The Sheffield King James Project

Based at the Department of Biblical Studies at The University of Sheffield, the Sheffield King James Project ‘offers a network of resources and opportunities both to mark this special anniversary [the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible], and to reflect on the relevance of the bible in the modern world’.

The project, in association with Sheffield Cathedral, has produced a Telling Tales Study Guide, designed for use by church groups with material for five sessions. A pdf of the study guide is available for download here.

Here’s part of the Introduction:

‘The anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible raises questions for the churches today. What place is there in the contemporary church for a 400-year old bible? How can we decide which translation we read in church, and which we read in private? Bible scholars are now better informed about the Hebrew and Greek texts that make up the Bible. Does that mean that recent translations are better than the King James Bible? The English language has changed during the last 400 years. Can we still make sense of King James’ Bible? Should it be replaced by translations in contemporary English, or supplemented by them? How does our choice of translation affect our understanding of the Scriptures?’

Paul S. Fiddes on Literature, Imagination, and Christian Doctrine

Paul S. Fiddes, Freedom and Limit: A Dialogue Between Literature and Christian Doctrine, Studies in Literature and Religion (London: Macmillan, 1991).

Paul Fiddes sets out to show how the images and stories of literature can help make meaningful doctrinal statements, and how theology can aid in the reading of literary texts. He does this in dialogue with William Blake, Gerard Manley Hopkins, D.H. Lawrence, Iris Murdoch, and William Golding.

According to Fiddes, stories and poems ‘offer a new world to our imagination in two ways – consoling us with the assurance of order in an everyday world that appears random and chaotic, and promising something new in a world that appears dulled by routine’ (5).

‘The story with its “once upon a time” offers us the hope of ever-open beginnings in a world where nothing seems new under the sun. It invites us to immerse ourselves into lives other than our own, to extend our range of consciousness’ (5-6).

Poetic images and metaphors have can have a similar effect on us. Unexpected imagery, especially, ‘seems to dissolve the world as we know it, to disintegrate the familiar in preparation for a new order’ (7).

However...

‘The quest for a new world in literature would be mere escapism if we did not feel that the text was reaching beyond itself to something of “ultimate concern” to us’ (8).

‘In poetry, drama and novel, the imagination thus reaches out towards mystery, towards a reality that is our final concern but which eludes empirical investigation and bursts rational concepts. The power of making pictures in the human mind (“imagination”), transcends itself towards something Other than the world which lies open to scientific discovery’ (11).

If novels, poetry and drama contain a movement towards mystery, is the same true of Christian belief? In one sense, says Fiddes, yes:

‘Holy scripture... is itself a piece of literature containing narrative, poetry and drama with all the openness to multiple meaning that these have. The character of scripture should, indeed, lead us to realise that the primary forms of talk about God are metaphor and story, and that they invite an assent of faith which is like the imaginative assent we give to these forms in literature’ (12).

Fiddes briefly discusses four types of movement towards mystery: correspondence, personal insight, symbolic vision, and negative catalyst (15-22). Such a movement, he says, appears to stand in contrast to Christian doctrine:

‘The movement towards mystery is playful and questing, and lays a stress upon the autonomy of the imagination to create something new... Conversely, the theologian is always bound to be responsible to what he believes has been revealed in a movement from Mystery Itself’ (22).

However, when we consider revelation, the gap is narrowed. First, if revelation is not first and foremost the disclosure of propositions, but the very being of God himself, then ‘revelation can be nothing less than an encounter with the speaking God, where “speech” is understood as self-expression, an opening and an offer of the divine Self’ (22). Thus, the concepts of Christian doctrine are a ‘response and witness to revelation, not revelation in the immediate sense’, and the Bible can become ‘a place of encounter with the same God who unveiled himself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and who finally disclosed himself in Christ’ (23).

Fiddes goes on to say that such a view of revelation has affinities with a view that literary texts ‘open up a new world to the reader through encounter and living interaction with the text rather than directly through any concepts it contains’ (23-24).

Thus, when it comes to revelation, ‘we may find the abiding substance of Christian doctrine neither in religious experience nor in a “deposit” of truth, but in a story – the story of Jesus in the context of the biblical narrative of God’s dealings with his people Israel’ (25).

‘We can see a parallel between the theological appeal to revelation and the use of imagination in literature; in both cases there is a story which calls for attention in its own right, which demands that we notice it, and take account of it as it is. We are not to treat the story as a storehouse for our own preconceptions’ (25-26).

He cautions:

‘However, if the story with which Christian doctrine is concerned, and which it affirms as the story which makes sense of all others, is to be the same story through every age, there have to be some agreed concepts connected with it. In the first place, the achievement of Jesus is to be understood in the context of God and his relationship to the world’ (26).

