Over the next seven years, 47 scholars and theologians worked to translate the different books of the Bible: the Old Testament from Hebrew, the New Testament from Greek and the Apocrypha from Greek and Latin. So in 1604, when a Puritan scholar proposed the creation of a new translation of the Bible at a meeting at a religious conference at Hampton Court, James surprised him by agreeing. While one version of Christianity’s holy texts-the so-called Bishops’ Bible-was read in churches, the most popular version among Protestant reformers in England at the time was the Geneva Bible, which had been created in that city by a group of Calvinist exiles during the bloody reign of Elizabeth’s half-sister, Mary I.įor the new king, the Geneva Bible posed a political problem, since it contained certain annotations questioning not only the bishops’ power, but his own. And even though Elizabeth had established the supremacy of the Anglican Church (founded by her father, King Henry VIII), its bishops now had to contend with rebellious Protestant groups like the Puritans and Calvinists, who questioned their absolute power.īy the time James took the throne, many people in England at the time were hearing one version of the Bible when they went to church, but were reading from another when they were at home. When King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England in 1603, he was well aware that he was entering a sticky situation.įor one thing, his immediate predecessor on the throne, Queen Elizabeth I, had ordered the execution of his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, who had represented a Catholic threat to Elizabeth’s Protestant reign. the King James Version, or simply the Authorized Version) remains the most famous Bible translation in history-and one of the most printed books ever. Its majestic cadences would inspire generations of artists, poets, musicians and political leaders, while many of its specific phrases worked their way into the fabric of the language itself.Įven now, more than four centuries after its publication, the King James Bible (a.k.a. Thanks to emerging printing technology, the new translation brought the Bible out of the church’s sole control and directly into the hands of more people than ever before, including the Protestant reformers who settled England’s North American colonies in the 17th century.Įmerging at a high point in the English Renaissance, the King James Bible held its own among some of the most celebrated literary works in the English language (think William Shakespeare). In 1604, England’s King James I authorized a new translation of the Bible aimed at settling some thorny religious differences in his kingdom-and solidifying his own power.īut in seeking to prove his own supremacy, King James ended up democratizing the Bible instead.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |