Description

This 2-credit course aims to introduce the student to the story of the translation of the Bible into Latin during the Reformation. We will be looking at the problems that the translators faced and were trying to solve, and the debates that arose between those holding to varying theoretical perspectives. Students will be translating from Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians, using the translation of Theodore Beza as a benchmark, and comparing it to the Vulgate as well as the translations of Erasmus, Castellio, and Casaubon. We will also be utilizing the Latin translation of the Syriac by Tremellius/Junius. Special attention will be given to the annotations of Beza and Castellio’s critique of them. The course is taught by Dr. Kirk Summers of the University of Alabama, a leading expert on the thought of Theodore Beza and author of Morality After Calvin: Theodore Beza’s Christian Censor and Reformed Ethics. 

It takes place over the course of fifteen weeks, with one 2-hr. live online class every two weeks, and 4-5 hrs. of homework per week. It will be offered in the Spring 2020 semester (January 20-May 8).

Download the syllabus here.