Ludwig Hätzer's preface to baruch, Susanna and bel and the dragon : Introduction and translation

Several studies have attempted to provide an account of the biography and thought of Ludwig Hatzer (c.1500-1529), a figure whose involvement in the Reformation was as controversial as it was short. (1) Despite the general recognition that he was both an important figure in the first years of the Swiss Reformation in Zurich and an accomplished translator whose work influenced Anabaptist readings of the Old Testament prophets, Hatzer's own writings are rarely found in collections of primary sources and very few have been translated into English. (2) Hatzer's Spiritualist views on Scripture have made him understandably unattractive to Mennonite historians, some of whom have considered his thought to be outright anti-Anabaptist. However more recently, several studies have discussed Hatzer's interaction with other Reformation leaders, calling renewed attention to his early activity among key Anabaptist leaders in the Zurich Reformation. (3) Hatzer's translations of the apocryphal texts Baruch, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon were printed in Worms at the press of Peter Schoffer in 1528. (4) There is little internal indication as to why Hatzer chose these three writings for the first part of his translation of what was intended to be a collection of all the apocryphal writings. Hatzer introduces his views on the Apocrypha in the preface to the text, understandings that pertain to the whole of the Apocrypha, not just the three writings included in publication. He wrote the preface as a general introduction to what he hoped would become a translation of the complete Apocrypha. Hatzer began his translation of Baruch as a continuation of a larger translation project referred to as the Worms Prophets that he, along with Hans Denck, had just completed the previous year. Hatzer had also produced a paraphrase of Baruch 6 in his earlier iconoclastic tract Ain Urtayl Gottes (1523), (5) and in the very last paragraph he mentions the particular force with which this booklet--referring to Baruch--attacks idolatry. This short statement of his views on the biblical canon provides insight into a clearly dissenting opinion, one sharply critical of the magisterial reformers and their use of the canon in general, especially for their degradation of the apocryphal writings that Hatzer seems to hold in very high regard. Throughout Hatzer argues that, for various reasons, the written text of Scripture can be understood in very different ways. Sometimes translations are not faithful to the original version, and sometimes people offer their own interpretation as authoritative simply because of their advanced level of learning. Hatzer, however, wants all readings or understandings of Scripture to be tested by the one, supreme Holy Spirit, whom no one may master. NOTES ON THE TRANSLATION Due to the difficulty and awkwardness of many of the constructions it seemed most suitable to render the text into the most approximate English while generally retaining the original phrasing. Thus, there are many points where the sentences remain unfortunately complex. Since Hatzer rails against the loftiness of those who use their scholarship to speak over the heads of the laity, I chose to use a rather colloquial tone and writing style. Generally, I have capitalized those letters that appear capitalized in Hatzer's text and left letters in the miniscule as he did, even when it would make sense to capitalize them in some cases, such as the word 'father' when it obviously refers to God. Numbers in square brackets refer to the recto-verso sides of the original starting with page 2-recto. I am grateful to Dr. Markus Stock of the University of Toronto for his expert assistance in translating some of the more obscure passages, to Bethany Leis at the Conrad Grebel University College library who provided abundant and willing assistance in finding secondary materials concerning the text, and to Derek Suderman, of the Toronto School of Theology, who offered many helpful suggestions on making the translation more readable. …

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