I just read that John Wycliffe's Bible translation included the Epistle of the Loadiceans. Does anyone know if there are any other similar surprises - inclusions or exclusions?
Thanks.
I just read that John Wycliffe's Bible translation included the Epistle of the Loadiceans. Does anyone know if there are any other similar surprises - inclusions or exclusions? Thanks.
I am unaware of the precise contents of Wycliffe's translation though I do know that it was made from the Vulgate rather than from the original languages. It is said that Wycliffe himself translated only the NT which is a better translation than the OT which was done by Nicholas of Hereford with the whole being revised by John Purvey. Since it was made from the Vulgate, one would expect that its contents would reflect whatever was contained in its exemplar. Wycliffe's works were known and read by Jan Hus.
There are a few great resources in Logos that will expand on your question: The Bible in Translation by Bruce Metzger and The Canon of Scripture by FF Bruce. I think you will find them very informative as to how we arrived at our canon.
John Fidel
The Epistle to the Laodiceans has been included as an appendix to many editions of the Vulgate, including the Stuttgart edition edited by Weber and available for Logos. As such, it has a similar status as the Prayer of Manasseh and 1 (3) and 2 (4) Esdras, which are also 'appendix' material to the Vulgate, but not considered canonical in the Catholic Church - though it could probably be argued that the latter enjoy a higher standing than the Epistle. This is not unlike the situation in the Septuagint used by the Greek Orthodox, with 4 Maccabees enjoying a higher status in the appendix than the Psalms of Solomon or Odes.
For a bird's eye view of the contents of many Bible traditions, you might enjoy the chart prepared for Bible Study Magazine found here:
http://www.biblestudymagazine.com/interactive/canon/
I studied the Lollards at University and the main author you want to read from about Wycliff's translations is Ann Hudson.
