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Archive: "history of the Bible" Tag

Two Bibles of 1522

2022 marks the 500th anniversary of the publication of two important early Bible translations. The Complutensian Polyglot or Bible of Alcalá was the first Bible to include the text in multiple languages (in this case, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic). The project was conceived by Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, a powerful Spanish religious leader. …

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This month in Reformation history: Martin Luther translates the New Testament

Five hundred years ago, during the summer of 1521, Martin Luther sequestered himself at Wartburg castle. While in hiding from secular and Papal authorities who might arrest him on heresy charges, he set to work translating the Bible into vernacular German according to his understanding of scripture. In Germany, vernacular Bibles based on the Latin …

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Special Collections acquires a copy of the first complete Spanish translation of the Bible

Special Collections recently acquired a copy of the earliest edition of the complete Bible in Spanish, known as “La Biblia del Oso” because of the printer’s mark, an illustration of a bear seeking honey. The Bible was translated into Spanish by Casiodoro de Reina, a former Catholic monk turned Protestant reformer, possibly with collaborators. “La …

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The Complutensian Bible

One of the most famous early printed Bibles is known as the “Complutensian Polyglot,” a multi-language Bible published at the Complutense University in the early 1500s (the University is now the University of Madrid, but in the 15th and 16th centuries the university was located in Alcalá de Henares, which was called Complutum in Latin). …

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Rare Bibles and Bible translations

Did you know that Special Collections houses hundreds of old and rare Bibles in over 50 languages? From medieval manuscripts to 19th-century missionary translations, there are hundreds of volumes containing the Bible or portions of the Biblical text in the collections. You can find many early printed Bibles in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew; polyglot Bibles …

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