Announcing the Wenden House Project

I am really excited about this one. All the labor that has gone into the recovery of Latin is starting to bear some serious fruit. The press release from NSA is below:

An initiative at New Saint Andrews College will fund graduate student fellowships to translate theological works of 16th- and 17th-century Reformers from Latin to modern English for use by Christians around the world.

With two founding gifts – of a rare collection of Reformation-era books and funding for two initial graduate fellowships – the College plans to begin translation work this fall. In launching what has become known as “Wenden House Project,” students in the College’s Theology & Letters M.A. program will be the initial beneficiaries, receiving annual fellowships of half or more of their graduate tuition in exchange for translation work. The College’s Tyndale Library will provide a home for the Wenden House Project Collection, and ultimately, the students’ translation work will be published in both scholarly volumes and for free use online by Christians worldwide.

Support for the project has come from a private donor and the Davenant Trust, a recently-founded organization dedicated to the renewal of Protestant theology and historical scholarship.

“We’re very grateful for the gifts we’ve received for this initiative,” said NSA President Roy Atwood. “It’s a boon to our graduate program and opens doors for others to join us in supporting and growing this bold initiative that has such global impact.” President Atwood commended College Dean Dr. Ben Merkle, who will provide the editorial direction and program oversight, for his visionary work in establishing the project.

“The Anglo-Saxon verb wenden literally means ‘to turn’ or ‘to redirect,’” explained Merkle. “Our goal will be the same:  to redirect the insights of the sixteenth century into the twenty-first.”

Merkle likened the project to King Alfred the Great’s ninth century recovery of Latin volumes of early church fathers like Augustine and Gregory which were similarly left untranslated on library shelves.

The Master of Arts program in Theology & Letters at New Saint Andrews College is an academically-rigorous, two-year graduate program for those aspiring to be theologically-informed creative writers and/or culturally-informed theologians. Students interested in the Davenant Fellowships to be awarded by the Wenden House Project should inquire at (208) 882-1566 and learn about the M.A. program at www.nsa.edu.

New Saint Andrews is a nationally-recognized, limited-enrollment liberal arts college in the classical and Christian tradition located in historic downtown Moscow, Idaho, on Friendship Square. The College is accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools and is a member of the Association of Reformed Colleges and Universities.