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Home , Geneva Bible, Hebrew Bible (Alter), King James Version, Paperback

2010 King James 4oato

Scripture, Statecraft, and the American Founding by Bernard M. Levinson and Joshua A. Berman

The King James Bible is about to celebrate its 400th anniversary. While millions have sought spiri - tual and literary inspiration in it, an overlooked aspect of its history is its ongoing connection to national politics. Born in the first decade of the amid a controversy in over the relationship between church and state, the King James Bible came to prominence in the with the of the monarchy after the . More than a century later and an ocean away, its role in national politics continued in the genesis of the United States of America. The Founders employed its rhetoric in writings to support the Revolution and drew upon ideas going back to the Bible to design the Constitution. Politics brought the King James Bible into being and established its popularity, and it in turn was used to help spawn a political revolution.

he story begins with the Scotland. As King of Scotland, James formerly ascension of James Stuart, had a contentious relationship with the Scottish King of Scotland and son of church. Its leaders believed that a monarch is Mary, Queen of Scots, to the not the head of the church but subject to it, an throne of England in 1603. opinion that King James, for obvious reasons, T He inherited a divided did not share. He therefore saw this challenge to , with the his authority over the church as a potential reform-minded in one camp and the threat to the throne itself, especially if church conservative church establishment in the other. leaders should ever decide his actions as king The Puritans rejected as idolatrous or unbib - were incompatible with the will of God. lical many of the practices cherished by the con - Although King James wanted a unified Church servatives. In 1604 King James convened the of England, he wanted even more to avoid repeat - to resolve these ing the too familiar conflict in the new realm. N O I

conflicts, but despite the openness to reform Knowing the Puritans’ views resembled those of T C E L implied in holding the conference, he refused the Scottish church made King James understand - L O C

R nearly every suggestion made by the Puritan ably wary of their proposals. The sole Puritan sug - E G N A delegation. The problem was that King James R

gestion he championed was one that could serve G

George Washington is sworn in as the first president; the same Bible was used by President George H.W. Bush. E H associated the Puritans with the Church of his own agenda: the request that there be a single T

The History of the King James Bible and Its Impact upon the Founding of the United States 1517 152o 1526 1553 1558 156o 1568 Protestant Luther publishes The Appeal to the William Mary Tudor succeeds Mary Tudor is suc - The The ’s Bible is begins German Nobility , arguing for church Tyndale Edward VI on the throne ceeded by Elizabeth Bible, an published. It becomes with reform, including translating the publishes his of England and imple - I, who rejects Roman English the official Bible of the posting his Ninety- Bible into the language. English trans - ments policies to rein - Catholicism and , Church of England, but Five Theses against The resulting German Lutherbibel lation of the state Roman Catholicism restores Protestant- is published. many continue to use the prac - (1522/23) paves the way for trans - New in England. Many ism to England. the . tice of selling lations into other European lan - Testament. Protestants flee England indulgences. guages, including English. for other European cities. continued on page 8 2 3

