Two Views of the King James Bible

The Authorized Version of the Bible

The Authorised Version of 1611, otherwise called (especially in America) the King James version, was the culmination of the process of Bible translation from the original languages into English that took place at the Reformation. There had been an English Bible of this kind since Henry VIII’s reign, the work of William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale, and it had great merits, both for its standard of English and for its faithfulness to the originals. Its main weakness was that Coverdale, who was responsible for much of the Old Testament and the Apocrypha, did not have Tyndale’s proficiency in biblical languages, but was dependent on modern intermediate translations into Latin and German. The Apocrypha was included in the translation, but its books were grouped separately, not included as part of the Old Testament proper.

Attempts had been made to revise Coverdale’s work, by a more direct use of the original languages,notably in the Geneva Bible of 1560, which became popular in England and especially in Scotland. But when on Elizabeth’s death in 1603 King James VI of Scotland became also King James I of England, an opportunity arose for the monarch to participate in the process. On his way to England, he was presented by the Puritans with the Millenary Petition, calling for changes in Prayer Book worship, and he summoned chosen bishops and Puritans to consider the question at the Hampton Court Conference of 1604. A few changes were agreed to, but when the leader of the Puritans, John Rainolds, president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, asked for a better translation of the Bible (which was not on the agenda), the King warmed to the proposal. He perhaps thought that this was something on which the bishops and the Puritans could more readily agree, and on which the Church of England might in time reach a common mind with the Scottish Kirk.

It is James’ leadership which accounts for the common title ‘the Authorised Version’ and for the statement on its title page ‘Appointed to be read in Churches’. It was James who authorised it, and he who appointed it to be read. He was prepared to take advice, but he was also prepared to make decisions, often without sanction from others. This was his method with his Prayer Book of 1604 and with his Book of Sports of 1617, not simply with the Authorised Version. If what he decided was not too controversial, it was accepted. He was, after all, the King. Read more

10 Reasons Why The KJV Is Still The Most Popular Version

I was stunned to read yesterday that the most popular and fastest growing Bible Translation is the King James Version. According to research carried out by the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University:

• When Americans reach for their Bibles, more than half of them pick up a King James Version (KJV).
• The 55 percent who read the KJV easily outnumber the 19 percent who read the New International Version (NIV).
• The percentages drop into the single digits for competitors such as the New Revised Standard Version, New America Bible, and the Living Bible.
• The KJV also received almost 45 percent of the Bible translation-related searches on Google, compared with almost 24 percent for the NIV, according to Bible Gateway’s Stephen Smith.

Respected historian Mark Noll, an adviser for some of the research, said:

Although the bookstores are now crowded with alternative versions, and although several different translations are now widely used in church services and for preaching, the large presence of the KJV testifies to the extraordinary power of this one classic English text.

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