Review:
In the Beginning is Alister McGrath's history of the King James Bible, and as the subtitle explains, his explanation of "How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture." McGrath's story begins with the development of the printing press, describes the forces (before, during, and after the Reformation) fueling the demand for English vernacular translations of the Bible, and considers the impact of the King James Version on Western worship and politics. McGrath deftly blends an arch and charming, donnish argot with breezy, tough, brass-tacks directness. Of the ongoing process of creating new biblical translations, he writes, "It has yet to end; indeed, it will not end, until either history is brought to a close or English ceases to be a living language." Elsewhere, describing the cultural influence of the Authorized Version, he explains, "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.") A professor of historical theology at the University of Oxford, McGrath has written a number of popular books about Christianity (including Theology for Amateurs). In The Beginning continues his work of making complex matters of theological thought and history accessible to a wider audience. --Michael Joseph Gross
From the Back Cover:
"Alister McGrath has the teacher's gift for focusing on memorable details which illustrate wider issues. The book is spattered with brilliant little vignettes."—Dom. Henry Wansbrough, St. Benet's Hall, Oxford University
"Doubleday and McGrath are to be congratulated for producing such a fascinating and informative story of the translation of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. Personally I encountered some new details I had not found in any other work on this subject. McGrath skillfully and interestingly constructs the historical, political, economic, social, and religious background the tenor of the times that provided the impetus for this version. Certainly all modern Bible translators (including this one) owe a tremendous debt to the KJV and its translators. I enthusiastically recommend this book."—Kenneth L. Barker, executive director, NIV Translation Center, International Bible Society (retired)
"Alister McGrath is to be congratulated on writing a fascinating and splendid volume about an even more splendid and fascinating book, the famous King James Version of the Bible. The willing reader is in for a wild ride through tumultuous times, when the seemingly academic and professional tasks of translating, publishing and distributing the Bible could cost a man his livelihood or even his life. All aboard!"—Dr. David Noel Freedman, University of California, San Diego, general editor of the Anchor Bible Series and author of The Nine Commandments
"Alister McGrath has written a learned, witty, and fascinating tale about the history of the King James Bible its place in the developing English Bible tradition and its recognition as the 'noblest monument of English prose.' For all readers and students of the Bible, this book will be an invaluable vade-mecum."—Fr. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J., professor emeritus, Biblical Studies, Catholic University of America
"Rightly esteemed as a standard of literary English, the King James Version has nonetheless been perennially misunderstood. Alister McGrath sets the record straight, with a sprightly narrative of how this translation was the product of sensibilities honed by the Renaissance and the Reformation with more than a soup on of seventeenth-century politics!"—Bruce Chilton, author of Rabbi Jesus: An Intimate Biography
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