Rating: 
Summary: Blessings in disguise?
Review: Due to the many readings that I do in Latin with quite frequent references to Latin sentences in the Holy Bible, I bought this "Biblia Sacra Vulgata" to assist me whenever occurred a biblical quotation in Latin. I am presently reading the monumental Suma Teologica, by Thomas Aquinas, some 3.000 pages of Middle Ages Latin and fully populated of biblical references. So, a few hours after receiving the package from Amazon, I got down to business: making a parallel reading in the Biblia Vulgata of all the sentences in Latin quoted by Saint Thomas. I was exhilarated by the outcome!!. Ok, this edition is not exactly the one Saint THomas had to peruse and quote, but all in all, the thing is much better than I thought at the first time and it is worth all the money I invested on it. The sheer pleasure of reading a text translated by Saint Jerome, of reading the prefaces in German, French, English and Latin is something difficult to be equaled by any other opus. Besides all that, this richly printed edition is full of adequately placed footnotes by the editor, with many (all?) references to differences between the many different editions of the Bible. To top it all, the Latin Prefaces by Saint Jerome (c.347-420 A.D.) are purveyors of the strong intensity of the Saint religious passion and thoughts, having the value of his many comments on doctrinal points.
The Biblia Vulgata is one of the most important documents of all times, being the all important media that made it possible to Christianity to prevail throughout centuries to come, be it in the form of Roman Catholicism, be it trough the many denominational religions that sprung up as Christian creeds and sects.
Written in Latin, it rivals in importance with the Septuaginta, the Tora and the Arabic Coran, and tells the Creationist view of the formation and development of the world.
It is mostly the output of an indefatigable man, Saint Jerome, who translatated into Latin many Hebrew texts of the Old Testament, a gigantic task in itself, if we consider that its Greek counterpart, the Septuaginta, was the work of 70 wise men, who, divinely inspired according to tradition, translated Hebrew biblical texts into Greek.
If you are deeply interested in the Latin language, and have good dictionaries that followed the evolvement of Latin since its inception, this is one of the (holy) books you must have.
Valete!!
Rating:
Summary: The One Treasure that Survived the Dark Ages
Review: Eusebius Hieronymus, known to history as St. Jerome, lived in the honeymoon period of the late fourth and early fifth centuries AD, when the aging groom known as the Roman Empire was freshly acquainting itself with the virgin bride known as the Church. Being born and raised in Aquileia, Dalmatia-- a region in the extreme northeast of the Italian peninsula, Jerome from the outset was exposed to diversity of language, seeing as how that region was on the borders of the Latin and Greek speaking halves of the fractured Empire. Jerome was among the last, privledged few who would receive a classical Greco-Roman education, being sent to Rome at age 12 to study Grammar under the famed grammarian Donatus. Though Donatus' influence on Jerome's literary style remains unproven, years later it would be Jerome's Vulgate and Donatus' Grammar that would be the two building blocks of mediaeval Latin, and the parental texts to all initiates in the Latin language in the Middle Ages. After mastering Latin, Jerome visited Palestine and the Near East, perfecting his Greek and acquainting himself with Hebrew. Legends of his life at this time abound: a hermit wandering in the wilderness, nursing injured lions. His spirit, mind, and body having been tempered with the harsh living, Jerome settled back in Rome where he became secretary to Pope Damasus. Damasus immediately saw Jerome's talent in linguistics, and commisioned him to revise the clumsy and provincial Old Latin text of the Four Gospels. When it was finished (dedicated to Damasus), Jerome realised he had found his calling in life and was inspired to revise the rest of the Latin Bible. His work, over a period of nearly 40 years till his death in AD 420, was a tireless effort of collecting ancient texts, countless revising, answering critics with his infamous sharp tongue, and weathering the indifferent initial rejection of his work. In the end, it was a monument of Late Classical learning and scholarship. Though it had to at first win over criticism from those who held on to the Old Latin version, the Vulgate of Jerome soon won out by its own merits as the superior version.
