Contents Illustrations 9 Introduction 21 1. Ancient Bibles: The Triumph of Beauty, the Tyranny of Power 25 2. He Dared to Act: John Wycliffe and the Bible in English 45 3. The Man of the Millennium:The Triumph of the Press over the Quill 67 4. He Dared to Take a Stand: The Monk Becomes a Knight 83 5. The Fire of Devotion:The Plowman Reads the Bible 91 6. A Political Pastor Struggles in Exile: The Pastor Survives and His Psalms Endure 111 7. A Royal Court Intrigue: The First “Authorized” Bible 125 8. Theology Influences Bible Versions:Notes to Aid the Reader 143 9. The Clergy’s Version:A Bible Longing for an Audience 161 10. The Catholic Church Responds:From Sacred Latin to Vulgar English 171 11. A Royal Translation: Splendors of the Stuart Court 183 12. The King’s Bible Revised:From King James to Queen Victoria 205 13. The Source for English Translations:The Battle for a Standard Greek Text 225 Donald L. Brake, 7 A Visual History of the English Bible: The Tumultuous Tale of the World’s Bestselling Book, Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2008. Used by permission. Brake_VisualHistory_PB_bb.indd 7 5/5/08 8:59:54 AM 14. The Bible in America:At War and Peace 249 15. The Bible as Bestseller:“As Wide as the Waters Be” 265 16. The People Triumph:The Bible for All Seasons 283 Conclusion 297 Acknowledgments 299 A Visual Glossary 303 Notes 319 Selected Bibliography 333 Scripture Index 341 General Index 343 Contents 8 Donald L. Brake, A Visual History of the English Bible: The Tumultuous Tale of the World’s Bestselling Book, Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2008. Used by permission. Brake_VisualHistory_PB_bb.indd 8 5/5/08 8:59:54 AM Introduction he twenty-first century is speeding forward on the Internet, cel- lular towers, and other channels of the future. Urgent and im- portant messages circle the globe instantly and disappear just as Tquickly. Will the Bible with its ancient origins and multiple scribes maintain its relevancy in the postmodern world? That question finds an answer neither in the Bible’s age, nor in the beauti- ful art it has inspired, nor in its literary style, but rather in its intrinsic value as a guide for life. Seekers, from the ancients to today, have found the Bible to be their source for hope, direction, and consolation. As any seminary student will tell you, the Bible is not just a dictation of facts or data. The book itself claims to be the very revelation of God, and the clear intention of the text is to help readers obtain knowledge and to touch them emotionally, to motivate the faithful to act upon God’s commands. For centuries people of faith have believed the act of reading God’s Word is the process whereby humans receive the thoughts of God. This is the revelation event. And this event began with God’s inspiration of the prophets, the apostles, and others who wrote the Scriptures. The very concept of an eternal, omnipotent God communicating to finite, mortal beings is problematic. For example, in what language should God reveal himself? Any language, after all, has inherent weaknesses. As it happened, the original languages of the biblical text were Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, which obviously creates problems for English speakers who want to understand the Bible’s original meaning. And if the Bible holds the very Donald L. Brake, 21 A Visual History of the English Bible: The Tumultuous Tale of the World’s Bestselling Book, Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2008. Used by permission. Brake_VisualHistory_PB_bb.indd 21 5/5/08 8:59:58 AM A thirteenth- century Torah scroll, the book of Genesis, from the genizah of the Ben Ezra Synagogue. Early Hebrew Scriptures were written on the skins of animals. The Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) was never decorated or rubricated. Photo: B. Bahner thoughts of God, does it have any place in the vernacular of the masses? The first several centuries of Bible translation history were consumed with just this debate. And the original manuscripts no longer survive. In fact, in many cases the copies of the copies of the copies have perished. To make matters even more difficult, our Western twenty- first-century lifestyle bears little resemblance to that of the times and places of the Scriptures. Biblical idioms, figures of speech, and words, even when translated into English, have unfamiliar meanings. So who were these translators? How did they respond to the questions of authority, relevance, and meaning? What motivated them to take up quill and parchment to translate? The book you’re holding tells their stories— stories of both anguish and great hope. As we proceed, we will better