In the high-ceilinged library of an English manor house one rainy day this fall, a bony, white-haired priest in an oversized clerical collar pecked away at a portable typewriter. From time to time he paused to knock the ashes out of his pipe against the fireplace or consult one of the fat books stacked on the massive antique table before him. At last he stood up, pulled the paper from his typewriter and closed his reference books with a ceremonious bang. His nine-year labor was finished. Monsignor Ronald Knox had completed his translation of the Catholic Bible.
Last week the first volume...