5 in-print translations and 4 audiobooks, compared by who made them, when, and what each one is actually trying to do — Justin Martyr.
The short answer. There is no single best translation of Apologies & Dialogue with Trypho, because the editions are optimised for different things: for a first read, the editions described as the most readable are Leslie William Barnard; on audio the choice is mostly which translation is being read and whether it is one narrator or a full cast.
Every claim below is the publisher’s or translator’s own description, shown next to it, so you can judge rather than take our word. And you can read the whole thing free on this site first.
Scriptorium Press publishes a complete new plain-English translation of Apologies & Dialogue with Trypho, free, with a complete free audiobook. No account, no paywall — 3 works in this volume.
Start reading free → Free audiobook → Whole book on one page →Older translations, out of copyright, hosted free by CCEL, CCEL (Christian Classics Ethereal Library), Internet Archive, New Advent, Wikisource. Not our work and not affiliate links — they are here because they are genuinely useful.
| Translator | Year | What it is | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marcus Dods, George Reith & B. P. Pratten | 1867-1868 | Complete (First Apology, Second Apology, Dialogue with Trypho) | Internet Archive → |
| Marcus Dods & George Reith (rev. A. Cleveland Coxe) | 1885 | Complete (First Apology, Second Apology, Dialogue with Trypho) | CCEL (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) → |
| Marcus Dods & George Reith (rev. A. Cleveland Coxe) | 1885 | Second Apology | CCEL → |
| George Reith (rev. A. Cleveland Coxe) | 1885 | Dialogue with Trypho | CCEL → |
| Marcus Dods & George Reith (Ante-Nicene Fathers text) | 1885 | First Apology | New Advent → |
| Philip Schaff, Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson (eds.), trans. G. Reith | 1885 | Dialogue with Trypho | Wikisource → |
| Marcus Dods (rev. Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson) | 1867 | First Apology (introductory notice; part of Ante-Nicene Christian Library set) | Wikisource → |
| George Reith | 1867 | Dialogue with Trypho | Wikisource → |
Sorted as the research file records them. The note on each row is that edition’s own published description.
| Translator | Year | Publisher | What it is | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denis Minns and Paul Parvis | 2009 | Oxford University Press (Oxford Early Christian Texts) | scholarly, critical Greek text with new introduction and commentary | Find it |
| Thomas B. Falls (rev. Thomas P. Halton, ed. Michael Slusser) | 2003 | Catholic University of America Press (Selections from the Fathers of the Church) | classic Falls translation revised against Marcovich's critical edition; standard scholarly student edition | Find it |
| Thomas B. Falls | 1948 | Catholic University of America Press (Fathers of the Church, vol. 6) | prose, long-standing complete one-volume edition, still in print/reprint | Find it |
| Leslie William Barnard | 1997 | Paulist Press (Ancient Christian Writers, no. 56) | readable prose with detailed scholarly notes; widely assigned in courses | Find it |
| Thomas B. Falls, revised by Thomas P. Halton | 2003 | Catholic University of America Press | revised against the critical Marcovich Greek text | Find it |
Those are affiliate links. They cost you nothing extra and pay a small commission to the people who publish these editions, and to us.
The thing that most changes an audiobook of Apologies & Dialogue with Trypho is which translation is being read — a scholarly text and a colloquial one are different listening experiences before the narrator says a word.
| Narrator | Translation read | Publisher | Year | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cody Medina | TAN Books edition (traditional Catholic translation, public-domain based) | TAN Books / Audible Studios | 2024 | newest commercial edition, covers both Apologies | Listen |
| Tim Côté | public-domain (Roberts-Donaldson/ANF-based) | GodSounds, Inc. | 2017 | solo First Apology edition | Listen |
| James Winston | public-domain (Roberts-Donaldson/ANF-based) | Audioliterature | 2017 | alternate solo First Apology edition, also on Barnes & Noble/audiobooks.com | Listen |
| Dave Bandfield | GodSounds | human-narrated reading of the Dialogue with Trypho | Listen |
Affiliate links, including the Audible ones. They cost you nothing extra. Our own audiobook of Apologies & Dialogue with Trypho stays free either way.
The editions described as the most readable are Leslie William Barnard (1997). Their published descriptions emphasise pace and plain modern idiom rather than strict line-by-line fidelity, which is what makes them easier on a first pass.
The most frequently recommended are Thomas B. Falls (rev. Thomas P. Halton, ed. Michael Slusser) (2003). "Most recommended" is not the same as "best for you": a scholarly standard and an easy first read are different books, and the table on this page shows which is which.
There are 4 commercial recordings. They differ mainly in which translation is being read and whether it is a single narrator or a full cast: Cody Medina reads TAN Books edition (traditional Catholic translation, public-domain based); Tim Côté reads public-domain (Roberts-Donaldson/ANF-based); James Winston reads public-domain (Roberts-Donaldson/ANF-based). A complete free audiobook of our own translation is also on this site.
Yes. Scriptorium Press publishes a complete new plain-English translation of Apologies & Dialogue with Trypho free to read, with a complete free audiobook, no account and no paywall - 3 works in this volume.
Historical context, on our companion site: Who decided the books of the Bible?