| Foreword, by Rev. Joseph Harker Near the opening of the previous century, the essayist Marcel Proust famously pronounced that "The voyage of discovery consists not seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Now, as our new century continues to unfold, adventurers who seek the truth within the pages of the Holy Bible are acquiring new eyes through which to reconnoiter a landscape that was already ancient when Saint Jerome first popularized it in Latin some sixteen centuries ago. Rev. Cunyus' translation of Psalms is thus new and age-old in a single stroke. But just how old is it? Is it freshly minted, since his word-choices in his new English translation represent a "vernacular" for the 21st century? Or perhaps his work is really 1600 years old, since it consists partly of Jerome's masterful translation into the "vulgar" Latin of the later Roman Imperium. Then again, the words of the Psalmist stretch back to the original Israelite worship of God before the Ark of the Covenant. To be honest, John's work stretches back to the very origin of the human race, in its attempt to put the things of God into "modern" human language. In all those millennia, God hasn't changed; neither has human nature, for that matter. Only the words change, while the Psalm remains the same. And therein likes the power of Jerome's text in the hands of the modern (or post-modern) reader; these words from Psalms in Latin have shaped the poetry, religion, and world-view of the West. For those of us in need of a translation to understand Jerome's Latin text, Rev. Cunyus' gift has been to show us the pervasive similarity between age-old Latin and the English of our own time. Although my Latin was never very good, even I am struck by the cognates which my own faltering eye can discern. To limit myself to a single example, the Latin phrase de profundis, that begins Vulgate Psalm 129 for instance, conjures up new images "out of the depths" of my own soul; reminding me of just how profound the Bible is, in any language. New eyes indeed. Reverend Joseph Harker Wylie, Texas January 28, 2009 |
| ISBN # 978-0-9644609-9-7 English Edition ISBN # 978-0-9644609-8-0 Latin-English Edition ©2009, John G. Cunyus All Rights to the English Translation and Commentary Reserved. All Rights to Cover art Reserved. www.JohnCunyus.com. Latin text from “The Latin Vulgate.” Biblia Sacra Iuxta Vulgatam Versionem, Fourth Revised Edition, edited by Roger Gryson, © 1994 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. Used by permission. |
| The Audacity of Prayer A Fresh Translation of the Book of Psalms Read a Sample Read Rev. Harker's Foreword How to Pray the Psalms About Audacity of Prayer |
