John Bertram Phillips or J. B. Phillips (16 September 1906 – 21 July 1982) was an English

Bible translator The Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. all of the Bible has been translated into 724 languages, the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,617 languages, and ...

, author and

Anglican clergyman The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. "Ministry" commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the ''threefold order'' of bishops, priests and deacons. More accurately, Anglica ...

. He is most noted for his '' The New Testament in Modern English.''

Early life

Phillips was born in

Barnes Barnes may refer to: People * Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom *Barnes, London, England **Barnes railway station ** Barnes Bridge railway station ** Barnes Railway Bri ...

, then in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

but now in the

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...

. He was educated at

Emanuel School Emanuel School is an independent, co-educational day school in Battersea, south-west London. The school was founded in 1594 by Anne Sackville, Lady Dacre and Queen Elizabeth I and occupies a 12-acre (4.9 ha) site close to Clapham Junction ra ...

in London and graduated with an Honours Degree in Classics and English from

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

. After training for ordination at

Ridley Hall, Cambridge Ridley Hall is a theological college located on the corner of Sidgwick Avenue and Ridley Hall Road in Cambridge (United Kingdom), which trains men and women intending to take Holy Orders as deacon or priest of the Church of England, and member ...

, he was ordained a clergyman in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

in 1930 (both deacon and priest in the same year).''Crockford's Clerical Directory, 1973-74'', 85th Edition, p 757.

Career

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, while vicar of the Church of the Good Shepherd in

Lee, London Lee, also known as Lee Green, is an area of South East London, England, straddling the border of the London Borough of Lewisham and the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is located northwest of Eltham and southeast of Lewisham. It is within the h ...

(1940-44), he found the young people in his church did not understand the

Authorised Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...

of the Bible. He used the time in the

bomb shelter A bomb shelter is a structure designed to provide protection against the effects of a bomb. Types of shelter Different kinds of bomb shelters are configured to protect against different kinds of attack and strengths of hostile explosives. Air ...

s during the

London Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

to begin a translation of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

into modern English, starting with the

Epistle to the Colossians The Epistle to the Colossians is the twelfth book of the New Testament. It was written, according to the text, by Paul the Apostle and Timothy, and addressed to the church in Colossae, a small Phrygian city near Laodicea and approximately fr ...

. The results appealed to the young people who found it easier to understand. Encouraged by their feedback, after the war Phillips continued to translate the rest of the New Testament into colloquial English.

Writings

Portions of the New Testament were published after the war, starting with ''Letters to Young Churches'' in 1947, which received

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...

' backing. In 1952 he added the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

s. In 1955 he added the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its messag ...

and entitled it ''The Young Church in Action''. In 1957 he added the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...

. The final compilation was published in 1958 as '' The New Testament in Modern English'' for which he is now best known. This was revised and republished in 1961 and then again in 1972. ''

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

'' wrote of Phillips, "...he can make St. Paul sound as contemporary as the preacher down the street. Seeking to transmit freshness and life across the centuries". In his Preface to the Schools Edition of his 1959 version of the New Testament, Phillips states that he "wrote for the young people who belonged to my youth club, most of them not much above school-leaving age, and I undertook the work simply because I found that the Authorised Version was not intelligible to them". Phillips also translated parts of the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

. In 1963 he released translations of

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

1-39,

Hosea In the Hebrew Bible, Hosea ( or ; he, הוֹשֵׁעַ – ''Hōšēaʿ'', 'Salvation'; gr, Ὡσηέ – ''Hōsēé''), son of Beeri, was an 8th-century BCE prophet in Israel and the nominal primary author of the Book of Hosea. He is the ...

Amos Amos or AMOS may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Amos Records, an independent record label established in Los Angeles, California, in 1968 * Amos (band), an American Christian rock band * ''Amos'' (album), an album by Michael Ray * ''Amos' ...

, and

Micah Micah (; ) is a given name. Micah is the name of several people in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), and means "Who is like God?" The name is sometimes found with Theophoric name, theophoric extensions. Suffix theophory in ''Jah, Yah'' and in ''Y ...

