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| The wine press became the printing press. |
The Ottoman Empire
After the prophet Mohammed died, in 632 AD, his enemies
rose up to remove his influence from Arabia. Instead, his followers countered
and wiped out all active opposition.
The
Byzantine Empire was protected against invasion until the growth of the Ottoman
Empire in the 1300s. Byzantium did not have a warlike culture, but the Muslims
were active in conquest. By 1453, the Byzantine Empire had been whittled down
to Constantinople alone, and it fell on May 29th. The last emperor
of Constantinople, who died fighting, was named Constantine, just as the last
emperor of Rome was named Romulus and died fighting in 476, which was
considered the end of the Roman Empire.
Constantinople
became Istanbul by combining the Greek words for “into the city.”[1]
The great and golden metropolis was simply called “The City,” just as New York
City is today. A lawyer who worked in New York said to us, “I can do my work in
the suburbs, so I seldom have to go into the City.” He added, “That is how we tell
newcomers from old hands. New York is simply The City.”
The
fall of Constantinople was accompanied by Greek scholars and artists fleeing to
Europe with their treasures, which initiated the Renaissance. Ancient Greek
culture was admired and copied in many ways, and the Greek New Testament came
to replace the Vulgate. Thus the end of the two empires, Rome and Byzantine,
mark the beginning and end of the Middle Ages.
The
fall of Rome facilitated the Church in governing Europe, with its common
language – Latin – and its network of bishops and priests. The struggle began,
not the first, but the most effective, the Gospel versus the Antichrist.
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| Was Jerome's the first Latin Bible - no. The first was based on the Majority Text. |
The Old Latin Version and Jerome’s Vulgate - Apocrypha
The Latin version of the New Testament seems
to come to life in the fifth century after Christ, with Jerome creating the
Vulgate. However, that is far off, because the Old Latin version was actually
translated around 150 AD. The difference is that the Old Latin and the Vulgate
have different sources. The Old Latin uses the Traditional Text, the other is
the Vaticanus, the opposing minority version Tischendorf and Hort adored and
exalted. This fact introduces the concept that there are two basic traditions
for the New Testament. One was copied voluminously and left behind thousands of
examples – the Majority Text. The other is the corrupted Vatican and Sinaiticus, deviously
promoted by Tischendorf, who “discovered” both, then fashioned the Standard Text by
Westcott, Hort, Nestle, and Aland.
The
Traditional Text in its many variations and translations became important for
the independent Waldenses, who in turn influenced Luther’s translation. The story
of these people is one of extreme persecution and hardship.
The Waldensians – Key to Luther’s Bible
Most of us think of New Testament development as Greek –
Latin – Erasmus - Luther – KJV, omitting the Waldenses and many others. The
path is not so simple, as the Old Latin and Vulgate show. The Waldenses persecution
is taught in church history classes, but the story does not get the lasting recognition
it deserves. Wylie argues that the original idea came from a poem, Nobla
Leycon.[2]
An opponent of the movement, Rorenco, declared the movement was ancient.[3] The
name of the group comes from Peter Waldo, a merchant who sold his business and
gave the money to the poor toward the end of the 1100s. Others followed him,
which contributed to a tradition of voluntary poverty, lay preaching, and
evangelism. They did not agree with the Roman pope and already had a tradition
of independence from Rome. The Waldenses were discussed at the Third and Fourth
Lateran Councils. They were prevented from preaching without permission from
Rome. Persecution arose and they escaped to the mountains of Northern Italy.
John Milton penned the sonnet, which touches upon the
violence against the Waldenses
Sonnet
18
On
the Late Massacre in Piedmont (1655)
Avenge, O Lord,
thy slaughter'd saints, whose bones
Lie scatter'd on
the Alpine mountains cold,
Ev'n them who
kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our
fathers worshipp'd stocks and stones;
Forget not: in
thy book record their groans
Who were thy
sheep and in their ancient fold
Slain by the
bloody Piemontese that roll'd
Mother with
infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubl'd
to the hills, and they
To Heav'n. Their
martyr'd blood and ashes sow
O'er all th'
Italian fields where still doth sway
The triple
tyrant; that from these may grow
A hundred-fold,
who having learnt thy way
Early may fly the
Babylonian woe.[4]
Waldenses Bible
The Waldenses endured horrific persecution from the
Church of Rome, which made them the forerunner of the Reformation.[5] Studying
one book on the long history of the Waldensians will show that the Vatican did
not control all of Europe, and people stood up to the false claims and
teachings of the pope. They had Bibles translated into their languages, and these
Bibles influenced Luther and the King James editors in the language and Greek
manuscripts used. They followed the Majority Text tradition and not minority
Vaticanus.
Erasmus – The Reformer Who Stayed in the Church
Roman Catholic priests and nuns remember Erasmus, and not
always with fondness. One priest visited Notre Dame University, wearing a
Hawaiian shirt, to promote the social activism goals of his group. A nun
confronted him. “There you go, just like Erasmus, turning Protestant and going
secular.” Erasmus received a dispensation to wear secular clothes, and he
enjoyed the friendship of many powerful people. That remains the paradox of
Erasmus, because he starting the wagon going downhill to start the Reformation –
then he jumped off. Or – he laid the egg that Luther hatched.
[1] εις την Πόλιν
[2] The
Nobla Leycon though a poem, is in reality a confession of faith, and could have
been composed only after some considerable study of the system of Christianity,
in contradistinction to the errors of Rome. Wylie, J.A. . The History of the
Waldenses (p. 8). Kindle Edition.
[3] Yet
he states that "they were not a new sect in the ninth and tenth centuries,
and that Claude of Turin must have detached them from the Church in the ninth
century." Wylie, J.A. . The History of the Waldenses (p. 8). Kindle
Edition.
[4] https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44747/sonnet-18-avenge-o-lord-thy-slaughterd-saints-whose-bones.
The actual slaughters are too horrible to print. They are haunting, focused on
the innocent, and impossible to forget.
[5]
Jack Moorman, Forever Settled, pp. 227ff.
