Friday, January 28, 2011
more to read
Thanks to Dave for sending this link from the BBC on the impact of the KJV on modern language.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
The Translators to the Reader
The other day I went to purchase a copy of the KJV Bible because I could no longer stand being bound to internet reading...and because I had/have fallen terribly behind on the reading schedule. My intent was to purchase the least expensive edition available, that also didn't set my teeth on edge with some crazy cover. In the end, though, I walked away (after paying, of course) with the Cambridge University Press' "Personal Concord Edition." As soon as I saw the royal seal and the inclusion of both the translators' dedication of the translation to King James and also their note to the readers...the early modern scholar in me insisted that I have this edition. (Also, it's really a lovely artifact. Nicely sized. Pleasantly bound. A decent type-face.)
I just finished reading the preface the translators wrote to the readers back in 1611 and wanted to share a few of their more lovely calls to study. There are a lot of interesting tidbits in this preface about the history of Biblical translations and the rationale for this one, but I found these calls rather encouraging and inspiring. I hope you do too.
From a section titled "The Praise of the Holy Scriptures":
"The Scriptures then being acknowledged to be so full and so perfect, how can we excuse ourselves of negligence, if we do not study them? of curiosity, if we be not content with them? ... It is not only an armour, but also a whole armoury of weapons, both offensive and defensive; whereby we may save ourselves and put the enemy to flight. It is not an herb, but a tree, or rather a whole paradise of trees of life, which bring forth fruit every month, and the fruit thereof is for meat, and the leaves for medicine. ... Happy is the man that delighteth in the Scripture, and thrice happy that meditateth in it day and night."
From the final section, titled "Reasons inducing us not to stand curiously upon an identity of phrasing":
"Many other things we might give thee warning of, gentle Reader, if we had not exceeded the measure of a preface already. It remaineth that we commend thee to God, and to the Spirit of his grace, which is able to build further than we can ask or think. He removeth the scales from our eyes, the vail from our hearts, opening our wits that we may understand his word, enlarging our hearts, yea, correcting our affections, that we may love it above gold and silver, yea, that we may love it to the end. ... It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; but a blessed thing it is, and will bring us to everlasting blessedness in the end, when God speaketh unto us, to hearken; when he setteth his word before us, to read it; when he stretcheth out his hand and calleth, to answer, Here am I, here we are to do thy will, O God. The Lord work a care and conscience in us to know him and serve him, that we may be acknowledged of him at the appearing of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, to whom with the Holy Ghost be all praise and thanksgiving. Amen."
I just finished reading the preface the translators wrote to the readers back in 1611 and wanted to share a few of their more lovely calls to study. There are a lot of interesting tidbits in this preface about the history of Biblical translations and the rationale for this one, but I found these calls rather encouraging and inspiring. I hope you do too.
From a section titled "The Praise of the Holy Scriptures":
"The Scriptures then being acknowledged to be so full and so perfect, how can we excuse ourselves of negligence, if we do not study them? of curiosity, if we be not content with them? ... It is not only an armour, but also a whole armoury of weapons, both offensive and defensive; whereby we may save ourselves and put the enemy to flight. It is not an herb, but a tree, or rather a whole paradise of trees of life, which bring forth fruit every month, and the fruit thereof is for meat, and the leaves for medicine. ... Happy is the man that delighteth in the Scripture, and thrice happy that meditateth in it day and night."
From the final section, titled "Reasons inducing us not to stand curiously upon an identity of phrasing":
"Many other things we might give thee warning of, gentle Reader, if we had not exceeded the measure of a preface already. It remaineth that we commend thee to God, and to the Spirit of his grace, which is able to build further than we can ask or think. He removeth the scales from our eyes, the vail from our hearts, opening our wits that we may understand his word, enlarging our hearts, yea, correcting our affections, that we may love it above gold and silver, yea, that we may love it to the end. ... It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; but a blessed thing it is, and will bring us to everlasting blessedness in the end, when God speaketh unto us, to hearken; when he setteth his word before us, to read it; when he stretcheth out his hand and calleth, to answer, Here am I, here we are to do thy will, O God. The Lord work a care and conscience in us to know him and serve him, that we may be acknowledged of him at the appearing of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, to whom with the Holy Ghost be all praise and thanksgiving. Amen."
