Happy Birthday, KJV

This year marks the 400th anniversary of a momentous event in the English-speaking world: the first publication of the Authorised Version of The Bible, commonly known as the King James Version.

The translation project was instigated by King James I as a way of reconciling some of the theological disagreements between high-church Anglicans and Puritans. The transition from Latin Vulgate texts to early English bibles had not been a smooth one, and in 1604 James called for a completely new translation, “as consonant as can be to the original Hebrew and Greek.” Published in 1611 after 7 years of diligent work by 47 different scholars, the Authorised Version was not just the most influential version of the Bible, it was one of the most influential works in the history of the English language.

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I should probably put in a brief caveat here: strictly as a translation of Scripture, the KJV isn’t my personal favourite. The task of converting the original Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic texts into a serviceable English equivalent is a continual challenge for each generation of translators, and the KJV tends more towards formal over functional equivalence than several more modern translations. Opinions will differ on this point, and that’s ok.

But as a work of literature, the KJV sits on the loftiest peaks in the English language. Seriously, this is the book that gave us all these expressions:

• How are the mighty fallen (2 Samuel 1:19)
• A still small voice (1 Kings 19:12)
• Eat, drink, be merry (Luke 12:19)
• By the skin of my teeth (Job 19:20)
• The root of the matter (Job 19:28)
• Be horribly afraid (Jeremiah 2:12)
• A fly in the ointment (Ecclesiastes 10.1)
• A drop in the bucket (Isaiah 40:15)
• A house divided against itself cannot stand (Matthew 12:25)
• Like a lamb to the slaughter (Jeremiah 11:19, Isaiah 53:7)
• A law unto themselves (Romans 2:14)
• A man after his own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22)
• A thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7)
• Pride goeth before a fall (Proverbs 16:18)
• Put words in his mouth (Exodus 4:15)
• A broken heart (Psalm 34:18)
• Baptism of fire (Matthew 3:11)
• Feet of clay (Daniel 2:31-33)
• Let there be light (Genesis 1:3)

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Great orators such as Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln were powerfully influenced by the KJV for both idiom and cadence. The majestic structure of Martin Luther King Jr’s 1963 “I have a dream…” speech at the Lincoln Memorial draws heavily from passages in the King James Version. The sentence:

“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”

…comes directly from Isaiah 40:4-5 in the KJV.

Likewise, the beautiful imagery of:

“No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

…is drawn from Amos 5:24, “But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”

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In his 2001 book, In The Beginning, Alistair McGrath documents the creation and impact of the KJV Bible. He writes:

“The King James Bible was a landmark in the history of the English language, and an inspiration to poets, dramatists, artists, and politicians. The influence of this work has been incalculable. For many years, it was the only English translation of the Bible available. Many families could afford only one book—a Bible, in whose pages parents recorded the births of their children, and found solace at their deaths. Countless youngsters learned to read by mouthing the words they found in the only book their family possessed—the King James Bible. Many learned biblical passages by heart, and found that their written and spoken English was shaped by the language and imagery of this Bible. Without the King James Bible, there would have been no Paradise Lost, no Pilgrim’s Progress, no Handel’s Messiah, no Negro spirituals, and no Gettysburg Address. These, and innumerable other works, were inspired by the language of this Bible. Without this Bible, the culture of the English-speaking world would have been immeasurably impoverished. The King James Bible played no small part in shaping English literary nationalism, by asserting the supremacy of the English language as a means of conveying religious truths.”

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“Paradoxically, the king’s translators achieved literary distinction precisely because they were not deliberately pursuing it. Aiming at truth, they achieved what later generations recognized as beauty and elegance. Where later translations deliberately and self-consciously sought after literary merit, the king’s translators achieved it unintentionally, by focusing on what, to them, was a greater goal. Paradoxically, elegance was achieved by accident, rather than design.”

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There’s probably no Dawkins…

…now stop worrying and enjoy Oct 25th at the Sheldonian Theatre.

So read the signs on buses in the Oxford area at the moment, lamenting the sudden failure of courage from New Atheism’s leading apologist.

It seems that while Richard Dawkins is happy to have the occasional televised cup of tea with an English archbishop who is too polite to respond to his bombast, he is not quite so bold when it comes to debating religion with any serious Christian apologists. After lengthy prevarication, Dawkins has retreated securely into his shell and refused to debate William Lane Craig at the Sheldonian.

As the proposed debate was in his hometown, I don’t think travel costs were the issue. It’s really hard to see this as anything other than cowardice on Dawkins’ part.

Read more on the story here in The Guardian.

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Scaling the Mountain of Truth

One of the many areas of overlap between science and Christianity is that they are both seeking the Truth.

The attainment of truth is often likened to climbing a mountain, and any hiker or climber can immediately understand why. Not only is it hard to do, but once you’re at the top you can suddenly see everything. What was previously obscured is now laid out clearly; what you saw in part from the plains you see in full from the heights. It’s a powerful metaphor, so let’s extend it a bit.

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How exactly should we go about scaling a mountain? We know that we want to reach the top, but we have never climbed this mountain before and we can’t see a route to the top – or even the top itself – clearly from where we stand.

Well, one method could be to employ an algorithm. If we examine the ground at our feet , we will notice that it is inclined in a particular direction. If we head off in the direction of steepest incline for a little bit, we will have a different patch of ground higher up. Again, examine the ground, find the steepest incline, and go in that direction. Keep doing this and you should slowly tend towards the summit of the mountain.

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In many ways, this is how Science seeks the truth.

We look at the known, the previous discoveries, we hypothesise, we test, we repeat. Slowly, incrementally, we rise.

There are a few potential problems, though. We may find that we reach a minor peak, or what mathematicians would call a “local maximum”, which is not truly the top of the mountain. The ground slopes down in all directions, but we aren’t yet at the true summit. We know this because there is still a part of the mountain higher than us: our current theory can explain much, but some things are still above us and beyond our understanding. By this we know that our theory is incomplete; it needs revision. At this point, we need to retrace our steps back down into a valley and try again.

Alternatively, we may run into an incline that is too great, an impassable cliff. Our algorithm points us up the rock face, but the limitations of observation, or of experimental possibility, or whatever, make it impossible to proceed in that direction.

So the scientific mountaineering method is useful, and allows us to build on previous experience, but it clearly has limits. It may take us to false peaks first, it may get stuck, but in theory it should bring us closer to the summit with every iteration.

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Of course, as any mountaineer knows, this isn’t how we actually climb. So let’s think about some alternatives.

What about a path? Not every path is guaranteed to lead to the summit, but some might. What if there are signposts? What if we meet someone who says he has been to the top, and tells you which path he took? What if other people have gone before us, and drawn a map for those who follow?

Should we not investigate those alternative, indirect, less rigorously scientific methods of reaching the summit?

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Related posts:

On Spherical Cows and the Search for Truth

Maths, science and abstractions

Faith: reflecting on evidence

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