Reformers & missions IV

In seeking to re-evangelise Europe, the Reformers made powerful use of the latest technology at their disposal, namely, the printing press.

By Calvin’s death in 1564, his interest in Christian publishing meant that there were no less than 34 printing-houses in Geneva, which printed Bibles and Christian literature in a variety of European languages. In the 1550s particularly, Geneva was a hive of biblical editions and translations.

There was, for example: Robert Estienne’s Greek New Testament of 1551 which divided the text into verses for the first time; a new edition of the Vulgate; an Italian translation and Spanish translation in 1555 and 1556 respectively; at least 22 editions of the French Bible. And in 1560 a complete English translation of the Bible was printed sometime between April 10 and May 30 of that year. This was the Geneva Bible, the bedrock of early English Puritanism.