This year marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the English King James Bible, the popular name of what is formally known as the Authorized Version. Its popular acronym is a combination of the two names, KJV, for King James Version.
The translation takes its popular name from James I, who commissioned a new English translation in 1604. It was finished in 1611.
Resting heavily on William Tyndale’s translation, the KJV was the dominant English version of the Bible for more than three centuries. Conferences marking the anniversary by exploring the history of the KJV and its literary and cultural impact have been held on university campuses around the world. Mark Noll, professor of church history at Notre Dame, notes words as diverse as “adoption,” “beautiful,” and “mortgaged” all became fixed in English because of the KJV. Even the atheist Christopher Hitchens, writing in Vanity Fair, acknowledged its impact: “The Tyndale/King James translation, even if all its copies were to be burned, would still live on in our language through its transmission by way of Shakespeare and Milton and Bunyan and Coleridge, and also by way of beloved popular idioms such as ‘fatted calf’ and ‘pearls before swine.'”
In its heyday, the KJV was not the only English translation, but no preacher needed to say to their congregation “I am reading from the KJV this morning;” everyone knew. Since the introduction of the Revised Standard Version in 1946 (New Testament) and 1952 (Old Testament) a flood of new translations have appeared. An estimated 900 translations of the Bible in whole or in part exist in English, and there are a variety of forms in which they are published: as magazines aimed at a teenage market; with additional resources targeting men or women or sports fans or those in recovery; and as an App for smartphones.
Behind the academic conferences and plethora of references to “high culture,” behind the extraordinary range of English translations and ways they are packaged to reach new readers runs the question: Is the Bible a factor in the English – speaking world today? And even more narrowly, is the Bible a guide for English – speaking North Americans today?
Television personality Steven Colbert mounted a debate during the Jan. 4, 2011 episode of the Colbert Report between U.S. Congressman Ron Paul, arguing in favour of using the gold standard to peg the value of the American dollar, and David Leonhardt, reporter with The New York Times, contending the dollar should be allowed to float. As the debate ended, Colbert asked, “Which would you rather worship: a golden calf or a calf made of $100 bills?” Both debaters looked embarrassed and the audience laughed, getting the joke.
Biblical figures appear regularly in popular culture. Noah, described by filmmaker Darren Aronofsky as “the first environmentalist,” appears in Bill Cosby’s sketch “Noah: Right!” and movies like Disney’s Noah, starring Tony Danza, or Evan Almighty with Steve Carell. The Veggie Tales’ version of Jonah, which played in theatres across North America, gave children and teenagers new lines to quote—some of which were even biblical.
The Rolling Stones’ song about the prodigal son (on the 1968 Beggars Banquet album) tells the story almost exactly as it appears in the gospel of Luke. The punk rock band Bad Religion’s Prodigal Son (on their 2007 New Maps of Hell release) shows remarkable insight into the challenges faced by the older brother. Bad Religion’s lyrics do not re – tell the story; they assume the audience knows it well enough to understand their song.
These pop culture references indicate that, despite surveys showing biblical literacy slipping (for example, half of North Americans cannot name the first book of the Bible), there is enough residual knowledge of the Bible so that those who speak to and for large sections of the culture, such as TV personalities, moviemakers, and rock bands, can make biblical references and expect to be understood.
The deeper question is, do people who know about the Bible also recognize it as a guide in their lives? The question defies a simple answer. In surveys between 2007 and 2009, the Barna polling group asked adults in the United States their views of the Bible. Asked to name a holy or sacred book, 90 per cent of those over 64 named the Bible. This contrasts with the two – thirds of respondents between ages 18 and 25 who identified the Bible in this way. This evidence could be presented in support of an argument that the Bible has less authority for the younger group, pointing to an ongoing decline in the Bible’s impact on people’s lives.
But before reaching that conclusion, one more set of survey results needs to be considered. The survey asked: “What specific aspect of your spiritual life would you like to improve?” Eight percent of those over the age of 64 who had identified themselves as Christians wished to increase their Bible knowledge; none wanted to read the Bible more. Strikingly, 19 per cent of those between the ages of 18 and 25 identifying themselves as Christians said they wanted to increase their Bible knowledge, and three per cent wanted to read the Bible more. Apparently there is a desire to know more about what Karl Barth called “the strange world of the Bible.”
Last April, I sat in a room packed with more than 100 teenagers. Every chair was filled, kids were sitting on the counter at the back, and the speaker was stuck in a corner because more young people were sitting on the floor at the front of the room. The topic drawing this crowd: “Five ways to study the Bible.”
Certainly no English translation of the Bible will dominate the church and cultural scene the way the King James Version did. And even though biblical literacy appears to be on the decline in some quarters, it would be a mistake to assume the Bible is irrelevant to people today. A new generation appears interested in the Bible not just as a source of cultural references, but as a book to be read and studied.
