The New Testament - Hardcover

Lattimore, Richmond (tr.)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0460879537 ISBN 13: 9780460879538

Publisher: J.M. Dent, 1998

Synopsis

Richmond Lattimore, among the most distinguished translators of the Greek classics, concluded late in his life one of his most ambitious projects — a complete translation of the New Testament. Published in its entirety for the first time in 1996, this New Testament is itself a classic of another kind — the words of the Gospel and the apostles presented for the modern reader in fresh English by a writer without pretensions as a biblical scholar, who was an authority on the Greek language in which these texts have come down to us. The New York Times hailed the first volume as "an achievement that places us more deeply in Lattimore's debt than any other in a long and diligent career."

Lattimore's aim was to provide a simple, literal rendering in which the syntax and order of the Greek dictate the character of the English style. He lets the words of the apostles and early disciples speak for themselves with an accuracy and fidelity to the original language that is a gift to today's reader.

About this title

About the Author

Richmond Lattimore, whose rerings of the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer, the odes of Pindar, and the plays of Aeschylus, Euripides, and Aristophanes set new standards for Greek translations, was for many years Professor of Greek at Bryn Mawr. His honors include awards from the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the American Council of Learned Societies. He died in 1984.

Review

"The importance of Lattimore's skill and careful work and of his highly-informed literary sense is that you do indeed come away with a new and strong sense of who the reporters are. And when you know that, it expands the meaning of the Story."--Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe

"Without the gaudy beauties of the King James version or the overly hip sound of some modern editions, Lattimore's New Testament possesses an austere, moving plainness, a willingness to shape long sentences, and an admirable clarity."--The Washington Post Book World

"The important news is that Mr. Lattimore has provided a... self-consistent, personal, sanely literal version of the four texts most central to our tragic history. He has avoided the twin shoals of caprice and ego, and his dedication to the line of the originals has produced an air of solidity and reliability often missing from single efforts."--Reynolds Price

"An impressive, scholarly new version by the eminent translator."--The New York Times Book Review

Edition details

• Publisher: J.M. Dent
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0460879537
• ISBN 13: 9780460879538
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 608