In the beginning was discourse: Erasmus’ translation, academic controversy, and popular reaction
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Christophe Rico
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[1] POLIS Jerusalem
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- Localización: From Logos to Person: History, Traditions, and Perspectives / Christophe Rico (ed. lit.), Joaquin Paniello (ed. lit.), 2024, ISBN 978-3-031-72880-8, págs. 91-104
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
This paper explores the devotional background of the controversy surrounding Erasmus’ Latin translation of the Prologue to the Gospel of St. John in the second edition of his Novum Testamentum (1519). Erasmus relied on early Latin fathers to substitute sermo for verbum in his translation of the word logos, and years of debate ensued. Scholars have generally agreed that Erasmus’ translation was possible if not preferable and that it relied on solid scholarship, and they have tended to cast Erasmus’ opponents as unimaginative conservatives. This paper offers a more nuanced understanding of this controversy and its effects by situating it the context of late medieval piety and considering a similar debate between Jerome and Augustine on the proper roles of tradition and scholarship that served Erasmus as a model for his own scholarly activity. In this light, it becomes clear that whatever the philological merit of Erasmus’ word choice, his critics had legitimate pastoral reasons for concern about his translation of this single word.
