Bible Facsimiles

I just received an e-mail today letting me know that EEBO and ECCO have started producing printed copies of their scanned Bibles. These are two subscription services that provide online access to scanned documents. EEBO is Early English Books Online and has books, Bibles and documents. There website says this includes items "From the first book published in English through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare, this incomparable collection now contains about 100,000 of over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640) and Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700) and their revised editions, as well as the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661) collection and the Early English Books Tract Supplement." ECCO is Eighteenth Century Collections Online. This site has "every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed in Great Britain during the eighteenth century, along with thousands of important works from the Americas."

These works have been scanned from the originals. That means they have the errors of the originals and possibly scanning errors as well. This could include loss of text (especially in the gutters), faded letters, and other problems. However, they do provide unique access to otherwise hard to find documents. I don't have any copies yet to review, so I can only pass on what I've heard so far.

I have started including links to some of them on my Bible Facsimiles and Reprints page. (Also available by visiting my site and clicking on Bibliography, then Facsimiles.

FarAboveAll Bible Translation

This one was just sent to me by an anonymous friend. It is called the FarAboveAll Bible Translation. The website that it is "Based on the Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine Textform 2005 edition of the New Testament" and shows "Textual Variations from the Received Text and Greek Orthodox Church Patriarchal Text of 1904."

Catalogue of English Bible Translations

I've been looking at the Amazon Kindle lately so I'm browsing through what books are available. I recently found out the William Chamberlin's Catalogue of English Bible Translations: A Classified Bibliography of Versions and Editions Including Books, Parts, and Old and New Testament Apocrypha and Apocryphal Books (print version) has been made into a Kindle edition.

This is the most comprehensive listing of Bible versions available (until he publishes a new book!).

English Versions of the Bible

Today I noticed that English Versions of the Bible by Hugh Pope has been uploaded to the Internet Archive. Pope's book has a good history of the English Bible, an extensive section on Catholic Bibles as well as details of some more obscure versions. This is a great resource to finally have available. The cheapest hard copy I found is $40 on Amazon.com.

Daly's N. T. Translation project

I just found this one this morning. It is a blog called "Daly's N. T. Translation Project." There are discussions about translation issues as well as a translation of 2 Peter. Visit the blog here.

Renewed Covenant Translation

Stephen Walch has completed his Renewed Covenant Translation. It is available on his website The Way to Yahuweh

Solomon's Proverbs Poetically Paraphrased

Vail, Daniel. Solomon’s Proverbs Poetically Paraphrased: An Artistic Adaptation. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Dorrance Publishing Co., Inc., 2005. ISBN 0-8059-6708-7.

This is a 69 page paperback. The cover features a drawing of a man (Solomon?) teaching children. As the title indicates, this a paraphrase. It is presented in rhyming verses usually in paired lines. It is not clear if this is a translation from the Hebrew or a paraphrase of other English versions. There is a short glossary at the end of the book containing a list of 23 less common English words.

One proverb I looked at closely was Proverb 31:10-31 since I’ve read that at several funerals. In the Hebrew, this is an acrostic poem - each line starts with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet (22 letters). The author replicates this technique in English. He readily admits that “liberties were taken” to make this work. Footnotes provide the more literal meaning when this is done throughout the book.

The author does not force rhymes unnecessarily at the expense of meaning. But some sentences are a bit awkward in order to fit the rhyming scheme. For example, Proverbs 31:11 is rendered “Completely her husband trusts her.” What is surprising is how seldom such awkward sentences appear. It must have been quite a challenge to stick to the main idea while producing rhyming poetry.

The very practical nature of the Proverbs leads me to prefer a less poetically arranged rendering. However, the author has worked hard to be faithful to the original Hebrew constructs. Thus it appears he has a solid reason for his renderings. By rephrasing these teachings he may well have helped other understand them better.

I received a free copy of this book from Dorrance Publishing for review purposes. This review is not influenced in any way by receipt of this book.

Solomon's Proverbs Poetically Paraphrased: An Artistic Adaptation

Off Topic Review - Curiosities of the Civil War

This post is off topic for my blog, however it is a review of a book from Thomas Nelson Publishers - well known for publishing Christian books.

Garrison, Web. Curiosities of the Civil War: Strange Stories, Infamous Characters & Bizarre Events. Nashville, etc: Thomas Nelson, 2011.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson publishers. I am in no way obligated by them to provide anything but my honest review.

Prepare to be overwhelmed with facts! This book is full of amazing details of the Civil war I have never heard before. Clearly Webb has been conducting extensive research on this important part of our history. Some details are interesting tidbits with no real bearing on the war (i.e. P. G. T. Beauregard was superintendent oft he U. S. Military Academy for only four days). Others are key events in this history such as the time that Confederate General Joseph Johnston was wounded twice, giving Jefferson Davis excuse to replace him with the now well known Robert E. Lee.

The book is divided into nine parts which contain general topics such as "Memorable Players," "No Two Military Events Were Identical" and "Notorious and nonesuch." Each part is then futher divided. Part two "Supporting Members of the Cast" is divided into chapters dealing with wives, clergymen, hostages, horses and other animals. These divisions are helpful for finding a fact one has already read. I kept reading things I wanted to tell other people. Being able to locate that interesting item again was great.

One slight drawback to the book is that it reads a bit like a list of details. It wasn't a book I wanted to read all in one sitting. But the writing is engaging, interesting and well done. It is not written like an encyclopedia nor is it boring.

There is also a certain bias to the book. It appears the writer leans toward sympathy for the Confederate cause. This doesn't show up everywhere in the book, but is noticeable in his descriptions of Abraham Lincoln.

In starting to read this book, I realized how little I really know about the Civil War. After reading, I feel that I know much more. I would have to say this book served not just to inform me but also to whet my appetite to learn more. I will definitely be sharing this book with others!


Curiosities of the Civil War: Strange Stories, Infamous Characters and Bizarre Events