Pavel Škrabal's Translation of the New Testament

The translation of the New Testament into Czech by the Dominican P. Škrabal (published in 1948) was the first Catholic version of the New Testament in Czech made on the basis of the Greek text. Formerly, the Catholic translations of the Bible into Czech, as well as into other languages, were made (with few exceptions) from the Latin Vulgate. The encyclical of Pope Pius XII Divino afflante Spiritu (1943) gave a strong stimulus for translating the Bible from the original languages. P. Škrabal made his translation consequently from the Greek text. For example, he also tried to reproduce faithfully the aspectual facet of the Greek original. The Czech language of his version is fresh and understandable, on a level comparable to the language of textbooks or semi-official documents of his time, but mostly independent of traditional biblical terminology. Although other later Czech translations of the New Testament reached a greater circulation and acquaintance, P. Škrabal's work should not be forgotten, not only as a milestone in history, but also as a means of reference for further translators of the New Testament into Czech.

Keywords: New Testament; Biblical translations; Škrabal; Pavel (1904-1964)