Friday’s Church Times flagged up on its front-page the General Synod's resolution that the '400th anniversary in 2011 of the King James Version of the Bible is an obvious opportunity to celebrate the exceptional contribution which that translation has made to shaping the life, language and culture of this and other nations'. Synod requested that 'dioceses, deaneries and parishes undertake local initiatives to celebrate and teach the Bible both within the Church and throughout wider society' (p30, Church Times, 19 February 2010).
This from a body that agreed to give houseroom in its clergy pensions policy to the abominable institution of the civil partnership but will not offer legal safeguards for opponents of women bishops. Where is the respect for the Bible in that?
Of course, it is easy to point the finger at the General Synod. The tragic reality is that the Bible in English and the circumstances of its translation point the finger firmly at the spiritual culture of the 21st century English-speaking Church. How many of us who are regular attenders of churches in the English-speaking world actually open our Bibles from one week to the next? How many church-goers if asked whether the book of Jude was in the Old or the New Testament would be able to give a confident answer? And that is the leaving aside the embarrassing question of our practical obedience to the Bible's teaching in our daily lives.
There are some glowing exceptions, including the rector and curate of St Nicholas Sevenoaks who have been pilloried in the press recently for courageously upholding the Bible's teaching on male headship. But as a typical product of the picket line culture of the 1970s, Cranmer's Curate needs to remind himself that it is relatively easy to take a stand on the headline issues of theological controversy. What is much more challenging is to honour the Bible's teaching in the mundanities of everyday life.
As will hopefully become more widely known in 2011, the AV is largely the work of the 16th century Evangelical genius of a Bible translator, William Tyndale, martyred in 1536. The efforts he made to provide a readable Bible for the English nation were quite extraordinary, as were the efforts ordinary people made to get hold of copies. Without wanting to go on a self-indulgent guilt trip, it is surely true to say that their commitment to the Holy Scriptures and their thankfulness for the privilege of having them in their own tongue puts us to shame as 21st century English-speaking Christians.
The AV says this in its translation of Isaiah 66v1-2:
Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
No amount of gushing nostalgia about the beauty of the AV’s language and its contribution to English-speaking civilisation can dodge the question: how many of us today are trembling at the Word of Christ?
" ...the efforts ordinary people made to get hold of copies ..." - apparently the same is true in China today, where the Spirit is much at work - moved on from here, it would seem, not wanted here ...
ReplyDelete