. This was titled '' Four Prophets: Amos, Hosea, First Isaiah, Micah: A Modern Translation from the Hebrew''. After that, he did not translate the Old Testament any further. He talked of the revelation he received as he translated the New Testament, describing it as "extraordinarily alive", unlike any experience he had with non-scriptural ancient texts. He referred to the scriptures speaking to his life in an "uncanny way", similarly to the way the author of

Psalm 119 Psalm 119 is the 119th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in the English of the King James Version: "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord". The Book of Psalms is in the third section of the Hebrew Bible, the ' ...

talks. Phillips often grouped verses of the New Testament together into longer paragraphs cutting across the individual verses of traditional translations: see for example :

Death

Phillips died in

Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civil ...

Dorset, England Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , Dor ...

in 1982.

Bibliography

*''Quiet Times. A Book for Private Prayer'' 1938 *''Reality in Religion'' 1938 *''A Translation of the New Testament Epistles'' 1947 *''Making Men Whole'' 1952 (revised 1955) *''The Gospels in Modern English'' 1952 *''Your God is Too Small'' 1953 *''Plain Christianity: and Other Broadcast Talks'' 1954 *''Appointment with God: Some Thoughts on Holy Communion'' 1954 *''The Young Church in Action'' 1955 *''When God was Man'' 1955 *''The Church Under the Cross'' 1956 *''New Testament Christianity'' 1956 *''Letters to Young Churches'' 1957 *''The Inside Story: In Modern English as told in Luke, John, Acts and Romans'' 1957 *''St. Luke's Life of Christ'' 1957 *''God With Us. A Message for Christmas.'' 1957 *''Is God at Home?'' 1957 *''The Book of Revelation'' 1957 *'' The New Testament in Modern English'' 1958 *''Backwards to Christmas irst published in "The life of faith".' 1958 *''God our Contemporary'' 1960 *''New Testament Readings for Schools'' 1960 *''The Christian Year: The Prayer Book Collects'' 1961 *''

Four Prophets ''Four Prophets: Amos, Hosea, First Isaiah and Micah: A Modern Translation from the Hebrew by J. B. Phillips'' is a modern translation from Hebrew sources of the books of Amos, Hosea, First Isaiah and Micah by scholar J. B. Phillips. The book was ...

Amos, Hosea, First Isaiah, Micah; a modern translation from the Hebrew,'' 1963 *''Good News: Thoughts on God and Man.'' 1963 *''The Ring of Truth: A translator's testimony'' 1967 *''Jesus Christ and Him Crucified; A Commentary on I Corinthians 2'' 1973 *''Through the year with J.B. Phillips : devotional readings for every day'' 1974 (Renamed ''365 meditations by J.B. Phillips for this day'' in 1975) *''Peter's Portrait of Jesus: A Commentary on the

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark), or simply Mark (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to h ...

and the Letters of Peter'' 1976 *''The Newborn Christian: 114 Readings from J. B. Phillips'' 1978 *''A Man Called Jesus: the Gospel Story in 26 Short Plays'' 1978 *''The Living Gospels of Jesus Christ'' 1981 *''The Price of Success'' autobiography, 1984 *"The Problems of Making a Contemporary Translation", ''

The Churchman ''Churchman'' is an evangelical Anglican academic journal published by the Church Society. It was formerly known as ''The Churchman'' and started in 1880 as a monthly periodical before moving to quarterly publication in 1920. The name change to "Ch ...

'' (June 1961), 88–95; reprinted ''The Bible Translator'', 16:1 (1965), 25–32.

References

External links

Analysis and side by side comparisons with other New Testament translations
* ttp://www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/JBPhillips.htm The Works of J B Phillips {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, John Bertram 1906 births 1982 deaths Translators of the Bible into English People from Barnes, London People educated at Emanuel School 20th-century translators 20th-century English Anglican priests Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Alumni of Ridley Hall, Cambridge