Word of God, words of men

Translations, inspirations, transmissions of the Bible in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Renaissance

Joanna Pietrzak-Thébault

• Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9783525552773
• eBook ISBN:
  9783647552774
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

The book presents many aspects of the phenomenon of translation and commentary work of the Bible in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th and 17th centuries. It contains studies of eminent scholars as well as of some young adepts, coming mainly from Poland, but also from Lithuania and Czech Republic. The texts present various aspects of the researches conducted on this phenomenon nowadays. As it was an exceptional movement, extremely varied and long-time lasting, it would be difficult to offer its complete synthesis in one volume. Though, the exhaustive presentation of the historical and linguistic contexts allows the reader to understand the phenomenon. Intensified interest in translations of the Bible is closely connected with the interest in the Polish language, its literary expression as well as its grammatical and orthographic standardisation that occurred just in the same time. The intellectual activity related to the Bible contributed simultaneously to the development of the Polish literary language and even inspired the translations of the sacred texts of other religions present in the country. Moreover, contacts between different languages of Central and Eastern European area, where many attempts of new translations appeared, are very important. A quick rise of the different Reformation movements contributed to a »natural« need for new translations and commentaries to be used by community members. These new currents, first easily accepted and spread in the country, even when suppressed, could not stop this activity, and later new Catholic translations and commentaries of the post-Trident period, both in Polish and Lithuanian, proved it. Big part of study is also dedicated to particular typographical realizations of this activity and an interesting example of the musical expression directly inspired by the biblical translation, is also provided.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Joanna Pietrzak-Thébault: Preface of the editor
• Body
• I. Contexts
• Wojciech Kriegseisen: Historical Overview of the Political and Denominational Reality in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the Mid-sixteenth Century to the Mid-seventeenth Century
• Marta Wojtkowska-Maksymik: Theories of Translation of the Word in Poland during the Renaissance
• II. From Publishing Houses
• Rajmund Pietkiewicz: Polish Biblical Editing in the Renaissance
• Aurelia Zduńczyk: The Iconographic Program and Title Pages Ideological Content in the Oldest Polish Printed Bible Translation
• Izabela Winiarska-Górska: Textual and Genre Problems of Printed Translations of The Holy Bible in the Second Half of the 16th Century
• Katarzyna Krzak-Weiss: Words of God Cut in Wood. Some Remarks about the Illustrations in Polish Renaissance Editions of the Bible
• Mariola Jarczykowa: Dedications in the Gdańsk Bible, between Religion and Diplomacy
• III. Intersections
• Robert Dittmann, Jaroslaw Malicki: Mutual Relations between Polish and Czech Bibles in the Early Modern Period
• Gina Kavaliūnaitė: Calvinist Bibles in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
• Joanna Kulwicka-Kamińska: Relationships between Translated Handwritten Literature of the Grand Duchy of Lithuanias Tatars and Translations of the Bible into Polish during the Renaissance
• IV. Vistas
• Tomasz Lisowski: The Lexis of the Gdańsk Bible’s New Testament (1632) in Comparison to the Brest Bible’s New Testament (1563) and the New Testament of the Jakub Wujek Bible (1599) – in Search of Adequacy of the Translation into Renaissance Polish
• Lukasz Cybulski: Interpretation in the 16th Century Polish Bible Exegesis
• Virginija Vasiliauskienė, Kristina Rutkovska: Konstantinas Sirvydas: a Preacher and a Translator of the Bible
• V. In Verse and in Music
• Paulina Ceremużyńska, Fernando Reyes Ferrón: “Audite haec, omnes Gentes!” Melodies for the Polish Psalter by Mikołaj Gomółka to the Jan Kochanowski’s Psalter translation
• Notes about Authors
• Name Index