This edition offered here is published in Stuttgart, Germany by Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft and distributed in America by the American Bible Society. It is the critical edition edited by Robert Weber et al., (being the 4th edition of 1994). In its goal to present the most ancient and original version of the Vulgate (closest to what is believed Jerome produced), the editors have utilized the Old Testament as revised by Benedictine monks in Rome based on the oldest Vulgate manuscripts, and the New Testament of Wordsworth and White corrected against the best ancient Greek texts. Variants in the text are provided at the bottom of the pages with differing letters symbolizing and denoting the ancient textual witnesses. A chart at the beginning of this Bible provides the key to these letter-symbols. The text itself is sparse and unpunctuated, much like medieval renderings of the Vulgate, but one can pick up the rhythm of the Latin prose and poetry of the Scripture since the lines are arranged to correspond to natural pause and meter in speech. The books too, continue one into the other like the its Middle-Age forbears, with the occasional prefaces to certain books or sections by Jerome himself (thoughfully included) breaking the continuity. Prefaces in Latin, German, French and English at the beginning of the Book state the editors' purpose in this edition of the Vulgate. This edition is suited best to critical study of the Vulgate rather than private devotion, and those used to the traditional, "Clementine" Vulgate may not like its unfamiliar format. However, this is the version of the Vulgate that is the basis of the majority of sites on the Internaet that offer a searchable Vulgate text, and is the one most reccommended by scholars.
Rating:
Summary: It's better in Latin.
Review: I would first like to state that I am not a scholar; I am reading the Biblia Sacra Vulgata simply because I wanted to, and my commentary is therefore more from an enjoyment perspective than an educated discussion. That being said...This text is wonderful. I have read the Bible in English, jumping between the King James, American Standard, and the New International Versions. They range from pretty to informative, but none of these translations can possibly compare to the Latin. Latin lacks English's precision, which is a good thing. Hebrew and Greek don't have this inflexibility and I've always felt that an English translation limits the authors' meanings. And although nothing provides the true meaning like the original language, Latin does a lot to alleviate this feeling for me. St. Jerome's translation is beautiful. The text seems to float through the stories with captivating imagery. The diction used adds depth and feeling that only a language like Latin can give. In my mind there are three good reasons to read the Biblia Sacra. First is that it is a beautiful, captivating read. Second is to further your Latin. The Biblia Sacra is not a difficult read and it doesn't take much study in Latin to be able to get through the texts passably. It's Medieval Latin, so the phraseology is much more like a modern Romance language and easier for us students to catch on to than say, Virgil or Cicero. The final reason is for those who, like me, see the Bible as a holy text, and not just a great historical document (which it is as well). Each translation of the Bible has something that the others don't - some insight that only that language and that translator could provide. I recommend you read the Latin to show yourself these stories in a different light. I guarantee you'll find something new and joyous.
Rating:
Summary: It's better in Latin.
Review: I would first like to state that I am not a scholar; I am reading the Biblia Sacra Vulgata simply because I wanted to, and my commentary is therefore more from an enjoyment perspective than an educated discussion. That being said... This text is wonderful. I have read the Bible in English, jumping between the King James, American Standard, and the New International Versions. They range from pretty to informative, but none of these translations can possibly compare to the Latin. Latin lacks English's precision, which is a good thing. Hebrew and Greek don't have this inflexibility and I've always felt that an English translation limits the authors' meanings. And although nothing provides the true meaning like the original language, Latin does a lot to alleviate this feeling for me. St. Jerome's translation is beautiful. The text seems to float through the stories with captivating imagery. The diction used adds depth and feeling that only a language like Latin can give. In my mind there are three good reasons to read the Biblia Sacra. First is that it is a beautiful, captivating read. Second is to further your Latin. The Biblia Sacra is not a difficult read and it doesn't take much study in Latin to be able to get through the texts passably. It's Medieval Latin, so the phraseology is much more like a modern Romance language and easier for us students to catch on to than say, Virgil or Cicero. The final reason is for those who, like me, see the Bible as a holy text, and not just a great historical document (which it is as well). Each translation of the Bible has something that the others don't - some insight that only that language and that translator could provide. I recommend you read the Latin to show yourself these stories in a different light. I guarantee you'll find something new and joyous.
