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The Art of Translation

How We Came by the English Bible

by Patricia K. Tull

We take it for granted today that the Bible ought to be available in everyone’s native language. In fact, some theologians say that the translatability of scripture is a notable characteristic of Christianity—in contrast, for example, with Islam, another missionary and multicultural religion, which regards only the Arabic Qu’ran as fully authoritative. As we have seen, Christians have read scripture in translation from the earliest years, and over the next centuries missionary activity established Christianity in vernacular languages among Armenians and Syriac speakers in the Middle East, Copts and Ethiopians in Africa, and Goths and Slavs in Europe. In many of these languages, as in English, translation of the Christian Bible was an important part of formation of the written language. But in the case of English, Bible translation required sustained struggle—and produced a story of vivid personalities and dramatic conflict.

Since 2004 marks the four hundredth anniversary of the royal commissioning of the King James Bible, it is an excellent time to revisit the Bible’s somewhat glorious, somewhat checkered past. While for our generation the King James seems ancient, it was once only the most novel of several new English translations, competing for a foothold among early Protestant readers from the day of its publication in 1611.

Patricia K. Tull is professor of Old Testament at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and author of the 2001–2002 Horizons Bible study, Esther’s Feast: A Study of the Book of Esther.

Marvel at "the Bible's somewhat glorious, somewhat checkered past" by reading the full text of this article in the May/June 2004 issue of Horizons. Call 800/524-2612 to subscribe or click here to
or click here to the May/June 2004 issue (PDS #HZN-04-220; $6) now.

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