When opening a copy of the Jerusalem Bible, Fr. Alexander Jones writes, “The list of all those who have helped in the preparation of the Bible is too long to be given in its entirety. The principal collaborators in translation and literary revision were…”
Fr. Jones then lists a relatively short list, mentioning “J.R.R. Tolkien” among the names.
How did a popular fantasy author end-up working on a translation of the Bible?
Fr. Alexander Jones was an English priest who started a project to translate the Bible based on the original Hebrew and Greek texts. This was in response to Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu that encouraged scripture scholars to translate anew the Bible based on the original languages, instead of the Latin Vulgate.
Fr. Jones was inspired by a new French translation at the time and, when in doubt, he instructed the translators of the English edition to consult the French.
Tolkien, besides being known for his Lord of the Rings series, was a prominent philologist and had a mastery of many languages that few held.
Fr. Jones asked Tolkien in 1957 to contribute to the Jerusalem Bible and he accepted. After his initial work Jones wrote back to Tolkien, saying, “In truth I should be content to send you all that remains of the Bible, with great confidence, but there is a limit to generosity and opportunity!”
The primary contribution of Tolkien was the book of Jonah, though Fr. Jones hoped Tolkien could help with Joshua. Additionally, Tolkien translated a single verse from the book of Isaiah. However, Tolkien was engrossed in his other work too much and was unable to meet deadlines to contribute anything else. He submitted his final draft of Jonah in 1961.
Tolkien didn’t know his name would appear in the printed edition, as he didn’t think his contribution was much of anything. He wrote in letter dated 1967, “Naming me among the ‘principal collaborators’ was an undeserved courtesy on the part of the editor of the Jerusalem Bible. I was consulted on one or two points of style, and criticized some contributions of others. I was originally assigned a large amount of text to translate, but after doing some necessary preliminary work I was obliged to resign owing to pressure of other work, and only completed ‘Jonah’, one of the shortest books.”
If he had more time on his hands and wasn’t working so much on elves, dwarves, wizards and hobbits, maybe he would have translated more parts of the Bible!
Tolkien’s translation on Jonah was further edited and what appears in the printed edition is slightly different than his original words. His original draft can be found in the Journal of Inklings Studies, which is now hosted on the website of Edinburgh University Press.
If you are interested in Tolkien’s translation of Jonah, check out our recent comic book inspired by a fascinating verse from his translation.
Philip Kosloski
Philip Kosloski is the founder of Voyage Comics & Publishing and the writer and creator of the comic book series, Finnian and the Seven Mountains.