Bible for the Church of England. also descended. Marginal notes, like those of the Geneva Quotes During the Reformation of the 16th and Bible, were forbidden in the new translation, except as a means 17th centuries, Protestants declared Scripture to clarify difficult words or to identify citations when one bibli - to be the primary conduit through which to cal text quoted another. on the Bible obtain knowledge of God. Christians were As each group completed its translation, they circulated their encouraged to study the Bible themselves, but work to the other committees for comment. In 1610, more “It is impossible to rightly govern a nation they quickly realized that it is not an easy read. than six years and 31,000 verses later, an editorial team con - without God and the Bible.” Thus, when a of the vened to finalize the manuscript. It was read aloud as scholars attributed to George Washington Bible was completed in Geneva in 1560, the in the room listened and consulted other for com - translators added marginal notes to explain the parison. The language of the translation attempted to mirror text for readers. The usefulness of the marginal the syntax of the original Greek and Hebrew, and was deliber - “The Bible is a boodk of faith, and a of notes made the Geneva Bible very popular ately archaized to impress upon its audience the holiness and doctrine, and a book of morals, and a book of among the general population, but the content majesty of the Word. religion, of especial revelation from God.” of the notes created a political concern for Disagreements were discussed, and variations proposed, until Daniel Webster monarchs such as King James. They contained at last they had a manuscript on which all agreed. some interpretations that were sympathetic to The final manuscript was completed in the spring of 1611. the right of the oppressed to resist a tyrant, Unfortunately, the process was not as meticulous as “The book called thde Bible has been voted by and that raised questions about “the divine the translation process had been. The printed works were lit - men, and decreed by human laws to be the right of kings,” the doctrine that monarchs, as tered with typographical errors. In addition, it appears that word of God; and the disbelief of this is called rulers anointed by God, should rule without pages from two editions were intermixed, so that in a single accountability to any human institution, there were pages from each . The result? No two blasphemy.” Thomas Paine including the law and the church. copies of the original King James Bible were alike. At one point In 1583, in an attempt to limit the influ - during the 19th century, there were more than 24,000 varia - “The Bible is wortdh all the other which ence of the Geneva Bible, the ’ Bible of tions among the editions in circulation. According to Adam 1568, which had royalist leanings, was named Nicolson, in God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James have ever been printed.” Patrick Henry the official Bible of the Church of England. Bible : “No one such thing as ‘The King James Bible’—agreed, Nevertheless, because the Geneva Bible was a consistent and whole—has ever existed.” “The Bible must bde considered as the great clearer translation, many in the church contin - The King James Bible was not initially successful. It was source of all the truth by which men are to be ued to use that more popular edition. criticized for its archaic language, for its apparent conservative guided in government as well as in all social Championing the Puritans’ request for a single, bias, and for its numerous printing errors. Even some of the official Bible gave King James the opportunity transactions.” translators themselves preferred to use other translations, espe - Noah Webster to rid the church of the Geneva Bible. He cially the Geneva Bible, in their ministry. Not even James’ made this intention clear by declaring, as 1616 prohibition against printing the Geneva Bible in “I have examined dall [religions], as well as noted by one , that “he could neuer, England could induce people to switch to the King James yet, see a Bible well translated in English; but my narrow sphere, my straightened means, Version. Instead, they imported Geneva Bibles from the the worst of all, his Maiestie thought the Netherlands. Only after the English Civil War and the and my busy life would allow; and the result Geneua to be.” A new translation was needed. Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 did the King James Bible is, that the Bible is the best Book in the Under the direction of , the finally achieve popularity. This belated popularity was driven world. It contains more of my philosophy of Canterbury, the translation by a sense of nostalgia for the pre-war monarchy, as the King than all the I have seen.” John Adams team, comprising 47 scholars distributed across James Version came to be regarded as a symbol of the nation’s six committees, was instructed to adhere closely united commitment to its king and its church. The English of to the Bishops’ Bible. Other translations could the King James Bible, once derided as archaic, began to have a “He who made alld men hath made the truths be used only in cases in which they better significant impact on the development of the English lan - necessary to human happiness obvious to all… agreed with the original Greek or Hebrew text. guage. Slowly but surely, it became the very model of “scrip - Our forefathers...opened the Bible to all...” In reality, the finished product had significant tural” language and polished rhetoric. Samuel Adams parallels with the 16th-century Tyndale transla - The Geneva Bible controversy is just one example of the inter - tion, from which both the Geneva and Bishops’ of faith and politics in the 16th and 17th centuries.

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P rejection of God’s king - of the Bible. Like many others of his day, Paine was influenced

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I obedience or rebellion “I believe in one God,” asserted Paine. “I do not believe in

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against God’s divinely the professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman A

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A appointed monarch church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church . . . nor by

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E would be sinful. any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.”

