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How the King James Bible changed the world
baylor.edu ^

Posted on 09/09/2014 7:52:23 AM PDT by RoosterRedux

In 1611, the new British state headed by King James I issued its translation of the complete Bible, "newly translated out of the original tongues, and with the former translations diligently compared and revised. By His Majesty's special command. Appointed to be read in churches." The book gave English-speaking Christians a common standard through which they could express their faith. Soon, the spread of printing technology meant that this translation above all became the definitive Bible that believers kept in their houses, and before too long, carried in their pockets.

*snip*

Even thinkers not sympathetic to the Bible's message still praise its language. Famous skeptic H. L. Mencken found in the King James "a mine of lordly and incomparable poetry, at once the most stirring and the most touching ever heard of."

*snip*

No serious study of literature in English can neglect the impact of the 1611 Bible, and that is equally true for any century from the 17th through the 20th. All the great canonical authors are immersed in that Bible, even (or especially) those who reject its fundamental religious message. To put it ironically, the Bible they reject is the 1611 version, which created the literary air we breathe. The King James language informs and inspires American literature, from Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne through Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. It has its special power in African American tradition, from Frederick Douglass through Alice Walker.

(Excerpt) Read more at baylor.edu ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: bible; kingjamesbible
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To: Salvation

And those books and the manuscripts they were translated from were all corrupt. THAT’S why the King James, and all the bibles that led up to it (during the Reformation) came into being.


21 posted on 09/09/2014 8:40:19 AM PDT by ducttape45
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To: afraidfortherepublic; Salvation
But, it wasn’t in the language of the people!

Actually, the New Testament of the Douay–Rheims Bible was published two decades before the KJV and the Old Testament a few years before the KJV. It has long been acknowledged that the translators of KJV used portion of the Douay–Rheims New Testament in certain places.

The D-R and KJV were both translated by learned men, who had been educated in similar fashions, so it is not unusual that there are plenty of similarities among the two translations. Additionally, it's worth noting that when Bishop Challoner revised the D-R (the original had been mainly ignored by English-speaking Catholics) he relied heavily on the prose style of the KJV.

Though I am Catholic, I can certainly recognize that enormous impact that the King James Bible has had upon the world. Along with the works of Shakespeare, the KJV forms the basis for modern English; so, from the simply a linguistic point of view, the KJV certainly changed the world.

From a historical and political point of view, it gets a bit murkier. England's greatest era was certainly the three centuries which followed the KJV, much of the world was colonized by men who relied upon the KJV. However, though spreading Christianity was often the stated goal, the British were typically more motivated by power and profit. America is unique in that many Englishmen permanently moved to the colonies and our Founding Fathers descended from them and almost without exception these men viewed the KJV as the most important book ever written.

22 posted on 09/09/2014 8:41:40 AM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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Comment #23 Removed by Moderator

To: wagglebee
It has long been acknowledged that the translators of KJV used portion of the Douay–Rheims New Testament in certain places.

What places would that be? The entire premise of the King James was to translate from the original languages. Latin was not the original language of the Old or the New Testament. It must have been in the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical Books, which most Catholics seem to believe were never included in the KJV, if so.

24 posted on 09/09/2014 8:51:56 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: Salvation
Everyone needs to check the facts.

I checked - Bible says only way to Heaven is through Christ, and most certainly not by confessing to a man.

25 posted on 09/09/2014 9:01:43 AM PDT by dware (3 prohibited topics in mixed company: politics, religion and operating systems...)
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To: Dr. Sivana
no one could really understand the Canterbury Tales or Beowulf without learning what amounts to a completely different language.

And so I thought when I studied them in high school!

26 posted on 09/09/2014 9:03:42 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: afraidfortherepublic
We seemed to do OK with Chaucer in high school. I can still recall and recite some of it ... Whan that aprill with his shores soote, the droghte of march hath perced to the roote
27 posted on 09/09/2014 9:07:51 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: kalee

For later


28 posted on 09/09/2014 9:27:40 AM PDT by kalee
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To: RegulatorCountry; afraidfortherepublic; Salvation
The committees that translated the KJV compared it to "Former Translations" and for centuries scholars have noted a few passages that seem to come from the D-R.

