Comments on: The Relevance of the King James Bible

By: The Biblical Renaissance and English Poetry — The League of Ordinary Gentlemen

The Biblical Renaissance and English Poetry — The League of Ordinary Gentlemen — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:54:46 +0000

[...] Cameron delivered a speech extolling the continuing cultural relevance of the King James Bible (h/t Joe Carter). It stands as a fairly strong encapsulation of much of what has been said—especially in its [...]

By: Graham Combs

Graham Combs — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:09:59 +0000

A fascinating speech. Although he quotes Pres. Obama, it is difficult to imagine our president speaking this way. I would quibble that religious liberty is a tough-minded principle difficult to live. Her Majesty’s government still errs on the side of a tolerance blind to that principle.

As for the 1611 Bible. I grew up on it — with a Southern Baptist mother and Episcopalian father, I could do no other. The Book of Common Prayer is its handmaiden. As I recite the new liturgy this Advent, phrases from the BCP still come to mind. And I continue to read the KJV — it is too much a part of the Catholic that I am trying to become. And as the Prime Minister notes, it is the product of an oral and aural culture. Economical and visual — it remains the most poetic and memorable of all the biblical translations into English.

Prime Minister Cameron’s speech is a Christmas gift to English-speaking peoples around the world. Thank you Mr. Carter for bringing it to our attention.

By: Mark Tan

Mark Tan — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:12:50 +0000

I would have to agree with you on this Michael. I am reminded of something Heidegger noted in his ‘Introduction to Metaphysics’ that:

‘… words and language are not wrappings in which things are packed for the commerce of those who write and speak. It is in words and language that things first come into being and are. For this reason the misuse of language, in idle talk, in slogans and phrases, destroys our authentic relation to things.’

I think modern translations of the bible have too much of a conversational tone, it regards words as ‘labels’; it forgets that it is in words that we come to contact with reality. And if words in Scripture do not possess the grandeur of poetics, then it would not correspond with the ultimate reality of God, the Word that was there in the beginning.

By: Michael PS

Michael PS — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:10:18 +0000

Mr Cameron makes an excellent point, when he observes that “Like Shakespeare, the King James translation dates from a period when the written word was intended to be read aloud.

And this helps to give it a poetic power and sheer resonance that in my view is not matched by any subsequent translation.”

Similarly, when the Book of Common Prayer was revised in 1662, scriptural quotations were revised to correspond with the Authorised Version (King James’s Bible) – Except for the Psalter. The Psalter from the Bishops’s Bible was retained, as better adapted to singing.

Most modern translators have a tin ear and not only translators; I have known a lawyer who though, “in pretended performance of the said agreement…” was too stilted and substituted “in purported pursuance…” instead.