The common...

Vernacular refers to the native language of a country or locality. In general linguistics, it is used to describe local languages as opposed to linguae francae, official standards or global languages. It is sometimes applied to nonstandard dialects of a...

R. S. SUGIRTHARAJAH (ed.), Vernacular Hermeneutics (Bible and Postcolonialism 2; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999). Pp. 148. Paper 12.95, $19.95. This collection of articles contains an introduction and two parts. In part I are collected various exegetical essays informed by vernacular hermeneutics. In...

Urban Vernacular Contrary to the adage, taste is disputable; the subject merely suffers from semantic vertigo. Which should not deter us from occasionally making spontaneous judgments in matters aesthetic and pseudo-aesthetic. For example: A visitor from God's own country may find the...

Occasionally, his drawled vernacular and sleepily melodic flow can compensate for his lack of thematic range (the holy trinity of kicks, chicks, chains), but generally, Chingy is blank, as flat as tap water. Perhaps sensing this, Chingy surrounds himself with guests on his third record—this...

Another poet exhibiting such bravado could be easily dismissed, but with his fourth poetry collection, Williams shows and proves, sticking to the classic hip hop proverb, there ain’t no future in yo’ frontin.’ It’s obvious that it’s the future that he’s concerned about by the...

Bruce, F. F. The English Bible: A History of Translations from the Earliest English Versions to the New English Bible, pp. 24-126. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970. In the following excerpt from a work that was originally published in 1961, Bruce traces the history of the English Bible from William Tyndale's translation to the Authorized Version, including translations prepared for English Catholics.

Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Reformation of the Bible: The Bible of the Reformation: Catalog of the Exhibition by Valerie R. Hotchkiss and David Price, pp. 3-62. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1996. In the following excerpt, Pelikan discusses Bible translations during the Reformation, identifying the significant continuity between the Renaissance traditions of Christian humanism and the translation efforts of Reformation scholars. Hebrew text in this essay has been replaced by transliterations set w...

Newman, Jane O. “The Word Made Print: Luther's 1522 New Testament in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction.” Representations (Summer 1985): 95-113. In the following essay, Newman discusses the epoch-making role of printing in the dissemination of the German Bible.