Rating:
Summary: Critical edition of THE classic
Review: I'm a very new student of Latin, and not an expert on the Vulgate, so take my review for what it's worth. As far as I can tell, there are three versions of the Vulgate in print today, and I have copies of all three of them. So I thought that perhaps those who don't want to buy three versions might appreciate a neophyte's impression of their relative strengths and weaknesses. The full names on the title pages are rather long, so I'll just refer to these three versions briefly as the Stuttgart Vulgate (Biblia Sacra iuxta vulgatam versionem), the New Vulgate (Bibliorum Sacrorum nova vulgata editio), and the Madrid Clementina (Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam Clementinam). The Stuttgart Vulgate is available here on Amazon. It is a critical attempt to restore the Vulgate to its original Latin text. It comes with a complete critical apparatus showing variant readings from the most important Latin manuscripts. This version comes with the prefaces of St. Jerome, the old medieval critical apparatus of the Gospels (canones evangelorum), the apocryphal books of III and IV Ezra, Psalm 151, Prayer of Manasses, and the Epistle to the Laodiceans, as well as the complete Catholic canon. It also contains two complete Psalters, both by St. Jerome: The Psalterium Gallicanum and the Psalterium juxta Hebraicum. The two psalters are laid out side-by-side on facing pages to facilitate comparison. This version attempts to reconstruct the experience of reading a medieval manuscript, so the spelling is medieval, which can be a problem for anyone used to the Clementina, and to anyone looking up words in a dictionary. The text also lacks punctuation: no commas, colons, periods, question marks, or quotation marks; this actually is not a major problem in Latin, which is so rich in conjunctions. However, the lack of question marks sometimes gives me pause, as when Caiaphas says to Jesus "Tu es Christus Filius Benedicti" (Mc 14,61). The text is well cross referenced, and the typeface is modern and easy to read. The Madrid Clementina does not seem to be currently (May 2002) available at Amazon, but it is available elsewhere on the internet. The Clementina was the official Latin text of the Catholic Church from 1502 to 1979. The Madrid edition includes a great many magisterial documents, and the biblical text is footnoted also with references to magisterial documents, although the prefaces of St. Jerome are missing, and there is no critical apparatus. Color maps are provided, but they are labeled in Spanish, not Latin. The orthography is fully modern, with modern punctuation and typeface. Like the Stuttgart Vulgate, this edition has two psalters (in adjacent columns for easy comparison): The traditional Psalterium Gallicanum, and the new Psalterium Pianum, a modern (1940's) translation of the Hebrew into neo-classical Latin. One of the delights of the Clementina is that it eclectically preserves some of the text from the ancient pre-Vulgate Latin versions, which reflect the early Latin liturgy of the Church. The New Vulgate has replaced the Clementina as the official Latin text of the Catholic Church. Its New Testament and most of its Old, like the Stuttgart Vulgate, are based on a critical reconstruction of the original Vulgate text. However, in some cases the ancient text was amended to accord with the modern Greek and Hebrew critical editions. The spelling and punctuation are all modern, so in the majority of the verses the New Vulgate text is identical to the Clementina, but in Psalms, Judith, and Tobit, there are significant differences. I know of two editions of the new Vulgate, the one from Libraria Editrix Vaticana, and the Nestle-Aland edition; both editions are available here at Amazon. We can expect to see much more of the New Vulgate now that its use has been endorsed in the recent encyclical Litugiam Authenticam. The Vatican edition is available used here on Amazon under the title Bibliorum Sacrorum nova vulgata editio. It contains the complete Old and New Testaments, but no prefaces, cross references, nor commentary, and has a minimal critical apparatus. It seems to be designed more for use in the pulpit than the armchair. Physically, it is an excellent tome made from red leather with gold lettering, large typeface in one column with plenty of margin on thick pages. It looks magnificent on my bookshelf. More likely to be on my bureau is the Nestle-Aland edition of the New Vulgate. It contains only the New Testament, and is sold here under the title "Novum Testamentum Latine". The editors provide you with a thorough critical apparatus comparing the New Vulgate with other printed Latin versions such as the Clementina and Stuttgart, mentioned above, the Sistina, the Gutenberg, and some other editions I'm not very familiar with (the Complutensian, Roberti Stephani, Bartolomaei Gravii, and Christophori Plantini). Like the Madrid Clementina, this edition has color maps, but they are labeled in English, not Latin.
Rating:
Summary: Critical edition of THE classic
Review: I'm a very new student of Latin, and not an expert on the
Vulgate, so take my review for what it's worth. As far as I
can tell, there are three versions of the Vulgate in print
today, and I have copies of all three of them. So I thought
that perhaps those who don't want to buy three versions might
appreciate a neophyte's impression of their relative strengths
and weaknesses. The full names on the title pages are rather
long, so I'll just refer to these three versions briefly as
the Stuttgart Vulgate (Biblia Sacra iuxta vulgatam versionem),
the New Vulgate (Bibliorum Sacrorum nova vulgata editio), and
the Madrid Clementina (Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam
Clementinam). The Stuttgart Vulgate is available here on Amazon. It is a
critical attempt to restore the Vulgate to its original Latin
text. It comes with a complete critical apparatus showing
variant readings from the most important Latin manuscripts.
