Biblia Sacra. 1542
Context
In 1542 Servetus appears as the editor of the Bible of Santes Pagnini. The most important disciplines in this period were theology and medicine. Theology was studied through the Bible in the Latin translation and the texts of Galen in the Arabic translation were the basis for medicine. There were several editions of Bible translations including the Complutensian Polyglot Bible, the publication of which was coordinated by Cardinal Francisco Ximenes de Cisneros in cooperation with the most distinguished scholars in Europe such as Nebrija, Vergara, Coronel y Lopez de Zuñiga in Spain, Erasmus in Holland, Calvin in Geneva,
Santes Pagnini in Lyon and Sébastien Castellion in Switzerland. Santes Pagnini (1470 -1541) was a Dominican monk from Lucca, a pupil of Savonarola (1452-1498, who was hanged and burned in Florence for heresy and critique of church practices), an erudite in Hebrew and classical languages. Pagnini became a professor of classical languages at the College of Oriental Languages, founded by Pope Leo X. He dedicated twenty-five years to the translation of his Bible from the original languages into Latin, which was first published at Lyon in 1527/1528. This edition is said to be the first to be divided into chapters. The next edition appeared in 1541 in Cologne edited by Melchior Novesianus and then was corrected by Servetus and published by Hugues de la Porte in 1542. There were two more reprints in 1542.
Servetus added a preface and notes to the Pagnini Bible recommending in the prologue the study of the history of the Hebrews for a better understanding of the Bible. He accused biblical studies of not reaching for the literal and historical sense but searching in vain for the mystical meaning.
Servetus's reputation grew and he was contracted next by the Compagnie des Libraires at Lyon to correct and edit the Pagnini Bible in seven volumes which was published in 1545.
Prints
First Edition
Biblia Sacra ex Santis Pagnini tralatione, sed ad Hebraicae linguae amussim novissimè ita recognita, & scholiis illustrata, ut planè nova editio videri possitt. Accessit praeterea liber interpretationum Hebraicorum, Arabicorum, Graecorumque nominum, quae in sacris literis reperiuntur, ordine alphabetico digestus, eodem authore. Lugduni, apud Hugonem à Porta. M.D. XLII. Cum privilegio ad annos sex.
Biblia sacra ex postremis doctorum omnium vigiliis, ad Hebraicam veritatem, & probatissimorum exemplarium fidem. Cum argumentis, indice, & Hebraicorum nominum interpretatione. Lugduni, Apud Hugonem à Porta. 1542.
There was another edition of the Bible of Pagnini in octavo, the same year, probably edited by Servetus, too.
Second Edition
Biblia sacra cum glossis, interlineari & ordinaria, Nicolai Lyrani postilla & moralitatibus, Burgensis additionibus, & Thorungi replicis.... Omnia ad Hebraicorum & Graecorum fidem iam primum suo nitori restituta, & variis scholiis illustrata. Lugduni anno M.D. XLV. Cum privilegio regis. At the beginning of the seventh volume containing only the index, one finds the name of Michel Villeneuve as the sole corrector.
Translations
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