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Pointing to biblical The contours of his belief—and disbelief—are evident in his

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E G models, the Dutch view of the Bible: “I cannot dishonour my Creator by calling it philosopher by his name.” While Paine couldn’t believe in the divine inspi - Benedict Spinoza, in ration of the Bible, he did believe in the Bible’s capacity to stir his Theological-Political Treatise the masses. In Common Sense he referred to King George III as George Washington’s (1670), argued for a social contract requiring the “hardened, sullen tempered Pharaoh of England.” His essay inaugural Bible. rule by the consent of the governed. He called draws from many biblical passages critical of the idea of a equally for freedom of thought and expression as monarchy, but it is also evident that Paine used the rhetorical During this era, Protestant scholars began to see essential to any just social order. tone of the to frame his own words as well. the Pentateuch—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, A number of scholars have argued in recent Paine cited the episode in Judges 8, in which the Israelites turn Numbers, and Deuteronomy, often called the years that the Pentateuch represents an impor - to the victorious general, Gideon, and offer him dynastic lead - Five Books of — as a divinely inspired tant but neglected source for the origins of ership. Paine quotes Gideon’s response: “Gideon in the piety of guide for the ordering of contemporary human Western constitutional thought, including the his replied, ‘I will not rule over you, neither shall my son affairs. Reacting against absolutist rule and ideas of the separation of powers, the rule of law, rule over you. THE SHALL RULE OVER YOU.’” social hierarchies, many thinkers turned to the and the independence of the judiciary. They Paine then employs rhetorical flourish in his commentary on Bible to ground new arguments for egalitarian note, for example, that in the New World, the passage: “Gideon doth not decline the honour, but denieth rule. The English jurist John Selden saw in early Deuteronomy was the most frequently cited their right to give it.” Paine enhances the stature of his own Israel’s tribal boundaries a model for state sover - book in popular writings on the Constitution voice by employing the rhetoric of the King James Bible—the eignty. His work paved the way for later schol - during the Revolutionary period, exceeding even same Bible whose religious authority he deeply questioned. ars to argue for equality under the law for all Charles de Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws . During this period, the King James Bible inspired a new who dwelt within a state’s . Republican Many also used the Bible—particu - genre of satire: biblical parody. The biblical First Book of activists of the 1650s used the dramatic story of larly the King James Version—to stir the spirit Chronicles details ancient Israel’s earliest history. This work Israel’s request for a king (1 Sam 8:7) to demon - of dissent in various and surprising ways. inspired a Philadelphia silversmith named John Leacock to strate that human monarchies were inherently Consider the use of the Bible in Thomas compose a satirical account of the earliest history of America— idolatrous, because they replace divine with Paine’s bestselling , Common Sense , the New Israel. He titled his work—written in the wake of the human rule. Ironically, monarchists had used which appeared in January 1776. Paine did not December 1773 Boston Tea Party— The First Book of the the same passage to argue that just as Israel’s believe in the divine authorship and authority American Chronicles of the Times . Parliament had enacted a series

16o3 16o4 161o 1611 1616 1644 166o 167o 1675 James VI, James com - The translation The King James Production Printing of The English Benedict Publication of the King of missions a new editors convene Bible is published of the the Geneva monarchy is Spinoza pub - King James Bible Scotland Bible transla - at the Stationers by Robert Barker, Geneva Bible ceases restored after a lishes (anony - by Cambridge becomes tion at the Hall in London whose family in Bible in as its popu - brief period of mously) his University Press James I, King Hampton Court to finalize the 1577 had pur - England larity wanes. Parlimentary rule Theological- begins. of England, Conference. manuscript for chased monopoly ceases. following the Political succeeding the King James rights to print English Civil War. Treatise. continued Elizabeth. Bible. Bibles in England. on page 10 8 of punitive measures, called the Coercive Acts, the King James Bible continued to shape designed to restore British authority; the colonists America’s political development through the cri - promptly dubbed them the Intolerable Acts. sis that led to the ratification of the Constitution. Leacock’s work first appeared in October 1774. Standing before the General Court of New 1 verse 1 of the satire details the Boston Hampshire in early June 1788, Samuel Tea Party, consciously adopting the style of the Langdon prepared to speak to the weighty issue King James Bible: of the day. Only two weeks remained before he would serve as a representative to that state’s con - And behold! When the tidings came to stitutional convention. Eight states already had the great city that is afar off, the city ratified the Constitution. If New Hampshire fol - that is in the land of Britain, how the lowed suit, the document would be formally men of Boston, even the Bostonites, had adopted as the law of the land. Searching for a arose, a great multitude and destroyed text that would buttress his ardent support of rat - the Tea, the abominable merchandize ification, the former Harvard College president of the east, and cast it into the midst opened his King James Bible to Deuteronomy 4 of the sea . . . . and read aloud:

