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Biblical Roots of Christian Science

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Biblical Roots of Christian Science Biblical Roots of Christian Science Reprint of Reading Room exhibit First Church of Christ, Scientist Pasadena www.ChristianSciencePasadena.com “... and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” – Rev.22:2 Copyright ©2012, First Church of Christ Scientist, Pasadena THE STORY OF was required by law to attend Church THE KING JAMES each week or pay a fi ne. BIBLE Historical background - King James I and his vision ing James was an extremely Introduction scholarly man, the only English monarchK ever to publish a book of his ublication of the King James trans- own works. He was also an ambitious P lation of the Bible was a milestone man and a shrewd politician. His vi- in making the Bible more accessible to sion for England was that of a peace- the general population in England. After an uncertain start, this trans- lation became a best seller for al- most 400 years, with billions sold and, due to its popularity was known as the “Authorized” or “Common” version. No oth- er version has achieved such popularity, praise, and love. What is it about this version that has enabled it to endure? An examination of the translation pro- ful and balanced society. However, the cess and its circumstances yields some Puritans and the Bishops were great clues to answer this question. rivals in the Church and James need- ed to fi nd a way to bind them togeth- Historical background er to avoid their stirring up discon- - England in 1603 tent. After the conference of Hampton Court, the Puritans had suggested the hen James I ascended to the idea of a new translation of the Bible. W English throne in 1603, the time (None of the three existing Bibles, –the of William Shakespeare and Francis Calvinistic Protestant Geneva Bible, Bacon, the country was very involved Queen Elizabeth I’s Bishops Bible, with the things of God and the Church. and the Roman Catholic Latin Vulgate As reigning monarch, James was head Bible, –suited James.) James knew that of the Church of England, England’s compromise was the only solution and offi cial Protestant Church. Everyone that neither the Puritans nor the Bishops 1 could be excluded from the translation anything be halting, or superfluous, or process. Sanctioning a new translation not so agreeable to the original, the of the Bible, true to the original texts, – same may be corrected and the truth to the Word, which appeals to the mind, set in place.” and would move the Church away from ceremony, which appeals to the senses, One goal of the new translation was –seemed a promising proposition. Ever to connect the reader directly with the the politician, James placed the work meaning of a message recorded in an- under the control of the Bishops, but cient languages, generally unknown to allowed input from the Puritans. the reader. The translators took their work very seriously, sometimes debat- Goals and Rules ing at length over a single word. There Governing the Translation was a commitment of total fidelity to and Ambiguity the original languages, but also to to- tal transmission of the depth of mean- he translation process began in ing to the reader. To maintain this puri- 1604. The whole venture was a ty and his other goals, James instituted deeplyT scholarly enterprise. The ap- a set of 15 rules governing the transla- proximately fifty translators assem- tion process. According to these rules, bled to do the work were men of great marginal notes and commentary (to ex- scholarship, several of whom were flu- plain some of the more ambiguous pas- ent in multiple ancient Biblical source sages or words for which there was no languages. They were men who would equivalent English word,) were forbid- be considered highly educated and cul- den. Translators inevitably exhibit bias, tured today, although they could by no and marginal notes -if printed in the means all be described as pious. In a translated document- will reflect that prefatory note to the readers of the King bias to the reader, thereby effectively James Version, the translators wrote forming a barrier between him and the original text, and inhibiting individual “Truly we never thought from the be- interpretation. The “no marginal notes” ginning, that we should need to make rule had the effect of forcing the trans- a new translation, nor yet to make of lators to find the words or phrases that a bad one a good one, but to make a could convey the multiplicity of mean- good one better, or out of many good ings of the original. Annotations, found ones, one principal good one.” Adding in the margins of some of the original that “whatsoever is sound already the source works used in the translation same will shine as gold more bright- process, indicate some of the alterna- ly, being rubbed and polished; also if tive words the translators had consid- 2 ered using. Other notes show the great text must flow and wanted the words to ingenuity of the translators in their use sound like music to the ear when read. of phrasing and judicious punctua- tion to get closer to the original, and to Completion of the Work preserve ambiguity. and Its Aftermath Ambiguity he translation process was com- pleted in 1611, but the new Bible mbiguity arose because there were atT first met with universal loathing. A some cases where the translators Puritans thought the translation too admitted that they simply did not know “high church,” too formal. After the what was meant by the original. This death of King James and the murder of visible ambiguity in the King James his son, England descended into civil Version is sometimes criticized, but war, and the King James Version of the actually it has great value. Ambiguity, Bible was left to gather dust for some by allowing for multiple meanings, re- 30 years. But after the Civil War, in quires the reader to be an active think- 1660, people seemed ready to embrace er, not just a passive reader, and also the new translation as part of a renewal demands that he take upon himself and a fresh start. The King James Bible the responsibility for interpretation. came to prominence as a link to the Ambiguity in meaning, when worked past, specially prepared for the Church with and pondered, gives the reader of England. Phrases borrowed from it the opportunity to grow in his under- have become part of the very fabric of standing of complex ideas, so that in- the English language. The King James creasingly he grasps the higher and Bible has been described as the most in- deeper meanings which at first reading fluential book in the English language. maybe he didn’t see, or wasn’t ready Through the work of missionaries, it to understand. has been carried to every corner of the English-speaking world. The translators were also conscious that the Bible was to be read aloud in Conclusion Church, and that therefore the way the text sounded when read aloud was im- hile there are now many Bibles portant. In considering which words to available in modern English, use, they looked for sounds of great- most,W but not all, are re-workings of ex- ness and chose words to try to convey isting versions, rather than totally new a sense of the divine, so that the peo- translations. An exception (and one of ple would realize that they were in fact the earliest modern English Bibles) hearing the Word of God. They knew the 3 was Ferrar Fenton’s 1903, “The Holy tion conveys the greatness of divinity Bible in Modern English”. Fenton, an through the beauty of expression? He ancient Sanskrit, Greek, Hebrew and probably will. The King James Version Latin scholar, had as his sole goal “to will likely have an audience for some study the Bible absolutely in its original time to come. languages, to ascertain what its writ- ers actually said and thought”. Today’s Sources include: Adam Nicholson, au- modern language Bibles cover a broad thor of “Gods Secretaries.” and Ward spectrum of purposes and interests, and Allen, author of “Translating for King some are very contemporary. For ex- James.” ample compare Genesis 1:1-2. First the King James Version reads: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” And now the contemporary version published in 2003: “First off, nothing! No light, no time, no substance, no matter. Second off God starts it all off and whap stuff ev- erywhere.” What will a modern day reader look for CHRISTIAN when choosing a translation of a clas- SCIENCE AND THE sical text written thousands of years ago? Could he be satisfi ed knowing BIBLE that highly educated, cultured schol- ars undertook the translation? Could Introduction he accept the use of ambiguity as a means to draw attention to passages t a meeting of the Christian with a multiplicity of meaning? Will Scientist Association in 1879, he want to make sure that the transla- MaryA Baker Eddy proposed a motion 4 on which it was voted: “To organize a es. Rather than comprising a rigorous church designed to commemorate the historical research document, this pa- word and works of our Master, which per seeks to find Mrs. Eddy’s own lead- should reinstate primitive Christianity ership and guidance in her writings -to and its lost element of healing.” Just show us how she discovered Christian over a decade earlier in 1866 Mrs.
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