Caedmon's Edge

Anthony Esolen on the Fair Advantage of a Medieval Bible Translator

Quite aside from questions of orthodoxy, the only really interesting interpretations of the Bible come from those who believe that it is the inerrant word of God. One reason is obvious: If you believe the work is riddled with mistakes, you don't bother with interpretation at all. What would be the point? So you substitute what you think should have been written instead, or what you suppose really happened, based on some theory of what must have been written or what must have happened.

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Anthony Esolen is a professor at Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts in Warner, New Hampshire, and the author of many books, including Real Music: A Guide to the Timeless Hymns of the Church (Tan, with a CD), Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture (Regnery), and The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord (Ignatius). He has also translated Dante’s Divine Comedy (Random House). He and his wife Debra publish a web magazine, Word and Song (anthonyesolen.substack.com), on poetry, hymnody, language, classic films, and music. He is a senior editor of Touchstone.

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