Book Review: Translation of the Seventy

 

Translation of the Seventy

History, Reception, and Contemporary Use of the Septuagint

by Edmon L. Gallagher

Pub Date 01 Aug 2021 |

 Abilene Christian University Press & Leafwood Publishers,  Abilene Christian University Press

 Christian  |  History  |  Religion & Spirituality 

I am reviewing a copy of Translation of the Seventy through Abilene Christian University Press & Leafwood Publishers,and NetGalley:

The story goes a few centuries before the birth of Jesus, seventy Jewish sages produced a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures at the request of an Egyptian king.   While some believed that this translation was inspired by Scripture even more significantly, the authors of what would later be called the New Testament relied on this translation as they quoted Scripture.   In the centuries that followed many Christians argued that God had provided the Septuagint as the church’s Old Testament.   But what about the many differences between the Septuagint and the Hebrew Bible?    And what about the extra books of the Septuagint the so-called Apocrypha or deuterocanonical literature?

Translation of the Seventy is written with students in mind and the book has a primary focus on the role of the Septuagint in early Christianity.   This fresh analysis of the New Testament’s use of the Septuagint and the complex reception of this translation in the first four centuries of Christian history will lead scholars, students, and general readers to a renewed appreciation for this first biblical translation.

I give Translation of the Seventy five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!