Bede and the New Testament

The Old English Translation of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum in its Historical and Cultural Context

“…To the best of my knowledge, there has been no explicit treatment of that matter for almost 50 years except for sporadic assumptions that the omissions in the OEHE compared to the HE were due to the complementary nature of the OEHE and the ASC. 127 A similar modification occurs in the chapter on the Picts accepting the Roman Catholic practices through the teachings of abbot Ceolfrith (V.21): [A] 129 The fact that the OEHE renders the rather neutral corona in this particular way is striking with regard to the use of (Sancte) Petres scaere in MSS DE(F) of the ASC. The specification of the tonsure as that of St. Peter is a rare occurrence in the corpus of Anglo-Saxon literature.…”

“…337 In the HE and the OEHE, Bede reports on St. Chad, in order to embark on an explication of the passage, i.e., that the Lord sends those heavenly signs to remind the faithful to fear him and to remember the Last Judgement in order to make them entreat his compassion and cast away their vices:…”

“…336 Bede regarded the account of the heresies and their refutation as didactic material as he "feared that English Christians might fall into doctrinal error as a result of ignorance or be led astray by reading heretical text unawares" as Arthur Holder holds. 337 Bede's inclusion of the Pelagian heresy thus testifies to his zealous orthodoxy rather than being an integral part of his unfolding story of salvation history in the HE, where the Anglo-Saxons supersede the Britons as the new 'chosen people'. This obsessive preoccupation with unorthodoxy and religious dissent was no longer relevant to the late-ninth/early-tenth century translator, at least not to the degree to which it was to Bede, who saw the 334 state of the Church deteriorating around him.…”

“…• uentibus ferentibus -swapendum windum 128 • ut acclinis destinae -on ðaere styðe stondene 129 These, however, are exceptions to the rule. In thise case the additon gives a more vivid picture of the scene with the destruction of the city being personalized as the Mercian king Penda is brought into sharp focus once more, whereas in the Latin sequence, his name is given only at the beginning of the cumbersome Latin syntax.…”

“…128 The same holds true for dernre, which appears to be a non-WS form (vs. eWS dierne). 129 [R]ehtlice (MS B vs. TOCa) and rehtre can be identified as Anglian forms as they show Anglian smoothing, whereas the forms with riht-in the other MSS are the result of palatal mutation, typically of WS (and Kentish). 130 Welle appears to be nWS.…”