Just reading the Bible in its original form is not very easy. First you have language and many “language idiosyncrasies” to overcome. Then you have the writing style. The Bible was written originally in “uncial” style. This type of writing consists of writing in all capital letters with no connection between letters, no spaces between words and sentences, no periods or comas and not chapters or verses or chapter headings, etc. It would look like this:INTHEBEGINNINGWASTHEWORDANDTHEWORDWASWITHGODANDTHEWORDWASGODHEWASINTHEBEGINNINGWITHGODALLTHINGSWEREMADETHROUGHHIMANDWITHOUTHIMWASNOTANYTHINGMADETHATWASMADEINHIMWASLIFEANDTHELIFEWASTHELIGHTOFMENTHELIGHTSHINESINTHEDARKNESSANDTHEDARKNESSHASNOTOVERCOMEITTHEREWASAMANSENTFROMGODWHOSENAMEWASJOHNHECAMEASAWITNESSTOBEARWITNESSABOUTTHELIGHTTHATALLMIGHTBELIEVETHROUGHHIMHEWASNOTTHELIGHTBUTCAMETOBEARWITNESSABOUTTHELIGHTTHETRUELIGHTWHICHENLIGHTENSEVERYONEWASCOMINGINTOTHEWORLD
In our modern translations we have no problem reading John 1:1-9. All aspects of grammar need to be applied in addition to figuring out what the word means and how it is being used. But this style of “uncial” writing was popular until around 800 AD.
From this simple example we can well understand why Bishops carefully oversaw the translation of the Bible. Bibles for the most part were handwritten by monks from roughly 405 to 1452 or until the invention of printing in 1450.
I just thought you’d like to know.
Fr. Klein
In our modern translations we have no problem reading John 1:1-9. All aspects of grammar need to be applied in addition to figuring out what the word means and how it is being used. But this style of “uncial” writing was popular until around 800 AD.
From this simple example we can well understand why Bishops carefully oversaw the translation of the Bible. Bibles for the most part were handwritten by monks from roughly 405 to 1452 or until the invention of printing in 1450.
I just thought you’d like to know.
Fr. Klein
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