The Wycliffe Bible, also known as Wycliffe’s Bible, was the first complete English translation of the Bible. It was translated from the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and his followers in the late 14th century.
John Wycliffe (c. 1320s – 1384) was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, biblical translator, reformer, priest, and a seminary professor at the University of Oxford. He became influential in the rising opposition to the Western Church and also instigated a departure from the philosophical realism of his time.
Wycliffe promoted the first complete English Bible so that English people could read the scriptures in their own language. He believed this would give them increased access to the Word of God. At that time, the only authorized version of the Bible was the Latin Vulgate, which was inaccessible to laypeople who did not read Latin.
The Latin Vulgate had been the predominant Bible translation used by Western Christianity since the 5th century AD. Jerome (c. 347-420 AD) originally translated the Bible into Latin in the late 4th century at the request of Pope Damasus I. This translation became known as the Vulgate (meaning ‘common’) because it was in the common language of the people (Latin).
However, by the 14th century few people in England could read or understand Latin. The Roman Catholic Church had also started restricting access to the Bible, teaching that only priests and other clergy should have direct access to scripture. Wycliffe strongly opposed this belief, arguing that all Christians should be free to read God’s word for themselves.
To make the Bible accessible to the common people, Wycliffe translated the Vulgate into vernacular English. This was a radical act at the time, as the Vulgate was the only legally accepted version of the Bible. Translating the Bible into English went against the wishes of the Papacy and made Wycliffe’s translation illegal according to church law.
Wycliffe is credited with overseeing the first translation of the entire Bible into English around 1382. It is not known exactly how much of the translation he personally worked on, but he likely translated part of the New Testament himself and supervised other scholars in the translation.
The translators worked from Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, as there were no Hebrew or Greek manuscripts available in Europe at the time. The work drew from the earlier partial Old English Biblical translations, as well as from the contemporary French Bible translation of Jean de Sy.
Wycliffe’s Bible pre-dated the printing press, so each copy had to be handwritten. It therefore circulated in various revised copies. The earliest manuscripts were likely compiled in Oxford around 1382 before being revised and circulated by Wycliffe’s followers, known as Lollards.
The text of Wycliffe’s Bible was not from a single translator or group working together, but from many hands. It went through different stages of growth over a period of 30 years, from the late 1370s to the early 15th century. There were two independent recensions or versions that branched from the same textual tradition.
The Earlier Version of the Wycliffe Bible was edited during Wycliffe’s lifetime and likely under his supervision. This text is characterized by a certain roughness of style and retained much Latinized vocabulary from the Vulgate. It exhibits roughness in expression at times.
The Later Version represents a thorough revision (not just copying) of the Earlier Version, smoothing out much of the rough, awkward language. This polished revision was done by John Purvey and others after Wycliffe’s death around 1388. Purvey provided an eloquent prologue about the Bible translation project and their methods.
So in summary, the Wycliffe Bible exists in two textual versions:
1. The Earlier Version from the late 14th century, likely overseen by Wycliffe.
2. The Later Version from the late 14th and early 15th centuries, revised by Purvey and others after Wycliffe’s death.
Wycliffe’s Bible had a strong influence on later Bible translations. It helped pave the way for future English translations like Tyndale’s New Testament (1526) and the King James Version of the Bible (1611).
Some key points about the Wycliffe Bible:
– It was the first complete Bible translated into English. Earlier partial Old English Biblical translations existed, like the Wessex Gospels, but this was the first entire Bible.
– It was translated from the Latin Vulgate rather than from the original Hebrew and Greek. There were no Hebrew or Greek texts available in Wycliffe’s time.
– The translation aimed to make the Bible accessible to laypeople and give them unmediated access to scripture in their own language. This went against Catholic Church teaching at the time.
– The translation circulated in handwritten copies before the invention of the printing press around 1440.
– It exists in two textual versions – the earlier rougher translation overseen by Wycliffe, and the later smoother revision by Purvey.
– The Bible was condemned by Church authorities and declared heretical. But it continued to circulate and influenced later translations.
– Wycliffe’s Bible helped lay the foundation for the 16th century Protestant Reformation. Reformers like William Tyndale continued Wycliffe’s work of translating scripture into English.
The Wycliffe Bible made the scriptures widely available in people’s native tongue for the first time in centuries. It helped break the Catholic Church’s monopoly over scripture while empowering laypeople to read the Bible for themselves. This aligned with Wycliffe’s goal of purifying the Church and promoting broader literacy and education.
Though Wycliffe’s Bible was based on the Vulgate rather than original language texts, it pioneered laying God’s word before ordinary people. This missionary effort helped pave the way for Reformation ideals centering on scripture’s accessibility. The Wycliffe Bible’s impact continues today through the legacy of vernacular Bible translation work it helped inspire.