By Bodil Ejrnæs, former associate professor, Ph.D., University of Copenhagen

In the late summer of 1818, a manuscript was delivered to the British and Foreign Bible Society in London. It was written by a Scot, Ebenezer Henderson, one of the founders of the Danish Bible Society in 1814. The manuscript is in English and comprises 85 sheets, densely written on both sides of the paper. It has no title and there is no foreword explaining its background and how it came into existence. The manuscript has never been printed.



Here in Denmark, it first came to light in the 1980s. Felix Olafsson, writer of a Danish biography of Ebenezer Henderson from 1989, was at that time made aware of a catalogue of the manuscripts found in the British Bible Society’s library. The catalogue was compiled in 1982 in connection with the Society’s move from London to new premises in Wiltshire. In this catalogue, Ebenezer Henderson’s manuscript is listed under the title A History of the Danish Scriptures. It was on this occasion that the Danish Bible Society received a photocopy of the manuscript.

The origins of the manuscript

Henderson must have written the manuscript – or at least the major part of it – during his stay in Copenhagen in 1812-14. These years were marked by great activity. As well as the practical work in the service of the bible cause he was seriously engrossed in scientific bible study; the Nordic translations of the bible especially interested him. He went to work with great thoroughness. He learned the Nordic languages and he studied the original languages of the Bible (in addition to other ancient languages). He tracked down old bibles in antiquarian bookshops about town and at book auctions. He frequented the Royal Library and University archives, where he found source material on the history of the biblical translations.



The fruits of all these endeavours appeared in three works: the first, a short learned dissertation on the first Danish translation of the New Testament, Hans Mikkelsen’s translation from 1524; second, an account of the history of the Icelandic Bible and third, a dissertation on the history of the Danish Bible from the Middle Ages to Henderson’s own time.



It is clear from the foreword to the dissertation on Hans Mikkelsen’s translation and from letters written by Henderson that he had plans to publish a larger work namely a historic account of all bible translations in the Nordic languages, Northern Biblical Researches, and the aim was that the aforementioned works on the Danish and Icelandic bibles would be incorporated into it. The plan, however, never came to fruition. Only the dissertation on Hans Mikkelsen and the account of the Icelandic Bible’s history were published. But what became of his manuscript on the history of the Danish Bible?



The greater part of the manuscript gives the impression of being thoroughly revised and ready to go to print. Certainly, it can be said that the last part is more superficial and is missing the richness of detail which otherwise distinguishes Henderson’s literary work and the manuscript finishes somewhat abruptly. But, even so, he must have considered the manuscript as finished, since he delivered it to the British Bible Society. Here, it was incorporated into the society’s archives, where it apparently languished in obscurity.

The contents of the manuscript

The manuscript, which starts with a short but somewhat tendentious depiction of the Middle Ages (”the long and dreary reign of papal darkness”), is formulated as a learned investigation of the history of Danish bible translations from the so-called Gammeldansk Bibel (Old Danish Bible) (a medieval translation into Danish of large parts of the Old Testament), to Christian Bastholm’s translation of the New Testament from 1780. At least thirty Danish bibles are considered, with the emphasis on the bibles from the Reformation era, which take up about half of the manuscript; especially Christian III’s Bible from 1550, the first Danish version of the complete bible, is analysed thoroughly. The examination of the individual bibles is now and again interrupted by summaries and reflective paragraphs with observations regarding the contemporary bible situation in Denmark.



Henderson’s description of the history of the different Danish bible translations is based upon thorough preliminary study of the sources of the individual editions’ origins and on critical examination of details in the text of the bibles. With the wealth of information on bibliography, personal, and church history that the work contains, it is a gold-mine for those seeking information on the origins of the individual bibles, their sources, the people behind them, as well as their reception and distribution. There are also copious examples of the wording from the different Danish translations; often, there are references to the Hebrew and Greek original texts, to ancient Greek and Latin translations as well as to Luther’s translation and to the English translation tradition, accompanied by detailed and critical remarks on philology, exegesis and translation techniques. The work bears witness to its writer’s extraordinary gift for languages. Not only does he master the Classical languages, Hebrew, Greek, Latin and even a smattering of Syrian, he also demonstrates a flair for the Danish language and its nuances. To date, this is the most thorough description of the history of the Danish Bible in existence.

The fate of the manuscript

Apparently, there was nobody in Denmark who knew about Henderson’s manuscript before Felix Olafsson was made aware of it in the 1980s. In any case, it is not mentioned in the literature about the history of Danish bible translations, which came out in the 1800s and 1900s. Certainly, Henderson’s dissertation on Hans Mikkelsen’s translation is mentioned now and again, but first and foremost, Henderson is held up as a dedicated champion for the cause of the bible in Denmark and a founder of the Bible Society. The fact that he was also an exemplary bible researcher, who has contributed significantly to the research on the history of Danish translations of the Bible from the Middle Ages up to his own time, does not seem to have been much remarked upon in the secondary sources.



In an English context, however, there exists literature extolling Henderson’s qualifications in the field of biblical scholarship. This includes, among other things, a biography written by his daughter Thulia in 1859; in several places in the book, she paints a picture of her father as an industrious, knowledgeable and valued bible researcher. However, she does not disclose any knowledge of the unpublished manuscript. On the other hand, the author of a three-volume work on the history of the Bible Illustrations of Biblical Literature, which came out in 1821, just a few years after Henderson had delivered his manuscript to the British Bible Society, does. In the foreword, the writer James Townley reveals that he has had access to Henderson’s manuscript when he wrote his book. And one must say that he made good use of it; most of what he has written about Danish bibles is taken directly from Henderson’s manuscript. So it has not lain completely unused and forgotten in the archive of the British Bible Society.



Oddly enough, Townley’s work has been more or less ignored here in Denmark, although it is mentioned in the literature list in Poul Otzen’s little book on the history of Danish bible translations Hvorledes danskerne fik deres bibler (How the Danes got their Bibles) from 1949; after the title is written: “(the passages on Denmark are due to Ebenezer Henderson)” – without it being apparent, however, that there is a substantial manuscript from Henderson’s hand which deserves closer acquaintance.



It is now possible to obtain first-hand knowledge of Henderson’s manuscript on Danish bible translations. To mark the occasion of its 200th anniversary, the Danish Bible Society has arranged a transcription of the work in electronic form, so it is now finally accessible to the public. The transcription, which has been done by Irene Ring, a former employee of the Bible Society, is based on the photocopy of the manuscript, which came into the possession of the Danish Bible Society at the end of the 1980s. The original manuscript can be found in Cambridge University Library, which now houses the archives of the British Bible Society.

Read the manuscript



Sources:

Felix Olafsson: Ebenezer Henderson, Bibelselskabets stifter. 1989

Thulia S. Henderson: Memoir of the Rev. E. Henderson, including his Labours in Denmark, Iceland, Russia etc., etc. 1859

James Townley: Illustrations of Biblical Literature. 1821

Translated by: Stephen Gadd