Leacock’s First Book of the American Chronicles Behold I have taught you statutes and was published in newspaper installments through - judgments . . . . Keep therefore and do S S E

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out New England and detailed events as they them; for this is your wisdom and your P

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oath as wife Nancy holds the Bible, E T unfolded. It also included references to major understanding in the sight of the nations A I

given to him by his mother’s family. C O S

characters of the revolution in biblical pseudo - which shall hear all these statutes, and S A nym, such as Mordecai the Benjaminite (i.e. say, “Surely this great nation is a wise Benjamin Franklin). It ran to six installments, or and understanding people . . . .” What the momentous decision facing the nation, he BERNARD M. LEVINSON holds the Berman Family “chapters,” until February 1775. nation is there so great, that hath remarked, “If I am not mistaken, instead of the Chair of Jewish Studies and at the University of Minnesota, where he is also an Affiliated Professor of While Paine’s Common Sense is widely studied statutes and judgments so righteous as twelve tribes of Israel we may substitute the Law. His book, Legal Revision and Religious Renewal in today, more colonists, especially in outlying areas, all this law, which I set before you this thirteen States of the American union.” Ancient Israel (Cambridge University Press, 2008), has just were prepared for armed resistance by the clergy’s day? (Deut 4:5–8) The King James Version first took shape to been released in . Sunday sermons than by the of a help address a political crisis in England and to JOSHUA A. BERMAN is an assistant professor of Hebrew Locke or a Paine. The Massachusetts Supreme Langdon went on to explicate the virtue of consolidate the rule of the monarch. Its legacy Bible at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, and the author of Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Court chief justice, a loyalist named Peter Oliver, Deuteronomy as the basis of a law-based society was to play an important role in a remarkable Ancient Political Thought ( University Press, 2008). saw these dissenting clergymen as a distinct threat in which curbs on the corruptive influence of revolution against the very idea of monarchy, TINA SHERMAN, a doctoral candidate at Brandeis and dubbed them “the Black Regiment.” power were an integral part of its system. and to nurture the founding of a new republi - University and research assistant to Bernard Levinson, Political sermons that drew from the verses of Bringing the lessons of Deuteronomy to bear on can model of government. contributed to this article.

1774 1775 1776 1782 1788 1789 2o1o Continental Congress British efforts to In January Thomas The first English-language Samuel Langdon On April 30 George Washington is Thomas Nelson, the world's meets in Philadelphia. quell rebellion Paine publishes his Bible is printed in America. delivers his ser - inaugurated in New York as the first leading publisher of KJV Discussion focuses in the colonies pamphlet Common The choice of the King mon in support of president. He takes the oath of Bibles, will engage in a global on American griev - result in the Sense making the James Version for this the Constitution. office with his right hand on an celebration of the 400th ances against the first battles case for American printing helped to estab - The document open copy of the King James Bible anniversary of the King British and a boycott between the independence. July lish it as the preferred takes effect after (printed in London in 1767), James Version. Visit of British and Irish colonists and 4, Congress adopts the document later translation in the U.S. in New Hampshire obtained at the last minute from www.KJV400Celebration.com. products. British soldiers. known as the Declaration of Independence. subsequent years. ratifies it. a nearby St. John’s Lodge. 10 11