Friday, November 27. 2009
The Bible as literature, by James O'Fee
Desert Island Discs, created by Roy Plomley in 1942, is the longrunning BBC radio programme. Guests are invited to choose the eight records they would take with them to a desert island. Guests are invited as well to choose a luxury and a book, apart from the Bible and Shakespeare which are assumed.
A recent guest was lawyer and writer Anthony Julius. Since Julius is of Jewish background, the presenter offered Julius the Torah instead of the Bible. But no, Julius insisted, he wanted the Christian Bible. And not only that, but the King James version.
The Torah, "teaching", "instruction", or "law", refers to either the "Five Books of Moses", the Pentateuch, or to the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts. And naturally the Christian Bible includes many if not all of of these. The King James Bible refers to "he Law and the Prophets" (a).
The story of the King James translation - what I learnt as the "Authorised Version" - is a curious one, part of which I related in Son of the Manse ( Friday, March 23. 2007), referring to Alister McGrath's book In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture (Anchor, reprinted 2002). The language of the King James Bible permeated English-speaking culture so that many people today are unaware of how many common expressions in our language stem from there.
Yet, as a translation, the King James version has many defects. It language was archaic from the start. Today there are many translations which are more faithful to the original, and Biblical knowledge has likewise advanced hugely.
There used to be people who, while not believers, advocated reading the King James Bible "as literature", few today, it must be said. I wonder whether Anthony Julius can be one of these. Or whether the Holy Spirit is stirring in his heart?
Note
(a) For example, Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 22, verses 34-40 has -
34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Links
Anthony Julius on Desert Island Discs
Torah - Wikipedia
King James Bible - Wikipedia
Anthony Julius - Wikipedia
Anthony Julius
The Torah, "teaching", "instruction", or "law", refers to either the "Five Books of Moses", the Pentateuch, or to the entirety of Judaism's founding legal and ethical religious texts. And naturally the Christian Bible includes many if not all of of these. The King James Bible refers to "he Law and the Prophets" (a).
The story of the King James translation - what I learnt as the "Authorised Version" - is a curious one, part of which I related in Son of the Manse ( Friday, March 23. 2007), referring to Alister McGrath's book In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture (Anchor, reprinted 2002). The language of the King James Bible permeated English-speaking culture so that many people today are unaware of how many common expressions in our language stem from there.
Yet, as a translation, the King James version has many defects. It language was archaic from the start. Today there are many translations which are more faithful to the original, and Biblical knowledge has likewise advanced hugely.
There used to be people who, while not believers, advocated reading the King James Bible "as literature", few today, it must be said. I wonder whether Anthony Julius can be one of these. Or whether the Holy Spirit is stirring in his heart?
Note
(a) For example, Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 22, verses 34-40 has -
34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Links
Anthony Julius on Desert Island Discs
Torah - Wikipedia
King James Bible - Wikipedia
Anthony Julius - Wikipedia
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