Friday, June 10, 2011

KJV Revisited



Do you remember me telling you that 2011 marks the four hundredth anniversary of the King James Version of the bible? We rarely read from it in our worship, yet there are so many marvellous phrases in the KJV which are unsurpassed in any version or paraphrase. And scholars argue that it was a world-changer, perhaps leading toward democracy.


I'll give you an update. It occurred to me that there should be some event or worship service acknowledging the gift of this royally authorized bible in the language of English-speaking people. I floated the idea in our ministerial, and guess what? No takers. I understood why. The comments were that no one would come and the language was too inaccessible and all that stuff. Could be true. Funny though. At the beginning of my ministry many evangelical congregations figured that it was the KJV or nothing. They curled their lips at other translations and paraphrases as inferior and perhaps even ungodly.


Most of my colleagues are from more conservative, and what they would consider more biblical churches. But they aren't interested in a celebration of this remarkable book even though prestigious secular publications such as the Atlantic have run feature pieces and in Vanity Fair super-atheist Christopher Hitchens argues that the KJV is perhaps the only positive contribution to religion.


Times do change. Have you ever attempted to plough through parts of the KJV? Would you have been interested in a service celebrating this translation? Or did my colleagues have it right?

3 comments:

Laurie said...

My husband reads the KJV everyday(being an atheist-it is daily reading for him). He enjoys the stories and loves the language. For me I also love the language , it is very deep and rich. I think a service celebrating the this book would have been interesting.

IanD said...

I would agree with Laurie. It's a remarkable piece of work, and politics in terms of being a concentrated attempt to 'get out the word.' I'd agree too, that in hindsight, the thing does contain the seeds of its own demise, and did lead to the proliferation of democracy.

The KJV is the version I grew up with, and I'd love to see it used more. Then again, I am a baptized Anglican, so that's likely why I have the preference I do.

Too bad your idea was voted down, David. I think it's a good one, and a darn fine history lesson too.

David Mundy said...

Perhaps I will find a Sunday for a KJV focus in the Falll, or we will have our own recognition event. Thanks!