This version comes with the prefaces of St. Jerome, the old medieval critical apparatus of the Gospels (canones
evangelorum), the apocryphal books of III and IV Ezra, Psalm
151, Prayer of Manasses, and the Epistle to the Laodiceans, as
well as the complete Catholic canon. It also contains two
complete Psalters, both by St. Jerome: The Psalterium
Gallicanum and the Psalterium juxta Hebraicum. The two
psalters are laid out side-by-side on facing pages to
facilitate comparison. This version attempts to reconstruct
the experience of reading a medieval manuscript, so the
spelling is medieval, which can be a problem for anyone used
to the Clementina, and to anyone looking up words in a
dictionary. The text also lacks punctuation: no commas,
colons, periods, question marks, or quotation marks; this
actually is not a major problem in Latin, which is so rich in
conjunctions. However, the lack of question marks sometimes
makes me double take, as when Caiaphas says to Jesus "Tu es
Christus Filius Benedicti" (Mc 14,61). The text is well cross
referenced, and the typeface is modern and easy to read. The Madrid Clementina does not seem to be currently (May 2002)
available at Amazon, but it is available elsewhere on the
internet. The Clementina was the official Latin text of the
Catholic Church from 1502 to 1979. The Madrid edition includes
a great many magisterial documents, and the biblical text is
footnoted also with references to magisterial documents,
although the prefaces of St. Jerome are missing, and there is
no critical apparatus. Color maps are provided, but they are
labeled in Spanish. The orthography is fully modern, with
modern punctuation and typeface. Like the Stuttgart Vulgate,
this edition has two psalters (in adjacent columns for easy
comparison): The traditional Psalterium Gallicanum, and the
new Psalterium Pianum, a modern (1940's) translation of the
Hebrew into neo-classical Latin. One of the delights of the
Clementina is that it eclectically preserves some of the text from the ancient pre-Vulgate Latin versions, which reflect the
second century Latin liturgy of the Church. The New Vulgate has replaced the Clementina as the official
Latin text of the Catholic Church. Like the Stuttgart Vulgate,
it is based on a critical reconstruction of the original
Vulgate text. However, in some cases the ancient text was
amended to accord with the latest notions of biblical
scholarship. The spelling and punctuation are all modern, so
in the vast majority of the verses the New Vulgate text is
identical to the Clementina. The biggest exception is the Book
of Psalms. The Psalter of the New Vulgate is a thorough,
modern revision of the traditional Gallican, making it accord
much more closely to the Hebrew Massorah. I know of two
editions of the new Vulgate, the one from Libreria Editrix
Vaticana, and the Nestle-Aland edition; both editions are
available here at Amazon. We can expect to see much more of
the New Vulgate now that its use has been endorsed in the
recent encyclical Litugiam Authenticam. The Vatican edition is available used here on Amazon under the
title Bibliorum Sacrorum nova vulgata editio. It contains the
complete Old and New Testaments, but no prefaces, cross
references, nor commentary, and has a minimal critical
apparatus. It seems to be designed more for use in the pulpit
than the armchair. Physically, it is an excellent tome made
from red leather with gold lettering, large typeface in one
column with plenty of margin on thick pages. It looks
magnificent on my bookshelf. More likely to be on my bureau is the Nestle-Aland edition
of the New Vulgate. It contains only the New Testament, and
is sold here under the title "Novum Testamentum Latine". The
editors provide you with a thorough critical apparatus
comparing the New Vulgate with other printed Latin versions
such as the Clementina and Stuttgart, mentioned above, the
Sistina, the Gutenberg, and some other editions I'm not very
familiar with (Ximenes, Roberti Stephani, Bartolomaei
Gravii, and Christophori Plantini). Like the Madrid
Clementina, this edition has color maps, but they are
labeled in English, not Latin.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun Choice
Review: Life in the Latin reviews tend to be heavy with the "I am learning folk" and I am not an exception to that but one more. I am an independent. I switched to simplified Church Latin, have been going through Memoria Press after a couple of months of many, oh so many, "Learn Classical Latin" texts and programs. By the end of Latina Christiana Book I, I didn't have any problems with pronunciation. I can sit and read aloud with reasonable accuracy. If you grasped Church Latin pronunciation you'll be fine. Speed and ease will come rapidly as the words become more familiar. An early independent will notice and recognize fragments. I find the best thing to do is let my comprehension just come naturally. A few words now and then egg me to pull out a dictionary. Spare yourself. The biggest egger is "Cockle." It is a strange looking cookie in Latin. Look that one word up before approaching the NT. Every week a little more comes into focus effortlessly from the materials I am teaching myself by. I swear that Jesus is a real good sport being moved about by the newbie into the sea, from the sea, standing when he should be sitting, and suffering other numerous indignities.
