Four Histories for the Forthcoming Fourth Centenary of the King James Version, 1611-2011

Abstract

FOUR HISTORIES FOR THE FORTHCOMING FOURTH CENTENARY OF THE KING JAMES VERSION, 1611-2011 The Bible in English: Its History and Influence. By David Daniell. (New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 2003. Pp. xx, 900. $40.00.) In Beginning: The Story of King James Bible and How It Changed Nation, Language, and Culture. By Alister McGrath. (New York: Random House. 2001 [hardbound]; Anchor Books. 2002. Pp. x, 338. $15.00 paperback.) Wide as Waters: The Story of English Bible and Revolution It Inspired. By Benson Bobrick. (New York: Simon & Schuster. 2001 [hardbound]; Penguin. 2002. Pp. 379,7. $14.00 paperback.) God's Secretaries: The Making of King James Bible. By Adam Nicholson. (New York: HarperCollins. 2003); Power and Glory: Jacobean England and Making of King James Bible (London: HarperCollins. 2003. Pp. xiv, 281. $24.95.) Perhaps because four-hundredth anniversary of King James Version (KJV) is approaching in 2011, there have recently been publications on English Bible by David Daniell, Alister McGrath, Benson Bobrick, and Adam Nicholson. Starting with best, I will make brief comments on their merits and then return to fuller examination of Daniell's Bible in English. David Daniell, emeritus professor of English, University College, London, was an eminent Shakespeare scholar before turning full-time to Bible. In last fifteen years, Daniell has edited modern-spelling versions of Tyndale's New Testament of 1534 (hardbound, 1989; paperback, 1995) and Tyndale's Old Testament (1992), and he has authored William Tyndale: A Biography (1994, hardbound; 2001, paperback). These publications, his own wide reading, and consultation with many other scholars enrich his survey of English Bible over thirteen centuries, from Caedmon's Hymn c.658 to New International Readers' Version of 1997. Alister McGrath, lecturer in Christian Doctrine and Ethics, Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, and Reformation scholar, is perhaps better qualified than Daniell to publish on Bible. McGrath studies two centuries, from first printed Bible of Johan Gutenberg in 1456 to restoration of Charles II in 1660. Although McGrath omits notes, he names his sources within text. He offers balanced judgments, describing NT Greek as of workplace and market and KJV English as reminiscent of the palaces of Westminster and high tables of Oxford and (p. 239). McGrath rightly praises Tyndale as a master of pithy phrase (p. 79). I would use this paperback in graduate study of Early Modern English literature or history. Benson Bobrick earned Ph.D. degree in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University, and so he was taught how to write literary history. Bobrick covers three centuries from Wycliff (d. 1384), to Tyndale, Coverdale, James I, and Bunyan (d. 1688). Unlike McGrath, he gives notes, but they are often out of date, e.g., H. W. Hoare, Tbe Evolution of English Bible (1901) (pp. 149, 288); or secondhand, e.g., Thomas More quoted by Christopher Hill, The English Bible and Seventeenth-Century Revolution (1993) (p. 280). Even worse, Bobrick makes allegations without documentation; e.g., that Elizabeth tampered with juries in political trials (p. 270) or that Jesuit attempted to assassinate one of KJV translators (p. 228). A publisher and travel writer, Adam Nicholson treats brief period from accession of James I in 1603 to publication of KJV in 1611. Like McGrath, Nicholson incorporates his sources into text, but he is more chatty than analytical; e.g., he surrounds five pages on work of Second Cambridge Company of translators with seven pages on private life of their secretary John Bois (pp. 202-213). Nicholson appreciates Tyndale's plain and dignified language but holds that rich and resonate style of KJV was better suited to public reading in an established church (p. …