Phillips

Author Biography

J.B. Phillips (1906-1982) – John Bertram Phillips was well-known within the Church of England for his commitment to making the message of truth relevant to today’s world. Phillips’ translation of the New Testament brings home the full force of the original message. The New Testament in Modern English was originally written for the benefit of Phillips’ youth group; it was later published more widely in response to popular demand. The language is up-to-date and forceful, involving the reader in the dramatic events and powerful teaching of the New Testament. It brings home the message of Good News as it was first heard two thousand years ago.

During World War II, while a minister at Church of the Good Shepherd in Lee, London, he found the young people in his church did not understand the Authorised Version of the Bible. He used the time in the bomb shelters during the London Blitz to begin a translation of the New Testament into modern English, starting with the Epistle to the Colossians. The results appealed to the young people who found it easier to understand.

Mr. Phillips also translated parts of the Old Testament. In 1963 he released translations of Isaiah 1-39, Hosea, Amos, and Micah. 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 talks.

Phillips had a near death experience in his 20s and also suffered from clinical depression throughout his life. He wrote an autobiography, The Price of Success, published two years after his death, and his life was further detailed in a book, The Wounded Healer, by his wife Vera and co-writer Rev Edwin Robertson.