If you want to drag me into a KJV-only debate, don't bother.

29 posted on 09/09/2014 9:34:56 AM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: wagglebee

I’m not the one seeking to disparage one of the greatest works of English literature that the world has ever seen, your fellows are.

There are a number of decent English translations of the Bible today. The KJV remains the gold standard of sheer linguistic skill and beauty, however.

I’ll note that you’ve not provided these purportedly Douay-Rheims derived passages from the KJV, and leave it at that.


30 posted on 09/09/2014 9:38:43 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: RegulatorCountry; afraidfortherepublic; Salvation
I’m not the one seeking to disparage one of the greatest works of English literature that the world has ever seen, your fellows are.

Please show me where I have done that.

There are a number of decent English translations of the Bible today. The KJV remains the gold standard of sheer linguistic skill and beauty, however.

I largely agree with this, in fact I noted that the Challoner revisions relied heavily upon the KJV.

I’ll note that you’ve not provided these purportedly Douay-Rheims derived passages from the KJV, and leave it at that.

The committees explicitly states that former translations are used. Transcripts of notes taken by John Bois indicate the same.

31 posted on 09/09/2014 9:56:30 AM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: Salvation
The Catholic Bible with all the books had been on earth long before the KJV. Everyone needs to check the facts.

And a lay person caught with one was burned at the stake.

32 posted on 09/09/2014 10:07:40 AM PDT by aimhigh (1 John 3:23)
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To: aimhigh

Source, please.


33 posted on 09/09/2014 10:24:19 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana ("If you're litigating against nuns, you've probably done something wrong."-Ted Cruz)
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To: Salvation

You do know that the 1609 Douay Bible contained the books of Esdras and Manasseh, and post Council of Trent Bibles don’t, right?


34 posted on 09/09/2014 10:25:17 AM PDT by Mr. Lucky
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To: RoosterRedux

If the King James version came out after the Catholic version, and it is not the same, doesn’t that mean that the King James version must be incomplete and thus inaccurate?


35 posted on 09/09/2014 10:27:16 AM PDT by southernmann
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To: RoosterRedux

The message was proclaimed around the world every day at mass throughout the world to the faithful in the pews that couldn’t read. Even today, if you attend daily and Sunday mass every day for three years, you will hear read, virtually the entire canon of scripture.
Everybody conveniently forgets that literacy is a fairly recent achievement, and it is not yet universal.


36 posted on 09/09/2014 10:45:37 AM PDT by OriginalChristian (The end of America, as founded, began when the first Career Politician was elected...)
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To: Salvation
The Catholic Bible with all the books had been on earth long before the KJV.

Everyone needs to check the facts.

But no one read it...No one was allowed to read it...And it certainly didn't change the world as the KJV has...

37 posted on 09/09/2014 10:58:47 AM PDT by Iscool
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To: Mr. Lucky
You do know that the 1609 Douay Bible contained the books of Esdras and Manasseh, and post Council of Trent Bibles don’t, right?

1609 was "post Council of Trent". What did you mean to say?

38 posted on 09/09/2014 11:06:48 AM PDT by Campion
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To: southernmann
If the King James version came out after the Catholic version, and it is not the same, doesn’t that mean that the King James version must be incomplete and thus inaccurate?

They made a new translation because previous translations were inaccurate...They did just the opposite of what you claim...

39 posted on 09/09/2014 11:08:22 AM PDT by Iscool
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To: aimhigh
And a lay person caught with one was burned at the stake.

Name one. It was never contrary to church law for a lay person to possess or use an approved translation, except for about 50 years in southern France during the Albigensian heresy (13th century).

40 posted on 09/09/2014 11:09:09 AM PDT by Campion
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