THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
1815) was not wide-spread (cf. J. N. Sinnhold, Ausjuhrliche Historic der Wertheim Bibel, Erfurt, 1739).
The eighteenth century was not destitute of attempts to carry on the old tradition in a spirit of orthodox edification. The first was that of Christoph Starke (New Testament, 3 vols., 1733 sqq.; Old Testament, 6 vols., 1741 sqq.), which gave Luther's text with extended comments from
_ _ older expositors and ascetic writers,
Works, introductions to each book, and a summary of each chapter. Next came the Hirschberg Bible (1756-63), an excellent work which fell flat at the time and was rescued from oblivion only by a reprint in 1844 under the patronage of Frederick William IV The age was not favorable to the spread of Biblical study, and but a few readers were found for the commentary translated from English expositors by R. Teller, J. A. Dietelmayer, and Brucker (19 vols., 1749-70), or for the edition of Michaelis (1769-92).
But the revival of religious devotion ultimately made itself felt in this field. Friedrich von Meyer's revised translation with short, pointed comments and uncritical introductions appeared in 1819. More widely read were Richter's (1834-40) and Lisco's (1833-43). A more learned and thorough work was that of Otto von Gerlach in 6 vols., which is still popular in North Germany, as is the Calwer Handbuch der Bibelerkldrung (1849) in the South. Other more recent editions which may be mentioned here are those of Bunsen (9 vols., 1858-70), Christian Muller (Collegium Biblicum, 6 vols., 1879-84), Johann Peter Lange (36 vols., 1856-77), K. A. Dachsel (illustrated, 7 vols., 1865-80), and R. J. Grau (2 vols., 1S77-80). [J. F. Allioli's annotated Bible (6 vols., Nuremberg, 1830-34) has been very popular among Roman Catholics.]
(H. Holscher.)
II. English: As a rule, Bible societies publish the Scriptures " without note or comment " — a wise plan, for it secures the widest circulation of the Word of God. In early times, however, when a person bought a Bible, he found between the covers not only the Old and the New Testaments, but a commentary in the notes attached, a concordance at the end, and a small dictionary in the introduction and tables. These special editions had their day, and fell into disuse, for very evident reasons. The numerous comments made the volume too bulky for convenience and general use; the notes were likely to be one-sided and subjective, so that a man's theology might be judged by his Bible, from its being supplied with comments by Doddridge, or those of D'Oyly and Mant; however acceptable the annotations might be fur a time, eventually they were superseded by later scholarship. Moreover, in the last half-century commentaries, Bible dictionaries, and concordances have grown into great volumes, and constitute a distinct class of literature. They have found their true places apart from the inspired words of the Bible.
Annotated Bibles date back to the time of the Reformation. Matthew's Bible (1537) had annotations, and John Rogers, who was the real translator of this Bible, showed by his notes, especially
1. Matthew's and the Geneva Bible.
2. The
Bishops'
Bible.
on the subjects of faith, holy life, and repentance, that he was in full touch with the most advanced Protestantism. The Geneva Bible (1560) attained its great popularity and fame by its prologues and marginal notes. These annotations are so numerous and miscellaneous that it is not easy to give in a brief statement a fair representation of their general tenor. Many are strongly antipapal, and for that reason they were especially acceptable to overzealous Reformers. As might be expected, the Geneva notes are also Calvinistic. When the Geneva Bible was first published, Calvin was the ruling spirit in Geneva. All the features of his theological, ecclesiastical, political, and social system are accordingly reflected in the marginal annotations of the English Bible that issued from the city of his residence. The political doctrine of the book was as much disliked by kings of the absolute order, as were the ecclesiastical notes by infallible popes, and one of the reasons that led King James, in 1604, to agree readily to a new translation of the Scriptures, was his dislike of the politics preached on the margins of the Geneva Bible.
The marginal notes in the Bishops' Bible (1568) are not very numerous, and they are generally not interesting. They were designed mostly for readers of weak capacity. A few, which are valuable and entertaining, are taken verbatim, without acknowledgment, from the Geneva Bible. Some of them, too, remind of Geneva caps and predestination in a way that would Bcarcely be expected in a Bible issued by a body of prelates. The distribution of notes in the Bishops' Bible is very irregular and unequal. In some books hard to understand, such as the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, the notes are very sparse, so that five or six consecutive pages may be found here and there without a single annotation; while in other books, such as Genesis, Exodus, Job, and the Epistles of St. Paul, the notes are very frequent.
In the original edition of the Authorized Version (1611), the number of marginal references to corresponding passages, including those in the Apocrypha, was about 9,000. Large as this number seems, it is but a small fraction of what the references now amount to in some well-edited Bibles. These references, doubtless, have their value, but it can not be denied that many of them obscure the meaning of the statements to which they are attached. It is different, however, with what are called the marginal notes. In the original edition (1611) these notes were nearly as numerous as the marginal references. In the Old Testament there were 6,588 references and 6,637 notes; in the New Testament 1,517 references and 765 notes; in the Apocrypha SS5 references and 1,017 notes. These notes are brief and non-polemical, differing in these respects very markedly from the annotations in both Matthew's and the Geneva Bible. They indicate, for the most part, alternative or more literal renderings. In some
3. The Authorized "Version.