Sophia Susannah Taylor
Sophia Susannah Taylor was a prolific translator of theological books.
Sophia was born in Westminster, London, on 17 February 1817, the eldest of twelve children of architect John Henry Taylor and his wife Sophia, née Wilford. She lived with her parents in and around London and, after her parents’ deaths, lived with two of her sisters in Battersea, earning an income as landladies. She was a friend of Sir Morton Peto, whose son Basil defended her in the House of Commons against attempts by Inland Revenue officials to tax her small income in her later life.
From 1843 she began producing translations of theological works from German and French, mostly for T&T Clark. Her correspondence with the younger Thomas Clark shows that he found her a reliable translator and would turn to her where other translators struggled. She made her own suggestions for books to translate and her translations were generally praised, making German commentaries accessible to English clergy and theological students.
She died in Willingdon, Sussex, on 14 January 1911.
Works
Translation from German
Jerusalem: As it was, and as it is by Karl Johann Ball Theological and Homiletical Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke by J.J. van Oosterzee The Church: Is Origin, its History, its Present Position by Christoph Ernst Luthardt, Karl F. A. Kahnis and Benno Brückner IAApologetic Lectures on the Saving Truths of Christianity by Christoph Ernst Luthardt History of Protestant Theology by Isaak Dorner The life of the lord Jesus Christ by Johann Peter LangeBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther by Karl Keil Apologetic Lectures on the Moral Truths of Christianity by Luthardt Theology of the Old Testament by Gustav Friedrich Oehler Christian Ethics: Second Division: Social Ethics by Hans Martensen Christian Charity in the Ancient Church by Gerhard Uhlhorn The Doctrine of Divine Love by Ernst Sartorius Scenes from the Life of Jesus by Lehmann A History of the Jewish People by Emil Schürer A New Commentary on Genesis by Franz Delitzsch The World of Faith and the Everyday World by Otto Funcke How to be Happy and Make Others Happy by Otto Funcke Sinlessness of Jesus by Karl UllmannApologetic Lectures on the Fundamental Truths of Christianity by Christoph Ernst Luthardt
Translation from French
Commentary on the Gospel of St. John by Frédéric Louis Godet