The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Open Letter on Translating, by Gary Mann

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Title: An Open Letter on Translating

Author: Gary Mann

Release Date: April 25, 2008 [EBook #272]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN OPEN LETTER ON TRANSLATING ***

An Open Letter on Translating

By Dr. Martin Luther, 1483-1546

Translated from:
"Sendbrief von Dolmetschen"
in _Dr. Martin Luthers Werke_,
(Weimar: Hermann Boehlaus Nachfolger, 1909),
Band 30, Teil II, pp. 632-646

by Gary Mann, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Religion/Theology
Augustana College
Rock Island, Illinois

Preface

Wenceslas Link to all believers in Christ:

The wise Solomon says in Proverbs 11: "The people who withhold
grain curse him. But there is a blessing on those who sell it."
This verse speaks truly concerning all that can serve the common
good or the well-being of Christendom. This is the reason the
master in the gospel reprimands the unfaithful servant like a lazy
scoundrel for having hidden and buried his money in the ground.
So that this curse of the Lord and the entire Church might be
avoided, I must publish this letter which came into my possession
through a good friend. I could not withhold it, as there has been
much discussion about the translating of the Old and New
Testaments. It has been charged by the despisers of truth that
the text has been modified and even falsified in many places,
which has shocked and startled many simple Christians, even among
the educated who do not know any Hebrew or Greek. It is devoutly
hoped that with this publication the slander of the godless will
be stopped and the scruples of the devout removed, at least in
part. It may even give rise to more writing on such matters and
questions such as these. So I ask all friends of the Truth to
seriously take this work to heart and faithfully pray to God for a
proper understanding of the divine Scriptures towards the
improvement and increase of our common Christendom. Amen.

Nuremberg Sept. 15, 1530.

To the Honorable and Worthy N., my favorite lord and friend.

Grace and peace in Christ, honorabl