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The History of the Luther Bible’s Publication and Revisions

  • Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University
  • 2018, 75(1), pp.395-430
  • DOI : 10.17326/jhsnu.75.1.201802.395
  • Publisher : Institute of Humanities, Seoul National University
  • Research Area : Humanities > Other Humanities
  • Received : December 15, 2017
  • Accepted : January 31, 2018
  • Published : February 28, 2018

Kyung-Eun Choi 1

1연세대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The German theologian Martin Luther dedicated himself, while being confined in Wartburg Castle, to translating the New Testament from Greek to German — something that he had been meaning to do for a long time — over a period of just 11 weeks. Upon returning to Wittenberg later on, he put together a team to translate the Old Testament. The complete works of Luther’s bible was finally published in 1534 — 12 years after the New Testament came out. Luther’s version was a marked departure from previous German bibles. It was indeed the culmination of the time’s publishing culture with its single column structure per page, the total of 117 pieces of artful illustration, and new typography and first letter presentations. In particular, the bible was an unprecedented success in terms of sales and dissemination. However, the aura of Luther’s bible ironically served as a challenge in its later history of revision. After 1545, when the revised version that Luther took part in himself was published, it took a whopping 372 years for another official revision to take place. There were numerous modifications in the meantime, but none were officially recognized. The issue was the language from four centuries ago. The German orthography had been revamped on many occasions, the grammar had undergone changes, and in particular the vocabulary was a formidable challenge for modern readers. In addition, as ancient scripts (notably the discovery of the Qumran) kept surfacing, a critical reading of the text had become crucial; and there was now a need to look over the context of Luther’s bible as well. This led to a total of four revisions to come forth as of 2016 since the first in 1892. The objective has been to enhance the readability and identify concrete errors; while preserving the unique voice of Luther to create a text that is accurate academically and linguistically modern. The final revision that was published to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation has especially centered on featuring the originality of Luther.

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This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
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