The M+G+R Foundation
A Brief History of the Biblical
Translations Authored by
Msgr. Juan
Straubinger [1883 - 1956]
Doctor Honoris Causa by the University
of
Müenster, Germany
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PURPOSE
The purpose of this
condensed history
of the Biblical translations by Msgr. Straubinger,
Professor of Holy
Scriptures in the St. Joseph Major Seminary in the Archdiocese of La
Plata, Argentina, is to make known to the English speaking world the
work of the author of what we consider the best
translation of the New Testament.
DETAILS
Monsignor Juan Straubinger would become the author of the first
translation of the Bible made in Argentina. He was born in Esenhausen,
Germany, on December 26, 1883. Due to the situation that his homeland
suffered at that time, in 1938 he traveled to Argentina and settled in
the city of Jujuy. There he published a humble biblical sheet. The
following year he decided to launch the Revista Bíblica (a
Biblical Review).
In 1940 he traveled to La Plata, capital of the province of Buenos
Aires, and worked as a professor of Sacred Scripture in St. Joseph
Major Seminary. He stayed there until 1951, teaching various subjects.
Apparently, later on he returned to Germany, settling in the city of
Stuttgart. The Lord calls him Home on March 23, 1956.
Monsignor Juan Straubinger alternated his teaching duties with a
critical update of the Spanish translation of Monsignor Torres Amat's
Vulgate Bible. While a professor of Sacred Scripture at the San
José Archdiocesan Seminary in La Plata, in 1941 he published a
revised and annotated New Testament through the Librería e
Imprenta Guadalupe. The work had as special peculiarity that the
numerous glosses in italics of the Torres edition disappear in
Straubinger's edition, the same adjusted to the Vulgate Bible. The
German cleric continued to publish the translation of the Vulgate in a
free edition of the 'viruelas', as Father Castellani graciously called
the italicized glosses that fill the Torres Amat edition.
In September 1944 an edition of the Gospels appeared, with 186
xylographs. The translation, according to the Greek, was entrusted to
Straubinger on the occasion of the IV Argentinean National Eucharistic
Congress. It had a prologue by Cardinal Santiago L. Copello. The
following year the author had the Acts translated. In 1947 the Letters
of Saint Paul were published. One year later, after the translation of
all the components of the New Testament, it was published in a complete
edition.
Straubinger chose to translate the Old Testament from the Hebrew
Masoretic text and the Vulgate versions, finishing it by 1951.
Straubinger's translation has been reprinted several times in various
places in America, including in an ecumenical edition of the Bible,
published in Chicago in 1971.
The translations of the New and Old Testaments show a certain influence
of the Vulgate, which the author expressly claims to follow for Old
Testament books which are not in Hebrew. For the other books of the Old
Testament the Masoretic text was followed. Straubinger points out that
he has taken into account the Spanish translations of Nícar and
Colunga, as well as that of Bover and Cantera, published in the
Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, in Madrid.
An accurate judgment of the work indicates that: 'The work carried out
with thoroughness, reflects a good textual criticism and a solid
exegesis. From the stylistic point of view the text is correct and
clear'.
_______________________
The translations linked-to
below were
accomplished with the use of DeepL
Translation
Services
Published
on December 12th, 2019
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