ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the application of historical criticism to a nineteenth-century Bible translation. In 1884, a new group of translators were introduced as members of the commission responsible for producing a modern Swedish Bible. This represented a radical shift in methodology and the translation became a practical demonstration of historical criticism. Influenced by international trends of Biblical scholarship, the commission began navigating the complex institutional structures and conflicting demands of a fluctuating knowledge society. The chapter depicts the humanities as a co-creator of modernity and seeks to expand on notions of historicity and progress. I argue that the application of historical criticism established a modern order of historicity that created room to maneuver the complex conditions of the translation project.