‘Thus, there is an indissoluble difference between the place of story in doctrine on the one hand and in literary imagination on the other; Christian theologians, working from belief in revelation, are moving within restraints that are not laid upon the novelist. Imaginative writers may, nevertheless, recognise their own kind of limits and tensions... It also remains to be shown that there is not only a parallel, but actually a union between revelation and imagination’ (26).

Fiddes takes the literary imagination to be ‘one type of response to “general” revelation (31). Even though creative writers might not understand themselves to be responding to divine revelation, it is ‘consistent with experience for a Christian theologian to interpret their work (even if they do not) as one kind of response to God’s offer of himself, in encounter between divine and human personality’ (32).

The Gospel Coalition Booklets

I’ve been looking forward to the publication of the Gospel Coalition Booklets, edited by D.A. Carson and Tim Keller.

Eight have been promised on a variety of topics:

• Gospel-Centered Ministry (D. A. Carson and Timothy Keller)

• Creation (Andrew M. Davis)

• The Holy Spirit (Kevin L. DeYoung)

• The Restoration of All Things (Sam Storms)

• The Church: God’s New People (Timothy Savage)

• What Is the Gospel? (Bryan Chapell)

• Can We Know the Truth? (Richard D. Phillips)

• The Plan (Colin S. Smith)

The one by Sam Storms – on the restoration of all things – has kindly been made available as a pdf here.

The Updated NIV on the Gospel of Mark

Although it’s available electronically, we’re still waiting for the hard copy versions of the updated NIV.

Meanwhile, this page links to a 19.8MB pdf the Gospel of Mark which provides readers with an illustration of the kinds of changes that the Committee on Bible Translation have made in the update of the NIV. In addition, the document contains other information about the translation and the translation committee.

Timelining Scripture Workshop

The Timelining Scripture Workshop, by Clayton Fergie (of Scripture Union International), is ‘designed to assist people to grasp the big picture of Scripture’, seeking to tackle the increasingly-urgent issue of ‘a fundamentally fragmented and disconnected understanding of Scripture’.

Here’s the blurb:

‘Timelining Scripture is an innovative, yet simple Bible engagement tool that helps people to grasp Scripture as the single great coherent story of God’s purposes for the world. It reinforces a strong notion of the Kingdom of God and is particularly useful for helping people to find themselves, their community and their cultural context as actors within the biblical story. It is adaptable across age and cultural contexts and is highly visual, interactive and flexible.’

The 2MB pdf can be downloaded here.

Randy L. Maddox on John Wesley on the Bible

Randy L. Maddox, ‘The Rule of Christian Faith, Practice, and Hope: John Wesley on the Bible’, Methodist Review 3 (2011), 1–35.

A relatively pain-free sign-up process allows access to articles in Methodist Review.

Here’s the abstract of an article by Randy L. Maddox from the current volume, looking at the what, how, and why of John Wesley’s reading of Scripture:

‘John Wesley insisted that a good theologian must be a good textuary (student of biblical texts). This essay surveys his model as a textuary, highlighting insights from recent secondary studies and providing some new evidence from just-released sources. The first section focuses on what Bible Wesley read, probing his assumptions about canon and his emphasis on studying Scripture in the original languages. The second section details several dimensions of how Wesley read the Bible, with particular attention to his “theological” reading of Scripture and the identification of his distinctive “working canon.” The final section turns to why Wesley read the Bible, stressing that he valued Scripture for more than just a guide to Christian faith. His strongest emphasis was on Scripture as a “means of grace” for nurturing Christian life, and his life-long practice of immersion in Scripture served to sustain and broaden his sense of the Christian hope.’

1611 and All That

[This has just been published as an article in EG 28 (March 2011), by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.]

‘I had perceived by experience how it was impossible to establish the lay-people in any truth except the Scriptures were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue that they might see the process, order, and meaning of the text... I long that the husbandman might sing portions of them to himself as he follows the plough, that the weaver should hum them to the tune of his shuttle.’

William Tyndale

2011 sees the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible (KJB). It was referred to in the Queen’s Speech, broadcast on Christmas Day 2010, and Radio 4 has already devoted an evening to readings from the KJB. As the year goes on, we can expect a flurry of books, lectures, and exhibitions to mark the occasion. No surprise, perhaps, for a book that has been continuously in print for 400 years.

Even from unlikely quarters, praise is being heaped upon the KJB. In an interview with The Guardian, Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate and self-confessed non-believer, lamented widespread ignorance of the Bible; Bible stories are an essential part of ‘cultural luggage’, he noted, recommending that all children should be taught the Bible in school, since without it they cannot hope to understand history and literature. Well-known atheist Richard Dawkins (being interviewed for the King James Bible Trust) has said: ‘You can’t appreciate English literature unless you are steeped to some extent in the King James Bible... not to know the King James Bible is to be, in some small way, barbarian.’

