In Good Faith: Arabic Translation and Translators in Early Modern Spain

Abstract

years leading up to Charles’s execution, rooting his argument in a careful reading of pages from Milton’s own King James Bible. Chapter 8 concludes the book arguing that Milton himself caps the tradition of “literal” biblical interpretation originating with Tyndale. For Milton, reason trumps tradition, and he is fully aware that the Protestant tradition isn’t really “literal” at all, especially when Bible verses are read in their original textual and historical contexts. Romans 13 is critical once more and Milton overturns the interpretation of Paul that supports divine right and obedience to kings, returning to the kind of historicizing that was practiced by Erasmus and Colet, though to different ends. Paul was writing not of all rulers but of the current Roman emperor, Claudius, who (unlike his predecessor Nero) was good and decent; “Paul would never have meant obedience to tyranny.” In conclusion, this is a remarkably rich book that should have a considerable impact on scholars of Erasmus, Tyndale, Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton, on our understanding of key aspects of sixteenth and early seventeenth-century English politics, on Bible translation and specific English Bibles (especially the Geneva), and on practices of reading, including the interpretation of texts.