When God Was Man

      John Bertram Phillips was a Bible translator, writer and clergyman. Phillips was born in Barnes, Surrey. He was educated at Emanuel School and took a degree in Classics from Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was ordained an Anglican clergyman in the Church of England in 1930.

      His work translating the Bible made him one of Britain's most famous Bible communicators. 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. But, he did not translate any more of the Old Testament. He talked of the revelation he made as he translated the New Testament, describing it as "extraordinarily alive" unlike any experience he had had with non-scriptural ancient texts. He referred to the scriptures speaking to his condition in an "uncanny way" similarly to the way the author of Psalm 119 talks. Phillips was a masterful apologist and defender of the Christian faith. He upheld the basic tenets of the faith, and was able to present them fresh to the modern reader and hearer, much as he had done so with his translation of the New Testament.