Epistles of Paul Belsham Study Bible
[Thomas Belsham et al.,] The New Testament, in an Improved Version, upon the Basis of Archbishop Newcome’s New Translation: with a Corrected Text, and Notes Critical and Explanatory. London: Richard Taylor & Co., 1808. An American edition was distributed by William Wells of Boston in 1809. A fourth London edition “with corrections and additions” was printed by Richard and Arthur Taylor in 1817. These three editions were published online by Google Books in 2007-2008: London, 1808; Boston, 1809; London, 1817
This “Improved” version of the New Testament was a revision of Newcome’s version (1796), and was published anonymously, by what the title page called “A Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and the Practice of Virtue by the Distribution of Books.” The publisher’s use of the phrase “Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge” was apparently designed to give people the impression that the version was published by the well-known Anglican organization of that name founded by Thomas Bray in 1698, whose mission was to make inexpensive editions of uncontroversial, orthodox Christian books available to poor churches abroad. The Introduction neglects to mention the fact that the “Society” referred to on the title page was actually the Unitarian Society, and that the sole purpose of the version was to promote Unitarian ideas. The concealment of its true purpose was deliberate, as its principal editor later explained: “the editors … thought it needless to insert the word Unitarian in the title page, which would deter some ignorant and prejudiced people from looking into a work from which they might otherwise derive instruction.” It soon became known, however, that the version was financed by the Unitarians and done mainly by Thomas Belsham, a notorious Unitarian controversialist.
Belsham, in an article published in 1820, explained that the “main object” of the version was “to serve as a sort of common-place book to the New Testament, by exhibiting to the inquiring and serious reader a plain and faithful account of the manner in which the most learned and approved Unitarian writers translate and explain the texts upon which the Unitarian controversy hinges, and the grounds of their interpretation.” This statement of the version’s purpose was also rather misleading, however, because Unitarianism, though it ostensibly based its doctrine upon interpretations of biblical texts, was not really based upon the Bible at all. (Bible Researcher)
This “Improved” version of the New Testament was a revision of Newcome’s version (1796), and was published anonymously, by what the title page called “A Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and the Practice of Virtue by the Distribution of Books.” The publisher’s use of the phrase “Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge” was apparently designed to give people the impression that the version was published by the well-known Anglican organization of that name founded by Thomas Bray in 1698, whose mission was to make inexpensive editions of uncontroversial, orthodox Christian books available to poor churches abroad. The Introduction neglects to mention the fact that the “Society” referred to on the title page was actually the Unitarian Society, and that the sole purpose of the version was to promote Unitarian ideas. The concealment of its true purpose was deliberate, as its principal editor later explained: “the editors … thought it needless to insert the word Unitarian in the title page, which would deter some ignorant and prejudiced people from looking into a work from which they might otherwise derive instruction.” It soon became known, however, that the version was financed by the Unitarians and done mainly by Thomas Belsham, a notorious Unitarian controversialist.
Belsham, in an article published in 1820, explained that the “main object” of the version was “to serve as a sort of common-place book to the New Testament, by exhibiting to the inquiring and serious reader a plain and faithful account of the manner in which the most learned and approved Unitarian writers translate and explain the texts upon which the Unitarian controversy hinges, and the grounds of their interpretation.” This statement of the version’s purpose was also rather misleading, however, because Unitarianism, though it ostensibly based its doctrine upon interpretations of biblical texts, was not really based upon the Bible at all. (Bible Researcher)
Language English [eng]
Date 1822
Copyright Public Domain