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
wroth
My first day's reading (which I clearly did a long time ago, ahem, ahem) contained both Genesis 4 and Matthew 2. And both those chapters feature people who are very wroth. In Genesis 4, it's Cain, and it goes like this: "And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell." And in Matthew, it goes like this: "Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceedingly wroth, and sent forth, and slew all of the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men."
In both cases, these wroth people aren't getting what they want (respect, information), and in both cases, they murder for it (Abel, the Innocents).
I don't really have a point here. I was just struck by the word and how it sounds much angrier and hotter than any of the words we use for being angry, like "furious," which is how the NIV translates the word in Matthew. I know it's out of use now (though Brooke tells me she knew a New Zealander who used it), but might it be time to bring back "wroth"?
In both cases, these wroth people aren't getting what they want (respect, information), and in both cases, they murder for it (Abel, the Innocents).
I don't really have a point here. I was just struck by the word and how it sounds much angrier and hotter than any of the words we use for being angry, like "furious," which is how the NIV translates the word in Matthew. I know it's out of use now (though Brooke tells me she knew a New Zealander who used it), but might it be time to bring back "wroth"?
Monday, January 17, 2011
KJV on MLK Day
If I may depart from the beautiful contemplations upon the KJV text offered in other posts, I would like, in honor of the day, to point out a couple of resources that I stumbled across this morning. By the way, I've started a bibliography of recent books and articles about the significance of the KJV and will plan to post what I accumulate closer to the end of the year. (I might even manage to read a couple.) One I found on a blog devoted to Church History called Grateful to the Dead which contains recent posts about the KJV. It highlights a sizable tome by David Daniel called "The Bible in English," apparently impressively living up to its subtitle, 'A goldmine of the KJV in America.' An earlier post on this same blog focuses especially on the influence of the KJV in African American churches. One minister-scholar reflected that in many African American churches, the KJV is the choice for more formal ritual aspects of corporate worship such as the Lord's Supper, Baptism and Foot-washing, and also seems the text of choice in moments calling for pastoral counsel and consolation. Two reasons were suggested: the familiarity of the texts in KJV and the solemn stately elegance of the language. As such, it may be one of few texts in America today that are both broadly familiar and characterized by stately elegance. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream speech" would be another. Perhaps not coincidental influence there. A rather beautiful reversal in view of the fact that basic literacy was withheld from slaves as a primary way to disempower them.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Food and Toil
First off, the poetry of "and the evening and the morning were the x day" is just incredible.
But to food and toil. So, We Fall. And we remember what our Lord says after this:
In 3:19, God makes clear here that we will die, and when we die, we will return to the dust of which we were made. Four verses later, in 3:23, we are told that Adam then must till the ground--that very thing to which he shall return--to eat. Scripturally, eating is a memento mori.
Of course, this prefigures communion; we eat of Christ's body and blood to remember his sacrifice ("Do this in remembrance of me" was carved in large letters on the altar in my church as a boy). Yet, as Christians, I think we've compartmentalized this; we see the taking of the host and wine as some sort of isolated thing. But in the beginning--literally immediately afterwards--eating was death. Eating brought about death (2:17, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die), and very process of creating food is a perpetual reminder of our Fall. To eat is to live, but also to be reminded of death; not just Christ's sacrificial death when we eat the communion wafer, but of our death, our depravity, our limitation and Fallen state as humans each time we put food to our lips.
As we live in a world where most of us are not involved in the toil to which Adam was cursed, we are able to ignore the death associated with food. Our death, our damnation. But reading the opening passages of Genesis, I'm forced back into consideration of this.
