of this new edition of such an important book. Others will tell you about the virtues of the text and its translator; I’ll just say that this edition is physically beautiful. The cover, the pages, the type … all make for an impressive whole. It will undoubtedly become many people’s “go to” gift book. First Communions, Confirmations, Marriages, Ordinations, Christmas, Easter … as Catholics we have so many wonderful occasions for giving beautiful things to those we love! And it’s my fervent wish that every priest should have one, especially in this Year of Faith.

I’m also delighted to see that Baronius Press is including a very nice paperback copy of “On Englishing the Bible” with every order. It contains several essays by Msgr. Knox in which he explains all the trials and tribulations of undertaking such a mammoth work. It includes: 1. Thoughts on Bible Translation 2. Some New Testament Problems 3. Justice and Scandal in the Gospels 4.Challoner and the Douay Version 5. Some Reasons Why 6. Nine Years' Hard 7. Morsu Amarissimo 8. Farewell to Machabees and a Preface by Knox written in 1949. This volume is very dear to me personally because it was in reading an excerpt from one of these essays that I first discovered Msgr. Knox over 25 years ago. I was so impressed with his intelligence, his knowledge, his insight and, of course, his wit. It was love at first read!

So, go to the Baronius Press website where they have all kinds of great information on this new edition and Msgr. Knox, and then spread the word!

Vicki McCaffrey

President, The Ronald Knox Society of North America

GREAT NEWS!

KNOX BIBLE

Available for the first time in more than fifty years

Msgr. Knox's translation of the Latin Vulgate into elegant, timeless English is one of the greatest treasures of the 20th century Church. His translation is spiritual and literary, graceful and lyrical, making it one of the most beautiful vernacular versions of the Holy Bible.

"Mgr. Knox's version continues to merit attention, and I welcome the publication of this new edition, as his remarkable work is likely to continue to be of interest for many years to come. I sincerely hope that many will read and profit from this new edition." Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor "Msgr. Knox had a profound love for Sacred Scripture, a passion was to make the Bible accessible to as many people as possible … In the Knox translation, clarity is paramount." Dr. Scott Hahn "A masterful translation of the Bible" Time Magazine

Monsignor Ronald Knox was commissioned in 1939 by the Bishops of England and Wales to produce a fresh translation of the Holy Scripture and, for the next nine years, he worked alone to achieve this task. He used Pope Clement VIII's edition of the Latin Vulgate as a base for his translation, diligently comparing it to Greek, Hebrew, Syriac and Chaldean manuscripts to determine the meaning of ambiguous passages. He aimed at a Bible that was understandable to modern audiences and yet rooted in Catholic tradition and "written in timeless English". He wanted a Bible that did not merely translate the original but made it read as if an Englishman had written it. Knox's Bible received great acclaim when it was first published. Even the Archbishop of Canterbury of the time recommended it, and it became the preferred translation of Fulton Sheen. The Bishops were so pleased with the completed version that it was authorized for liturgical use, and the Knox translation of the Bible was used as the official version in the churches of Great Britain, Ireland and Australia for the decade leading up to Vatican II – and the first version sanctioned for liturgical use in England and Wales.

For more information or to order please visit our website at 
www.baroniuspress.com/KnoxBible

THE KNOX BIBLE ONLINE

Msgr.Cormac Burke has posted the entire Holy Bible - as translated by Msgr.Ronald Knox - online. But here's the twist: he has carefully changed 'Thou' and 'Thine' to 'You' and 'Yours'.

Msgr. Burke explains: "The past 40 years have seen a welter of English translations of the Bible. One appears to have been quite lost in this biblical multiplication: that of Ronald Knox which was so immensely popular from its publication in 1944 to the mid-1960s. My own reaction to it had been enthusiastic, yet maybe somewhat ambivalent: I found it very readable, very inspiring, and at times a bit debatable...

In any case it descended into practical oblivion after Vatican II. It might - and perhaps should - have survived if Knox had not made the mistake, as I now see it, of sticking to the "thou" forms throughout.

Some time back, seeing the very varied quality of the new versions, I began to wonder if Knox, in "you" form, might not be of interest and help to some people. So I began to while away odd moments by "you-ing" his New Testament (I have a good program for such a task). With "you" etc. throughout, many passages seemed to take on a new freshness and interest.

Now, more than a year after its first appearance on my website, I find that the 'you' version has drawn more interest than I ever anticipated. One reader makes a comment worth transcribing. For him, the Ronald Knox translations, "somehow combine clarity with mystery: I mean they are easy enough to understand and they still have that majesty of language which constantly reminds the reader that these words concern much more than the everyday".

It is an opinion that may have particular application to the pauline epistles. Regarding these I do recall some early critic who, while conceding that Msgr. Knox had certainly made St. Paul intelligible (he was at times barely so in the old Douai-Rheims version), still doubted whether Knox's version really makes Paul say what he actually wanted to say... I am not scripture scholar enough to resolve the question; but am sure that the same doubt can be made extensive to quite a few more recent versions.

In consequence, the more the present spare-time activity progresses, the greater my impression that something old has in a small but important way become new again. If so, the endeavor is not totally useless.

In any case, may "Ronnie" forgive me from his heavenly abode, if he does not approve of my efforts. But I would not like to see any of his masterly and inspiring prose being thrust aside because of a few pronouns or adjectives here and there."

Msgr. Cormac Burke