Happy 400th Anniversary, King James Bible

Catchfire
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Atta boy, Jim!

Quote:
Four hundred years ago, it — the King James Version of the Bible — was written. And it contained not only the newly received word of God to English Protestants in 1611 but some of the most poetic, inspirational yet down-to-earth language ever put to paper. And ever since, the KJV has fascinated believers and non-believers alike.

"[It] has been called the single most important publication in English-speaking history," says Ian Alexander of Sidney, a proselytizer for one of the wordiest celebrations of the 400th anniversary imaginable: a public reading of all 1,590 pages at Christ Church Cathedral Sept. 19 to 24. It's believed to be Canada's only such reading — and everyone in the community is invited to take part.

"We wanted to do something that would not only celebrate the historical richness of the KJV, but bring it alive for us today," he says.

"It not only formed the faith of millions of people, but gave the world hundreds of colourful phrases that are still in common use, and permanently shaped the rhythms and images of English speech and writing," Alexander says. And not "in a twinkling of an eye" — it took a committee of 47 scholars and clergy four years to "fight the good fight."

"Its cadences are still deeply ingrained in our psyches as a shared experience and common legacy of cultural reference," Alexander says.

 


Comments

Maysie
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Joined: Apr 21 2005

Really? Two active threads about the bible? babble, you've changed.

Laughing


Fidel
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Member: 6594
Joined: Apr 29 2004

Yes there was a time when they were mostly priests and royalty who could read and write. Dark period in between when they were mostly priests and monks who could write letters of communication between barbarian overlords, their oppressive laws etc. Were they keepers of the written word if only in the western world? Holy grail indeed.

But someone screwed up along the way and created a printing press. The end result is that today all us proletariats can read the Holy Bible, or perhaps Marx and Engels, McQuaig, Klein, Chomsky and rabble. 


GOD
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Joined: Jun 18 2002

SPOILER ALERT!

 

As utterly tedious as the book is for the most part, with a few notable exceptions, it really gets totally whacked at the end, and the whole world ends.  Imagine that!  It's like they got in a whole new writing team, and they were all stoned on acid or something.  Some really great imagry! 

Other than that, I'd say it was kind of uneven, and I'm not just saying that because in a lot of parts it frankly makes me come across as a bit of an asshole.  I mean I understand I'm kind of counter-intuitive on many levels, even for a fantasy, but my ego can get over it.  Yeah, uneven describes it, almost like it was written by many different individuals and groups over a long period of time to suit diverging social needs depending on the era, then wrung through several different translation processes.  Am I making sense here?  Weird way to write a book, but I hear it's done well.

 

 


Caissa
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You need to hire better redactors next time.


Unionist
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GOD wrote:
Am I making sense here?

More than you did in that book, bud - which, I suppose, isn't much of a revelation.

 


Caissa
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Joined: Jun 14 2006

Oh, how divine, Unioinist.Wink


GOD
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You act like I had something even remotely to do with it.  There's stuff in there so perverse that only a human could have come up with it. 

I created a nice little Universe, and laid out some challenges along the way to make things interesting, but some humans ability to screw things up is mind boggling.  However, there are nice people like the ones posting here that will make it all ok.  (that's not a promise BTW, but an expression of hope and encouragement.  Gotta be careful with promises)


Catchfire
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Joined: Apr 16 2003

Caissa wrote:
You need to hire better redactors next time.

What? And leave out all the best parts?

Quote:
A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife, Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jeconiah[a] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.

Matthew 1:1-17

Then again, think of all the royalty cheques JC could have saved. 

 


Caissa
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GOD wrote:
I created a nice little Universe, and laid out some challenges along the way to make things interesting, but some humans ability to screw things up is mind boggling.

 

Sad to see you haven't progressed in thinking since the Enlightenment, GOD.


GOD
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Now how can one progress, if one is already deemed to be a perfect entity?  ( an attribution bestowed by others, not me I might add )

 

Besides, I think it's a nice little universe.  You should see some of the others.


Caissa
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Do people's threads get closed in other universes with accusations of being disrupted and threats of suspension, GOD?


GOD
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There was once a universe with nothing but Free Dominion.  The human brain became so atrified that technology never went beyond the Ford Falcon, and there was fatal global warming due to excessive flatulence.  I was considering punishing them with a plague of locusts at on point, but then I figured why punish the innocent locusts?


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