Earliest known draft of the King James Bible discovered
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Re: Earliest known draft of the King James Bible discovered
#2The Bible is amazing.
Re: Earliest known draft of the King James Bible discovered
#3Do religious groups in the US, specifically, Christians, talk about the history of the King James Bible? Why is it, uh, trusted by so many, when stuff like this hints at a storied construction?
Re: Earliest known draft of the King James Bible discovered
#4All: please avoid religious flamebait and stick to what's intellectually interesting: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Sorry to nag, but with a topic like this, past performance predicts future returns.
Re: Earliest known draft of the King James Bible discovered
#5The Douay-Rheims is actually a decade or two older and the first English translation, if memory serves.
Re: Earliest known draft of the King James Bible discovered
#6Do religious groups in the US, specifically, Christians, talk about the history of the King James Bible? Why is it, uh, trusted by so many, when stuff like this hints at a storied construction?
That's a great point. There's some much arguing about what different passages in the bible mean, and what get's lost in those conversations that the passages in question are already a derivative source. The thinking must go something along the lines that everyone involved in each step must have been tasked by god himself with the wisdom to faithfully transcribe his wishes... or something of that sort.
Re: Earliest known draft of the King James Bible discovered
#7Do religious groups in the US, specifically, Christians, talk about the history of the King James Bible? Why is it, uh, trusted by so many, when stuff like this hints at a storied construction?
I don't think it's widely trusted. Translations are hotly debated, but I think most people consider the KJV to be a poor quality translation, besides the fact that even if it had been a quality translation at some point the language has changed enough that it's no longer very helpful for a modern english speaker seeking to understand the original greek and hebrew texts.
Re: Earliest known draft of the King James Bible discovered
#8Obviously it’s interesting to religious people and people who study religion. But, on top of that it’s an important document of the English language at that time. So it’s got linguistic interest as well. But that’s the case for many historic religious texts. One has to do with religion the other is the linguistic aspect. Of course there are other areas of interest like culture and so on.
Re: Earliest known draft of the King James Bible discovered
#9Do religious groups in the US, specifically, Christians, talk about the history of the King James Bible? Why is it, uh, trusted by so many, when stuff like this hints at a storied construction?
There's a good summary of KJV Christians on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Only_movement
I'm not an expert, but out of the five groups of KJVO Christians listed, only the "KJV as New Revelation" group would seem to be troubled by any of this. If you believe that e.g. the KJV was a translation based on providentially-preserved Greek and Hebrew texts, you wouldn't be surprised that it took work and multiple drafts to translate.
Re: Earliest known draft of the King James Bible discovered
#10Do religious groups in the US, specifically, Christians, talk about the history of the King James Bible? Why is it, uh, trusted by so many, when stuff like this hints at a storied construction?
That's a great point. There's some much arguing about what different passages in the bible mean, and what get's lost in those conversations that the passages in question are already a derivative source. The thinking must go something along the lines that everyone involved in each step must have been tasked by god himself with the wisdom to faithfully transcribe his wishes... or something of that sort.
That's not lost in the conversation. "Churches and religious groups" vary widely of course, but a core part of seminary training (which most Christian traditions require before someone can be a pastor) is learning enough Greek and Hebrew - and specifically learning how to study the original written language - so that you can consider translations skeptically.
Further, it's very common for Sunday services to consist of the entire church making their way through a book of the Bible together, with the pastor bringing an analysis of the text each week centered on this whole idea of different translations and what did the original mean in the context of its time.
Even among the laity in a church, most Bible reading and study consists of comparing multiple translations and commentaries by scholars that debate what the original context and meaning was.