FREE ESSAY ON TRANSLATION FROM GREEK TO GERMAN

TRANSLATION FROM GREEK TO GERMAN

Richard W. Lowell Jr.
THEO 104
April 28, 1999
The Bible from Greek to German
Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483. He lived on a farm where his parents raised
seven children. He began his schooling at age four and he later entered the monastery
when he was twenty-two in 1505. After entering the monastery a good friend of Luther's
passed away. This traumatic experience made Luther start thinking about life, death, and
his destiny. Pondering these new thoughts led Luther to focus on Christian studies. On
April 4, 1507 Luther was ordained a priest. With his new status among the church Luther
was cautious because not only did he respect the power of God he also feared it.
There were many scholars that translated the bible from Greek to the German language.
Martin Luther was the most famous of them all. Other notable attempts to translate the
bible were made by Hans Denck, Johann Dietenberger, and Ludwig Hatzer. These scholars and
writers gave their best effort to translate and improve upon the current version. It was
not until Luther's translation that the German church had an acceptable bible to preach
by. 
Martin Luther believed in "one Church, established by Christ and that he was reforming
it" (Todd 99). In 1517 Luther expressed his disappointment with the Catholic Church by
publishing his Ninety-Five Theses. After the publication Luther began to receive
political pressure for his criticism of the Catholic Church. However, Luther persevered
and held strong to his beliefs. Luther was so disturbed about the direction the Church
was going that he decided to form his own religion. This version of Catholic faith is
called Lutheranism.
Luther, with his new religion saw the need for to have a book of guidelines to follow. It
is about this time that Luther began the daunting task of translating the New Testament
into German. He finished the translation from Greek to German about September 1522. He
titled it Das Neue Testament Deutzsh which eventually became know as the September
Testament. Soon, after Luther began translating the Old Testament as well. These were
printed in sections as soon as the translation was complete. He felt it was necessary for
the German people know and learn about Jesus Christ. In 1534 Martin Luther completed his
mission when the first German Bible was sent to print.
There is no other way to describe Luther's translation except as the best of his time. I
feel reference that Bluhm gives Luther is the only one who does him justice:
Luther's German Bible is famous book, a classic no only of German but of world
literature. Its eminence is universally recognized. Beyond being the first as well as the
foremost of the major Protestant versions of the Bible, it is one of the two greatest
translations the Christian church of the West has produced. It was the earliest and most
successful rival of the vulgate. Catholic as well as Protestant scholars fully recognize
the high artistic level of Luther's German Bible. It is superior to the Vulgate both in
accuracy and in literary quality (Bluhm 15).
Martin Luther was very strongly committed to translating the Bible to German in its most
pure form without his own opinions or bias conveyed with it. He tried to capture what the
scripture was really trying to say. Luther's background in Theology helped him a great
deal with the translation of the Bible. His studies centered on "the hard intellectual
thought about Christian doctrine" (Todd 231). Of all the many translations of the Bible
that have been completed I feel that Martin Luther's was one of the best. He made
Theology his life's work and he continued to improve the Bible, Lutheranism, and all his
works until he passed away in February 1545.
Works Cited
Bluhm, Heinz. Martin Luter: Creative Translator. St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House, 1965
Todd, John M. Martin Luther: A Biographical Study. 
Westminster: First American Printing, 1965.