“Out of every 100 Americans who pulled a Bible off a shelf today, 55 of them pulled down a King James Version. I feel fairly safe in saying that the King James is the only 1611 release still on any bestseller lists.” — Mark Ward, author, blogger, software trainer
A lot of people have some pretty strong feelings about the King James Version of the Bible, ranging from “it’s literally inspired text!” to “it’s way past it’s expiration date and should be relegated to the trashbin of history”. My own view is somewhere in the middle, as I grew up with and respect the KJV but see too many drawbacks to using it for other than literary or historical study.
In the interest of better understanding the origins and influences on and of the KJV, I read a few books over the past year or so specifically on the subject. As a group, I thought they did a great job at addressing the various issues of concern and other subtopics. They are all quite reasonably priced, though you could always supplement with scholarly works like The King James Version at 400: Assessing Its Genius as Bible Translation and Its Literary Influence (Biblical Scholarship in North America) by Burke et al. ($69 hc) or Norton’s A Textual History of the King James Bible ($109 hc). And, yes, if you click through and buy any of the books below from Amazon, I might earn a few cents.
The first book I recommend is Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible (2018) by Mark Ward (PhD, Bob Jones University), who works for Logos Software. It is the shortest at around 150 pages and may be considered an introduction to many of the topics of history, textual transmission, translation, literary style, readability, church tradition, etc., that the books below elaborate on. (It also echoes my concerns from an earlier post.) Ward discusses pluses and minuses of the King James, noting his own KJV-positive upbringing. He gives plenty of facts and examples to support his reasoning, and he is quite balanced and charitable in his assessment. He also writes in a personable and quite readable style. All of this is why I recommend that Authorized be the first that you read from this list.
The first book from this list that I ever read was The King James Only Controversy (1995) by James R. White, and then later (but still before Authorized) the updated & expanded 2nd edition (2009; see image & link). In fact, it was instrumental in provoking my interest that eventually lead to reading the other books and writing this post. Regardless what one might think of White regarding other matters (and I like him a lot), his work on this subject is considered one of his best and perhaps the best all-’round, layman-accessible book explaining and refuting the modern phenomenon known as King James Onlyism (and the related Textus Receptus Onlyism). He is not mean, but he unapologetically calls out the many inconsistencies, misunderstandings, false claims, and poor reasoning of the KJVO crowd, while giving a history lesson or three in the process.
Next, we have One Bible Only? (2001), ed. Roy E. Beacham & Kevin T. Bauder. All contributors have a theologically conservative background and are associated with Central Baptist Theological Seminary. When I first bought this book, it was with some hesitancy, as I thought it might have too much overlap with White’s book. As it turned out, though, it is actually the perfect complement to White’s book. For example, whereas White includes some discussion on history and methodology but emphasizes examination and comparison of various biblical texts, Beacham et al. have less emphasis on specific textual comparisons, allowing them to give a little more information about history, translation methodology, etc. One of the appendices is a reproduction of “The Translators to the Reader”, i.e., the original preface to the King James Version.
With David Norton’s The King James Bible: A Short History from Tyndale to Today (2011), we start to angle away from the KJVO controversy and focus more on historical background of the translation. The author is a professor of English and noted expert on the KJV. Quoting from the book’s self-synopsis, “David Norton traces the work of Tyndale and his successors, analysing the translation and revisions of two representative passages. His fascinating new account follows in detail the creation of the KJB, including attention to the translators’ manuscript work. He also examines previously unknown evidence such as the diary of John Bois, the only man who made notes on the translation…. The latter part of the book traces the printing and textual history of the KJB and provides a concise account of its changing scholarly and literary reputations.” A little dry, but very helpful material.
As good as Norton’s book is, I wanted something else — hopefully a tad less academic — that would fill in even more blanks, especially around the interrelated religious, cultural, and political backgrounds from which the KJV arose. I found that and more in In the Beginning (2001) by author and Oxford Professor of Historial Theology, Alister McGrath. From the new middle class to the printing press, from the rise of English as a national language to multiple new English translations, from Catholic and Puritan rivalries to machinations within the halls of government, McGrath weaves a fascinating and eye-opening account of the 15th-17th centuries A.D. and beyond. Whether a particular fan of the KJV or not, the historical information here really helps one understand that “age” and the context surrounding the birth of the beloved KJV.
And, that makes five. I actually have a couple bonus recommendations, though I haven’t read them myself. First, Norton is the editor behind the New Cambridge Paragraph Bible (Cambridge), which I plan to eventually get a copy of. (I am a fan of the paragraph-style format over verse-by-verse.) It has the original KJV text from 1611 but with modernized spellings, and it includes the Translators’ Preface (mentioned earlier) and original side-notes. (FYI, the KJV most people own and read(?) nowadays is the 1769 Blayney revision.) Second, for those interested in John Bois’ notes during the KJV translation process, there is Translating for King James (1969/1993), trans./ed. by Ward Allen. From the book’s preface:
“This book has been designed for both scholar and general reader. For the scholar, the manuscript is reproduced photographically, in full. For the general reader, an edition of the notes appears on facing pages to the manuscript: there is printed a translation of the Latin portion of the manuscript, a transliteration of the Renaissance Greek characters into contemporary symbols, with the errors of the Greek in the notes silently corrected, and a transcription in italics of the English portions of the manuscript….”
I have a copy of Allen’s book but, as I said, have yet to tackle it.
These resources should give anyone a healthier appreciation for the King James Version of the Bible and God’s preparation for and use of it for His Kingdom. They should also, hopefully, disabuse the reader of the rationale — and I use that term loosely — for any Onlyist position. Neither logic nor history nor Scripture itself warrants it.
