Spanish New Testament

[Spanish New Testament].
El Nuevo Testamento. Translated by Giovanni Battista Raimondi.
[Antwerp]: Estevan Mierdmanno, 1543. (BRA0358)

This rare New Testament comprises the first printed edition of the scriptures in Castilian Spanish. Inspired by Protestant efforts to provide Bibles in vernacular languages, it was translated from the original Greek by Françisco de Enzinas (ca. 1515–1552), a pupil of the German reformer Philipp Melanchthon. Although it was dedicated to Emperor Charles V in the hope of gaining official approval, Catholic censors still found objectionable “Protestant” renderings of key passages. They specifically condemned the passage on “justification by faith” in Romans 3:28, printed in emphatic upper case letters. In 1551 the publication was placed on the first Spanish Index of Prohibited Books.