I'm about to go and get lunch. When I was a child, the blessing my family said over every meal was simple--"Thank you Father for this food. Bless it and bless us, in Jesus' name we pray and for His sake, amen." Simple, appropriate thankfulness. There's a humility in thankfulness. But today, I go to eat with a different sort of humility, a humility knowing that every bite I take connects me back to the beginning, to my Fall, to my sin, to my death, and a humility that recognizes that this is corrected, put right, only by Christ's body and blood, a meal I take at a different table.
Postscript--There's a lot more of this in Chapters 4 and 5. Cain and Abel. Blood spilled over, what else, food. Lamech, Noah's father--"5:29. And he called his name Noah, saying, this same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed." Toil, food. Death, the cursed ground. And Noah, literally, my references tell me, meaning rest. The spilling of Christ's blood, the food we eat to commemorate that, the rest we are promised in that--and on and on and on.
But to food and toil. So, We Fall. And we remember what our Lord says after this:
17. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
23. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.Okay. Wendell Berry and others like him have, for years now, decried a food production system that removes us from how that which we eat is created, nurtured, grown. Disconnecting people from what they eat leads, these folks contend, away from and understanding of the processes of life, death, pain, etc., those things that underpin existence. I'm not trying to advocate their view here (though I am, to be honest, sympathetic to it). Rather, I'm struck by what the Scriptures say about eating, and this most basic of practices having some significant metaphysical and existential implications.
In 3:19, God makes clear here that we will die, and when we die, we will return to the dust of which we were made. Four verses later, in 3:23, we are told that Adam then must till the ground--that very thing to which he shall return--to eat. Scripturally, eating is a memento mori.
Of course, this prefigures communion; we eat of Christ's body and blood to remember his sacrifice ("Do this in remembrance of me" was carved in large letters on the altar in my church as a boy). Yet, as Christians, I think we've compartmentalized this; we see the taking of the host and wine as some sort of isolated thing. But in the beginning--literally immediately afterwards--eating was death. Eating brought about death (2:17, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die), and very process of creating food is a perpetual reminder of our Fall. To eat is to live, but also to be reminded of death; not just Christ's sacrificial death when we eat the communion wafer, but of our death, our depravity, our limitation and Fallen state as humans each time we put food to our lips.
As we live in a world where most of us are not involved in the toil to which Adam was cursed, we are able to ignore the death associated with food. Our death, our damnation. But reading the opening passages of Genesis, I'm forced back into consideration of this.
I'm about to go and get lunch. When I was a child, the blessing my family said over every meal was simple--"Thank you Father for this food. Bless it and bless us, in Jesus' name we pray and for His sake, amen." Simple, appropriate thankfulness. There's a humility in thankfulness. But today, I go to eat with a different sort of humility, a humility knowing that every bite I take connects me back to the beginning, to my Fall, to my sin, to my death, and a humility that recognizes that this is corrected, put right, only by Christ's body and blood, a meal I take at a different table.
Postscript--There's a lot more of this in Chapters 4 and 5. Cain and Abel. Blood spilled over, what else, food. Lamech, Noah's father--"5:29. And he called his name Noah, saying, this same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed." Toil, food. Death, the cursed ground. And Noah, literally, my references tell me, meaning rest. The spilling of Christ's blood, the food we eat to commemorate that, the rest we are promised in that--and on and on and on.
Handlers of Harps and Organs
I haven't read the early parts of Genesis in a long time--except via Milton in Paradise Lost, which I love, but it's obviously not scripture.
So, this time through, I noticed a new thing. I don't know what to make of it, except that I like it. I like that in Genesis Chapter 4, we're told:
20And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.
21And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.
22And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron
I think it's really great that we get three genres of work listed here. Two of them, tending cattle and making metal things, are very practical. But one of them is just beautiful--Jubal's line of harp and organ handlers.
Lately I've been noticing everywhere I look in the Bible how God provides for us abundantly. And this, to me, seems like another instance of that. Earlier in the reading, He provided coats of skins to replace the aprons of fig leaves--a real step up in the world of clothing. And not even an entirely necessary one given the climate. Just an abundant one. And then we get Cain's promise of protection--anyone who kills him will be avenged sevenfold. Abundant. And, finally, we get harps and organs--ways to make music and not just to make a living. Joyfully and beautifully abundant.
