Life and Legacy of the King James Bible

What do hard core drugs, stolen diamonds, and the Bible have in common? Smuggling! That's just one of cool facts I learned when I visited the Life and Legacy of the King James Bible exhibit in the library last Saturday. Besides featuring genuine Bibles dating back to the pre-Renissance era, the exhibit gave a brief history of how the King James version of the Bible came into existence as well as provided an interactive section where vistors could compare different versions of the Bible. Since Catherine's post on the exhibit focused mainly on her experience with examining the fonts of the different Bibles, I wanted to focus my visit (and my post) more on the history of the King James Bible itself and the process through which it came to be. 

The coming about of the King James Bible was an evolutionary process, nearly 1600 years in the making. Its creation stemmed from the desires of  John Wycliffe to provide the Bible to the masses. He wanted the book to be published in more than just Latin. As it contained several "inerrant truths," Wycliffe wanted the common man to be able to acess, read, and understand the Bible (lib.byu.edu). Thus, a miraculous spin of events began which eventually led to the coming forth of the King James Bible.

The copy of the Vulgate Bible found in the Life and legacy
of the King James Bible exhibit.

When viewers like myself first enter the exhibit, they are greeted by a hand-written copy of what's known as the Vulgate Bible or the Latin Bible. This bible, a translation in and of itself, took 23 years to complete! Such bibles could only be read by the literate and were often only owned by the wealthy. In this particular copy of the Vulgate Bible (shown left), minute ornamentation to the text can be seen. I personally was awe-struck by the consistency and pefection of the handwritten text. The illustrations were nice, but the writing! Despite the fact that I was unable to read it, I still can appreciate this bible for the work of art that it is.

Title page to one of the multiple
versions of the Bible, called
the Great Bible

Unfortunately, for many people living prior to English versions of the Bible, that's virtually all a physical version of the Bible could be. Yes, they could memorize verses of the Latin text. But they couldn't appreciate it fully as a usable piece of scripture. That all changed momentarily in the late 1380s when John Wycliffe sought to translate the Bible into English. His New Testament was perceived as heresy church leaders of the time and was quickly moved underground.

Between Wycliffe's New Testament and the King James version of the Bible, multiple English translations of the Bible slipped in and out of popularity. Included in the Life and Legacy of the King James Bible exhibit were the Tyndale Bible and the Great Bible. Until well into the 1530s translation of the Bible into English was still met with great opposition from the church and Tyndale had to continuously relocate to even complete his translation.

Finally, during the reign of Mary I, Cahtolicism once again became England's official religion and soon thereafter, English translations of the Bible became legal. With this came the Geneva Bible, popular to both a Scottish and English audience. Published over the course of the three years between 1557 and 1560, this version of the Bible contained commentary in the margins, which made it easier for readers to comprehend. However, church leaders met the Geneva Bible with skepticism as they questioned its accuracy, and so released another version of the Bible known as the Bishop's Bible in 1568.

Title page to a King James Bible.
Look at the detail!

By the 1600s, tensions were rising between different religous groups and their leaders. A new version of the Bible was due for creation. After several assemblies, King James was able to sanction an entirely new translation of the Bible. This translation sought to be the most accurate and despite many typographical errors originally, the King James Bible is now the most widely accepted version.

Originally, the King James version of the Bible was intended to be read aloud and so the first copies of the Bible were huge! At the heart of the exhibit sits one of these huge bibles.  Like its predessors, original King James Bibles contained gorgeous pictures. I loved examining these pictures, getting as close to them as I could through the protective glass. It's incredible to see the detail and time that was invested into each Bible. Even after the invention of the printing press, incredibly intricate pictures could still be found throughout the Bible, especially in the King James.

At the end of the exhibit, a small section focuses on the Bible and the effect it has had on the LDS religion. I was actually surprised at how little this section contained. I thought it might go more in depth about our doctrinal beliefs in relationship to the King James Bible, but really, it more so scratched the surface of why we use the King James in our church. Despite its lacking depth, the section did make me ponder the power of the Bible in my own life. It made me contemplate how necessary the Bible (even with all its imperfections) is to our religion. What would we know of Christ's life with out the Bible? Not much! How many of his teachings would we know with out it? Not all of them! Although many "plain and precious truths" have been removed from it, the King James version of the Bible is still the word of God, and for that I am grateful for it. One day I'm sure I'll read it in its entirety. Until then, I'll stick with what I've got.