understand the toil of the great translators of the Bible. Success in translation, then and now, depends not only on a thorough understanding of two languages but upon an acceptable inter- pretation of the source language. A new translation means new words, and new words often challenge old, established doctrines. Today, new transla- tions that fail to receive wide acceptance may be labeled “heretical” or “uninformed,” but at other times in history the consequences were much more severe: translators charged with heresy often faced excommunication or even death. Not surprisingly, resistance, persecution, Bible burning, and martyrdom have bloodied the path along which the history of Bible transla- tion has passed. Introduction 22 Donald L. Brake, A Visual History of the English Bible: The Tumultuous Tale of the World’s Bestselling Book, Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2008. Used by permission. Brake_VisualHistory_PB_bb.indd 22 5/5/08 9:00:03 AM The purpose of this book is to tell the story of how God’s Word went from being strictly for those in the pulpit to being read, understood, and acted upon by laypeople. It is a story of tragedy and triumph: spilled blood and the preservation of a sacred treasure. A Bible Collector Is Born Several years ago I began collecting Bibles that traced the history of the En- glish Bible. A special emphasis in my collection is the development of the Greek New Testaments that supported the text used by various translators. The principles that guided my collecting were the preservation of these Bible documents; the story of how the English Bible came into the hands of every literate man and woman; and the tales of the people who suffered mightily for its production. History and its stories must not be forgotten in our age of multiple translations, easy availability of commentaries, accessible preachers, and willing teachers. I am often asked, “How did you get involved in collecting rare Bibles? Isn’t that a rich man’s hobby?” Generally, that is true, but by barter and trading-up principles, I managed to creep closer to my goal. One day early in my career as a professor at Multnomah Bible College and Biblical Seminary, I was perusing a catalog from a book dealer in London. Two rare Bibles caught my attention, a 1597 Geneva (also known as the Breeches’ Bible) and a 1569 Bishops’ Bible. The price was about three hundred dollars each. When I queried an esteemed mentor and colleague, the late Dr. Ed Goodrick, without hesitation he insisted, “You must.” Dr. Goodrick was always encouraging me to buy something he thought I should have. He assured me they would make a wonderful “show and tell” for my students in Bible Introduction class and a great conversational piece in my home. For the better part of two weeks I waited impatiently for the arrival of the magnificent pieces of biblical history. The moment they arrived, I hurriedly took my treasures to Ed’s study to begin our examination. To our delight, the 1569 Bishops’ Bible turned out to be a very rare 1569 Great Bible, the last one ever to be published. You would have thought it was Ed’s Bible, the way he went on about its wonders. He never ceased to encourage me to collect more and more. We fed on each other’s enthusiasm as we both continued to collect rare volumes as we had funds and opportunity. Introduction Donald L. Brake, 23 A Visual History of the English Bible: The Tumultuous Tale of the World’s Bestselling Book, Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2008. Used by permission. Brake_VisualHistory_PB_bb.indd 23 5/5/08 9:00:06 AM Donald L. Brake, A Visual History of the English Bible: The Tumultuous Tale of the World’s Bestselling Book, Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2008. Used by permission. Brake_VisualHistory_PB_bb.indd 24 5/5/08 9:00:06 AM 1 Ancient Bibles The Triumph of Beauty, the Tyranny of Power he first written communication from God came on Mount Sinai, chiseled on stone by the finger of God himself. These sacred words from the Ten Commandments have shaped the world and Tits ethical system for 3,500 years. Although God destroyed the stones be- cause of the sin of the Israelites, he continued to communicate with human beings in written form using the language the receivers knew. However, no portion of any original Old or New Testament book exists today. The original handwritten productions and most of the early copies of these manuscripts have perished. The materials upon which the original Scriptures were written could not stand up to the ravages of time. Constant use, damp climates, violence or war, and domestic fire are responsible for the destruction of untold tens of thousands of manuscripts.