Until 1950s, the King James Version was 'the Bible'

The King James Version of the Bible, first published 400 years ago on May 5, 1611, is the Bible God used to give believers many of the riches of the Puritan movement, and it was the Bible at the heart of the Great Awakenings of the 18th century and the modern missionary movement, an expert noted.

"Until the 1950s, the King James Bible was 'the Bible.' It's the version that English-speaking Christians used," Michael Haykin, professor of church history and biblical spirituality at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist Press.

"People like John Wesley and George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards would all have used this version in their preaching. When the modern missionary movement begins with people like William Carey and Hudson Taylor and David Livingstone, this again is the Bible that's used through the 19th century," Haykin said. "It's the Bible Charles Spurgeon would have preached from, and so on."

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