St Jerome and transcreation

In July 2016, theology student Lydia Lange's doctoral thesis was published in book form in German by De Gruyter.

Lange, Lydia: Die Juditfigur in der Vulgata. Eine theologische Studie zur lateinischen Bibel. Verlag De Gruyter, 2016. 456 pages, 129,95 Euro. ISBN 978-3-11-048823-4

Her supervisor was Prof. Barbara Schmitz, Head of the Chair of Old Testament Studies and Biblical-Oriental Languages at the University of Würzburg.

The University's online press release, complete with some interesting Germanisms, is entitled 

The Book of Judith -- a free translation?

Lydia Lange (32), Faculty of Catholic Theology, 

Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany

in the library of the chair of Old Testament Studies and Biblical-Oriental Languages

Quotations:

"The Book of Judith is one of the more recent works of the Old Testament; it was written down for the first time about 100 b. C., in Greek"

"Jerome emphasizes Judith's chastity - but the Greek original and the other Latin translations do not mention that word at all",

Jerome may also have used a strategy that is commonly used in theater and literature up to this day: recasting an old story for the present.

The implications for theology, sacred book translation and translation tout court are considerable, to say the least.