Oh go on. Have fun! You can be premature in this and read aloud without much of a clue in comprehension.
Rating:
Summary: Truly a masterpiece for the scholar and the layman!
Review: My opinion on this translation is the following: EXCELLENT!!! I'm not fluent in Ecclesiastical Latin but because I've learned Greek and French (one Latin was based on, one based off Latin), I know good portions of Vulgar Latin. But then again, Jerome's Vulgate Latin was never meant to be tough anyway. I really enjoyed this book. Being a Bible student, I have enjoyed ABS' Greek New Testament and soon will be enjoying their Hebrew Old Testament, for sure. The famed Catholic monk and Saint Jerome translated the Vulgate well over a millenium ago as commissioned by the Pope. He used the Septuagint, Greek New Testament and various other documents to compare texts with, including Syrian texts. After all his hard work and labor, it paid off in his new translation in what was then the layman's language, the vulgar language (Latin), "The Vulgate of St. Jerome". Like I said before, the Latin in the Vulgate is simple. This one contains the OT Apocrypha, so nothing has been left out since the original version. At the end of this edition is included Pseudepigraphal texts like the Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151 and 3 & 4 Ezra. This Bible has it all, even non-canonical books. The size of this Bible is perfect, not too big, not too small. Something one can easily carry to church and open without getting carpal tunnel. Unlike their Greek New Testament, ABS seems to have used much better and more sturdier binding and materials in the cover for this book. It is a beautiful dark green and has a marker ribbon, as well. It has fine print, but doesn't bother me at all, I'm used to reading small print. While this translation is quite costly, it is well worth the money. I know it was for me, it is definitely one of my favorite Bibles in my collection. If you love Latin, classical languages or wish to read an older version of your Bible that came before the KJV, Geneva or even Wycliffe, GET THIS BOOK!!!
Rating:
Summary: The humble book that created Western Civilization
Review: St. Jerome, as a Late-Roman-Empire scholar, was bilingual. He was fluent and literate in both Greek and Latin. He was much closer to New Testament Greek than more recent translators of the Bible, because he wrote only about three centuries after the New Testament books were written. Differently from most Late-Roman-Empire scholars (even Christian ones), he was also literate in Hebrew. He did not write this book for his peers all of whom were fluent in Greek, but for the lowest of the low, the uneducated people of Western Europe who could not understand Greek, and needed a Bible in popular Latin, to be read to them. After the collapse of civilization and the destruction, by Moslem hordes, of the centers of wealth and culture in Palestine, North Africa and Anatolia, Western Europe was isolated, poor and ignorant. This humble book was now barely readable by the most "educated". But readable it was, because it was meant to be easy. And it saved Christianity and Western Civilization. After being the humble Bible of the uneducated, this book was now the most prized possession of the new Europe; indeed it was her only possession. This was the book that monks copied in their cells. This was the book reproduced in the illuminated manuscripts that were the first art form of the new Europe. This was the book that the Crusaders took with them to Palestine. This, a thousand years after Jerome, was the first book that Gutenberg printed. No one can study any aspect of Western Civilization without having this book at his or her side.
Rating:
Summary: Vulgate Origin
Review: The fairest review is to comment on the origin of this Bible translation. This is the Word of God and I am not worthy to comment on it's content. Approximately 227 BC, seventy scholars at Alexandria, Egypt, translated the Old Testament (from the original Hebrew) into Greek. This was known as the Septuagint. The Vulgate (from vulger, "to make common or public") was a Latin translation of the Septuagint version of the Old Testament and of the original Greek of the New Testament. It was made in North Africa and revised in the 4th century by Jerome. For a thousand years this was the standard Bible in the Catholic church. The common people couldn't read Latin. The leader read to the people. During the Dark Ages God's word was locked up in the Latin language.
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