| What a delightful book this is, just to hold in your hand! It puts the rather cumbersome English Jerusalem Bible to shame. Admittedly, the Spanish runs to only 1,857 pages, whereas the English counterpart has well over 2,000. On the other hand, the page size of the Spanish Bible is smaller, yet the print size larger. I also prefer the binding, the thumb index, the attractive paper... Needless to say, some sacrifice has been made to achieve these beneficial aims. The notes by Father Alexander Jones (justly regarded in many quarters as the finest Bible scholar of the 20th century) have been severely trimmed and all controversial material removed. For example, you won't find any reference in this Spanish Bible to Father Jones' comment that when God told Moses His name was Yahweh, He was having him on, or pulling his leg or fobbing him off. I agree entirely with Father Jones. The ancients believed that knowing a person's name gave you power over that person and the cunning Moses (brought up in a Egyptian court, remember) was using this ploy to get power over God. But God was awake, so He replied, "I am who I am!" (which is exactly the put-down reply that snooty Cicero once made to a newly-appointed judge who had the temerity to ask him who he was). All told, it's a shame the copious Notes of the English-language edition have been reduced to a minimum, but the Spanish translation itself is superb, and the attractive way it has been set out certainly rates as equally admirable. In fact. this is the Bible I used when revising my own new English translations of MARK and JOHN The First and Last Gospels. |