Whatever one may think of it as a translation, it’s possible that our friends and colleagues will pick up on the buzz about the KJB, and it may provide an opportunity for Christians and churches to shape the conversation in distinctive ways – as we tell its story, reflect on its influence, and celebrate its significance.

A Story to Tell

Of course, the story begins a long time before 1611. Told properly, it’s a story which takes in the development of the printing press, the rise of the English language, and the European Protestant reformation, all set against the politics of the time. John Wyclif’s 14th-century translation was from Latin, but William Tyndale was the first to translate the New Testament into English from the original Greek (1526). He did so because he wanted open and common access to Scripture – for the ploughboy as well as the priest. And he did so under threat to his life, managing to finish translations of the New Testament and much of the Old Testament before being burned as a heretic in 1536.

When James VI of Scotland became James I of England, the most widely-read English version was the Geneva Bible, put together by Protestants who had fled to Switzerland during the reign of Queen Mary, later published in England in 1576. It contained marginal notes, some of which undermined the absolute authority of monarchs. At a 1604 conference of bishops, the request for a single, ‘official’ Bible gave James the opportunity to get rid of the Geneva Bible. The assignment was entrusted to about 50 scholars and churchmen based in Oxford, Cambridge, and London. Staying fairly close to Tyndale’s translation, but drawing on others and revising along the way, the task was completed in 1611. Although James authorised the translation, he seems to have lost interest in the project and it’s not clear he ever authorised its publication. Moreover, it took a while for it to become accepted; only after the English Civil War and the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 did it achieve popularity.

An Influence to Explore

With its popularity, the KJB exerted considerable influence – shaping not only Protestant Christianity, but politics, language, and culture as well.

It has been argued, for instance, that the translation of the Bible into the vernacular kickstarted the birth of democracy – in England and later in America. The accessibility of translated Scripture – with every believer having the freedom to interpret the Bible for themselves – fostered a spirit of inquiry, providing reasons to stand against the tyranny of rulers, coupled with the conviction that Scripture was on the side of those who demanded the rights of the individual in matters of governance.

There is ongoing debate as to whether the language of the KJB was already ‘archaic’ in its own time, but its subsequent shaping of the English language is not in doubt. Vestiges of its influence are seen in the continued use of phrases like ‘lamb to the slaughter’, ‘as old as the hills’, ‘written in stone’, ‘sour grapes’, etc. In a recent study, David Crystal counts 257 of them, showing how the Bible ‘begat’ such phrases in the English language – now found in newspaper headlines, TV sitcoms, song lyrics, and book titles.

Beyond language, the Bible has imprinted itself on our culture, reflected (for instance) in art, music, literature, and film. In her recent book, The Writing on the Wall, Maggi Dawn moves through major biblical stories from Genesis onwards – taking in Rembrandt and Banksy, Handel and The Byrds, Jonathan Swift and Dan Brown, The Shawshank Redemption and Doctor Who – showing how the Bible is central to western cultural history right up to the present day. This, as we have seen, reflects the concerns of Motion and Dawkins, that not to be biblically literate is to be on the back foot when it comes to cultural literacy.

An Opportunity for Mission

Of course, praising the Bible for its literary merit or cultural influence alone might be to miss the point that it is, above all else, the living words of the living Lord, that it tells the story of what God has done in Christ for the world. Significant cultural heritage aside, Christians will want to celebrate how God, through Scripture, shapes the lives of everyday people in everyday situations.

Indeed, the story of the KJB fits into the yet larger story of what God is doing in and for the world, in other languages and cultures – which is why the translation of the Bible is bound up with the mission of the church (and why Christians support the work of those engaged in translation and literacy projects). The gospel is ‘translatable’, and translation has been a feature of Christianity from the start, reminding us that the communication and reception of God’s word is not limited to certain cultures or types of people, but open to all. ‘Translating’ the Bible is always a missionary enterprise, whether it’s carried out in Burkina Faso or in Basildon.

2011, then, may provide increased opportunities to share the significance of the Bible with others, and step up in our own engagement with Scripture in the process. With this in mind, LICC is delighted to be one of the partners in Biblefresh – a movement of churches, agencies, colleges and festivals seeking to encourage and inspire churches across the UK to a greater confidence in, and appetite for, the Word of God through 2011 and beyond. The Biblefresh website provides information and ideas for individuals and churches to take practical steps in reading the Bible, being trained in handling the Bible, supporting translation work, and experiencing the Bible in new and creative ways.

Further Reading

Biblefresh

King James Bible Trust

Gordon Campbell, Bible: The Story of the King James Version 1611-2011 (Oxford: OUP, 2010).

David Crystal, Begat: The King James Bible and the English Language (Oxford: OUP, 2010).

Maggi Dawn, The Writing on the Wall (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2010).

Martin H. Manser, Scapegoats, Shambles & Shibboleths (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2009).

Derek Wilson, The People’s Bible: The Remarkable History of the King James Version (Oxford: Lion Hudson, 2010).