So often I tend to focus on the "lacks" I feel or experience in my walk with God and not on His abundant provisions. In those moments, I'm going to try to keep Jubal, the father of all such as handle the harp and organ, in mind.
PS--To me, it seemed like there must be some connection between the name "Jubal" and the word "jubilate" but the OED just lists Latin origins in the etymology. Anyone know better?
So, this time through, I noticed a new thing. I don't know what to make of it, except that I like it. I like that in Genesis Chapter 4, we're told:
20And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.
21And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.
22And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron
I think it's really great that we get three genres of work listed here. Two of them, tending cattle and making metal things, are very practical. But one of them is just beautiful--Jubal's line of harp and organ handlers.
Lately I've been noticing everywhere I look in the Bible how God provides for us abundantly. And this, to me, seems like another instance of that. Earlier in the reading, He provided coats of skins to replace the aprons of fig leaves--a real step up in the world of clothing. And not even an entirely necessary one given the climate. Just an abundant one. And then we get Cain's promise of protection--anyone who kills him will be avenged sevenfold. Abundant. And, finally, we get harps and organs--ways to make music and not just to make a living. Joyfully and beautifully abundant.
So often I tend to focus on the "lacks" I feel or experience in my walk with God and not on His abundant provisions. In those moments, I'm going to try to keep Jubal, the father of all such as handle the harp and organ, in mind.
PS--To me, it seemed like there must be some connection between the name "Jubal" and the word "jubilate" but the OED just lists Latin origins in the etymology. Anyone know better?
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
An Anniversary Project
I grew up in a household with little veneration for the King James translation of the Bible. My dad, who has a degree in Biblical studies and a deep regard for the Bible itself, was particularly not a fan. Early on he taught me and my sisters that as a translation of a translation, the KJV was often inaccurate, and he objected to the anachronism of those who believed that if it was good enough for Jesus, it is good enough for them. However, when my sisters and I memorized passages of the Bible as Awana kids, it was in the King James Version. As a six-year-old Spark, I remember voicing opposition to "all the thees and thous," probably parroting my dad's iconoclasm and getting a childish high off of sounding discriminating. Yet many of the Bible verses I have memorized, like Titus 2:11-13--the Awana verses we recited at the beginning of each week's meeting--I know in the King James:
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Twenty-two years later, I am still one of God's peculiar people, and now one who appreciates the King James, oddities and all, for its distinctive style and its incredible cultural and literary influence. My goal is to read through the King James this year, in celebration of its 400th birthday, and to blog about it here, along with a few of my friends. We'll be responding it in various ways, drawing on our faith, frustrations, and various interests. I'm also working my way through Robert Alter's Pen of Iron, which examines the influence of the King James on American prose. Early on, Alter quotes Edmund Wilson on the influence of biblical language. The passage is apropos and the source of this blog's name, and so I will begin (and end) here:
"Here it is, that old tongue, with its clang and its flavor, sometimes rank, sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter; here it is in its concise solid stamp. Other cultures have felt its impact, and none--in the West, at least--seems quite to accommodate to it. Yet we find we have been living with it all our lives."
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Twenty-two years later, I am still one of God's peculiar people, and now one who appreciates the King James, oddities and all, for its distinctive style and its incredible cultural and literary influence. My goal is to read through the King James this year, in celebration of its 400th birthday, and to blog about it here, along with a few of my friends. We'll be responding it in various ways, drawing on our faith, frustrations, and various interests. I'm also working my way through Robert Alter's Pen of Iron, which examines the influence of the King James on American prose. Early on, Alter quotes Edmund Wilson on the influence of biblical language. The passage is apropos and the source of this blog's name, and so I will begin (and end) here:
"Here it is, that old tongue, with its clang and its flavor, sometimes rank, sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter; here it is in its concise solid stamp. Other cultures have felt its impact, and none--in the West, at least--seems quite to accommodate to it. Yet we find we have been living with it all our lives."
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