Arthur Charles Gook
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Arthur Charles Gook, born in London, England on June 11, 1883, is primarily known today for having translated Reverend Hallgrímur Pétursson's Passion Hymns into English.
The third of five sons, Arthur Gook's father was a teacher. Arthur distinguished himself as a student, and won a university scholarship. His father, having taken up a new profession as an estate agent, would not allow him to attend a university. Instead, Arthur was made to work in the family business. Later, Arthur became personal secretary to a London publisher, and it was there he trained for the literary and publishing work he undertook later in life.
Arther Gook was converted in a Bible Class, and the Bible became his favorite book. He determined to reform his life and mode of worship to the pattern shown in the Bible, and joined with the so-called Open Brethren, one branch of the Plymouth Brethren sect.
While working at the London Homeopathic Hospital, Arthur received formal training as a homeopath. His wife, Florence Ethel Gook, received her training at the Missionary School of Homeopathy in London.
Frederic H. Jones, a Scot, had started a mission in Iceland in 1897. Upon his death in 1905, Arthur and Florence Gook went to Iceland to carry on his work, They settled in Akureyri, which was to be the headquarters of his work for the next fifty years. It appears the Gooks supported their missionary work by being the first professionally-trained homeopaths in Iceland.
Arthur Gook wrote a number of books, both in English and in Icelandic. His book Can a Young Man Trust His Bible? was translated into many languages, and during a world tour in 1950-1951 he found that his work had preceded him.
Arthur was a man of poetic taste and greatly admired the Hymns of the Passion by Rev. Hallgrímur Pétursson. Although an earlier English translation of the hymns had been made in 1913, Arthur was not satisfied with it. When he returned to England in 1955 due to poor health, he began a new translation of Pétursson's Passion Hymns into English. As far as possible he kept to the metrical form of the original. His literary taste, his poetic mind, his musical ear, his knowledge of the Bible, and his spiritual affinity with the Rev. Pétursson wonderfully suited him for this task.
Mr. Arthur Gook died in 1959 with the translation still incomplete. A few alterations were made after his death. Arthur Gook's translation of Rev. Pétursson's Hymns of the Passion was published in 1966 by Hallgrimskirkja under the imprimatur of the Bishop of Iceland. While Arthur Gook's English translation of the hymns is the most widely available edition, his Plymouth Brethren theology replaced the Lutheran theology found in Pétursson's original text, and so is not the authoritative and preferred translation.
