njand / biblia-castellionis

Transcription of the Sebastian Castellio Latin translation of the Bible.

Biblia Sacra ex Sebastiani Castellionis Interpretatione

This project aims to digitally transcribe Sebastian Castellio's Latin translation of the Bible. The text has been updated to adhere to modern Latin orthographic standards in accordance with the 2016 edition of the Gaffiot Latin dictionary, including the use of macrons to distinguish between long and short vowels. Each directory contains the files in a specified format, such as EPUB or LaTeX.

Project Goals

The primary objectives of this edition of the Castellio Latin Bible are:

1. To provide a useful resource for intermediate-level Latin learners
2. To update the formatting to make the book more easily readable for advanced Latin users

The Castellio translation is an exceptional resource for intermediate Latin learners for several reasons:

• Familiarity: Many Latin learners are familiar with the Bible. Therefore, much of the material will be generally comprehensible even if they don't understand all of the vocabulary or grammar.
• Length: The text contains over a half million words, providing ample input for learners to practice extensive reading.
• Classical style: Although the Vulgate Bible shares the first two attributes with the Castellio translation, it may be less suitable for learners primarily interested in learning to read Classical-era Latin texts, as much of its vocabulary and syntax are very distinct from Classical standards. The Castellio translation will better assist students in acquainting themselves with idiomatic Classical Latinitas.

There are already many PDF scans of 16th-18th century editions of the Bible available, however, they are more difficult to read due to imperfections in the printing or scanning processes, decay of the originals, and unfamiliar abbreviations and spellings. Advanced Latin readers may not be overly impeded by these features, but they will hopefully still find their reading experience improved by the format of this edition, whether they are reading for scholarly interest, devotion, or pleasure.

Orthography

Castellio naturally followed Renaissance conventions for spelling and abbreviations, which may be less familiar to students who are accustomed to reading modern editions of Latin works. Some of these spellings are not indicative of their Classical pronunciation, such as "cœlum" for "cælum" or "accerso" for "arcesso". This project follows the 2016 edition of the Gaffiot Latin dictionary as an orthographic standard because it is based on the latest scholarly research on how Latin was pronounced in the Classical era. In addition, this standard should feel more familiar to modern readers, although it does differ from common introductory textbooks in a few respects, such as its use of 'j' for consonantal 'i' and 'æ' to distinguish between the diphthong and disyllable. Finally, the inclusion of macrons not only aids in pronunciation, but it also serves to disambiguate some lexical and morphological forms.

Formatting

This project seeks to emulate modern Bible formatting conventions by segmenting the text into paragraphs with verses indicated by superscript numbers. Poetry is displayed in stanza form, and quotations are italicized. The punctuation is occasionally updated to adhere to modern expectations and improve clarity. These conventions make extensive reading more comfortable, while still allowing the reader to correlate verses with other translations. This edition does not currently include marginal notes or scriptural commentaries.

Reported discourse (including questions and commands) is enclosed in single quotes. This convention is sometimes used in Latin publications targeted at learners such as Lingua Latina per se Illustrata and the Delphin Classics, and it is especially appropriate here because the underlying Greek (and therefore most other translations that the reader might consult) generally employs direct discourse.

Sebastian Castellio

Sebastian Castellio (né Sébastien Châteillon) was a 16th century Protestant theologian and polyglot fluent in his native French, as well as Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. He preached alongside John Calvin in Geneva for a few years but ultimately parted ways due to their differing views on religious tolerance. In the 1540s, Castellio embarked on a Latin translation of the Bible with the aim of providing a Protestant alternative to the Catholic Vulgate. The first edition of his translation was published in 1551. Unlike the Late Latin style of the Vulgate Bible and (in his view) the overly literal Latin translations of other Protestant translators, in this translation he strives to render the sacred text in idiomatic Classical Latin as if it originally had been written by native Latin speakers.

Theodore Beza, a fellow French Protestant who produced his own translation of the New Testament in 1556, was a prominent critic of Castellio's translation, attacking it on both doctrinal and stylistic grounds. In response, Castellio published a defense of his translation in 1562, acknowledging a few errors but defending his overall approach. Beza took issue with Castellio's choice of certain Latin words, claiming that they removed specific theological meaning from the original Greek and Hebrew terms. For instance, Beza criticized Castellio for translating "βαπτίζω" as "lavō" rather than "baptizō" and "ἄγγελος" as "genius" rather than "angelus". Beza argued that these choices revealed that Castellio considered the sacred to be mundane. However, Castellio rejected this argument, stating that these word choices were ultimately insignificant and that the pure Latin forms were sufficient to convey the meaning of the original texts. Nevertheless, subsequent editions of Castellio's Latin Bible did incorporate more traditional Ecclesiastical Latin terminology, including "baptizō" and "angelus". This project adheres to these later editions and transcribes the updated variants.

Sources

This project has been consulted several versions of the Castellio Latin Bible, including the following:

• 1726-27 Edition - Volumes 1-2, Volumes 3-4: This edition is divided into multiple volumes and presents the text in verse format, with chapter headers, but no marginal notes or commentary. The versification of this edition has been used as the primary source, except when it differs from modern Bible editions.
• 1697 Edition: This edition includes the complete Old and New Testament, extensive commentary, and Castellio's response to Theodore Beza's criticisms.
• 1553 Novum Testamentum: This early edition only includes the New Testament, with limited marginal notes and no versification.

The transcriptions for this project are primarily based on the 1726-27 edition, with reference to earlier editions as needed to resolve unclear scans or implausible readings.

N.B. This project aims to create a reader's edition, not a critical edition of the original versions of the text. As such, there is no detailed record of changes or sources for each part of the transcription.

Additional Resources

For further reading on Sebastian Castellio and his Latin Bible translation, I recommend the following sources:

• Guggisberg, Hans R. "Sebastian Castellio, 1515-1563: Humanist and Defender of Religious Tolerance in a Confessional Age." Routledge, 2017.

• Eskhult, Josef. "Latin Bible Translations in the Protestant Reformation: Historical Contexts, Philological Justification, and the Impact of Classical Rhetoric on the Conception of Translation Methods." In Shaping the Bible in the Reformation, 167-185. Brill, 2012.

• Gomez-Geraud, Marie-Christine. "Qui parle encore de Sébastien Castellion? Does anybody still talk about Sebastian Castellio?" Australian Journal of French Studies, vol. 52, no. 3, 2015, pp. 261-272.

• Zahnd, Ueli. "Tolerant Humanists? Nikolaus Zurkinden and the Debate between Calvin, Castellio, and Beza." In Crossing Traditions: Essays on the Reformation and Intellectual History, 370-385. Brill, 2017.

For simple summaries of Bible stories in Latin:

• Epitome Historiæ Sacræ by Charles François Lhomond
• Or a modern edition with some additional New Testament stories, formatted with marginal notes in the style of "Lingua Latina per se Illustrata"