24 - The Bible in Europe

Summary

The development of printing and the translation of the Bible into the vernacular facilitated the spread of the Protestant Reformation. There were no systematic attempts to require people to buy bibles, such as happened in some other European Protestant states. The fifteenth-century vernacular translations in Italy and Germany were for Catholics. The Bible Society also transformed the publication of the Bible in European vernaculars, as well as in overseas missions. The nineteenth century was a period when the market in theological books began to take of, owing to the skilful entrepreneurial actions of various publishers. On the one hand this was a way in which more radical biblical criticism could leapfrog the clergy and get into the hands of the interested public. Various publishers established lists of books and series, which communicated the results of biblical criticism quickly.