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Summary: No Christian Should Be Without This Book
Review: At a time when Protestant Christians are engaged in a battle over the Bible, specifically which version is the "real one", a good, conscise history of the one translation that many feel is the only one is an invaluable asset to all Christians. Without marginalizing the King James Version at all, and in fact praising it rather highly in his conclusion, McGrath shows the struggles that resulted in the publication of this great translation made from several good ones.While telling this story, though, McGrath does more. He tells the story of William Tyndale and his ground-breaking Bible. He tells the story of James I's betrayal of the Puritans, who thought they had a friend in this new King. He tells the story of the rise of English as an actual language. He connects the Reformation taking place in Europe. And then he shows how all these events impacted the development of the KJV. This book is a great read, either in search of information or just as a casual, free-reading book. I also recommend Bobrick's Wide As the Waters. Both books cover the same ground, but from different perspectives.
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Summary: Not Quite Five Star
Review: Earlier reviewers have described this book well but have all given it five stars. I add this review simply to suggest that they may have gone a bit over the top. This is a fine book but it is more a history of the Bible in English than of the KJV itself. Its discussions of such things as the rise of the Puritan movement, the religious policies of various English monarchs, and the printing industry in England and the Low Countries are interesting and informative for those with a good basic knowledge of the history of the period but may be somewhat heavy going for others. Its comparisons of passages from various different translations demonstrate well how much the KJV depends on earlier versions but beyond that become tedious. Despite its frequent quotations from Biblical texts, several of which are repetitive, it actually mentions relatively few specific examples of the KJV's influences on the language. This is a good book but is more a solid four-star than a five-star, exclamation-pointed experience.
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Summary: Who was King James & What was "his" Bible?
Review: Four hundred years ago (1603), King James nodded his support to the idea of a new translation of the Bible for the English Church. Alister McGrath, Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford, explores and explains the religious, political, financial, and human factors that went into creating what we in the US call the "King James Bible" (or "Version"). The story of the KJV is fascinating, and McGrath does it justice, so that to read this book is to appreciate both the historical conditioning of KJV (i.e., the questions that it was created to answer), to appreciate why it became so popular, and to realize that its eventual hegemony was not inevitable. A great strength of this book is McGrath's grasp of myriad cultural and historical details. Another is his ability to anticipate readers' questions, so that sections typically end with a natural segue to the next (e.g., "We now turn to consider ..."). An extensive bibliography points any interested reader to sources for further reading. As in any work of this scope, some of the discussions are slightly facile (e.g., the nature of Hebrew (230-235)), but the overall quality is quite high. A better editor might have helped eliminate some of the unnecessary (and slightly irritating) repetition and a few factual errors (e.g., it is the "Byzantine" text, not the "Byzantium"). These do not detract from the value of this work, however--it is both enjoyable and informative. I recommend it highly!
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Summary: Interesting, but sloppily edited
Review: I agree with the reviewer who said the book is sloppily edited and strewn with typos and mistakes. My suggestion: get Bobrick's "Wide as the Waters" instead. Covers basically the same ground, but does so in much better fashion, in my opinion. The two books were released at about the same time, in the summer of 2001, which naturally invites comparison. If you get a chance to read them both (say, from your local library), I think you too will agree that Bobrick's effort is superior to McGrath's.
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Summary: Protestant bias is inevitable, and displayed
Review: I am a Catholic, with a graduate theology degree. I am not finished reading this book, and while I find it very very interesting; McGrath's protestant bias IS evident in the text. For example, whenever speaking of Luther, Zwingli, whoever, their "beliefs" are always stated as fact. "Luther knew that ...." Whenever a Catholic's position is mentioned, it is always framed as an opinion/belief. "Because he believed the Pope to be the head of the church." Etc. It's inevitable I suppose. I hope I can get around the bias, but already just 1/3 of the way through, it is begining to wear on me.
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Summary: A very interesting read
Review: I enjoyed this book very much, the author always had a little nugget every few pages that made the book fun to read. Read the other reviews here as well as I agree with what these people said, myself, I am not a great student of this topic so I found it very enlightening. The book is not "religious" but a history of the translated bible, both German and English. I enjoyed the exploration of the motives of the parties that translated the bible at different times in history, their motives were not always pure. A great informative, educational and entertaining read.
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Summary: KJV Eye-Opener To Objectivity
Review: I found this book fascinating. I grew up at a church in Sellersville, Pennsylvania where the ignorant country pastor pounded the pulpit angrily proclaiming, "The King James Version of the Bible is the only translation inspired by God! I think all the other translations are attempts by Satan to confuse the issue" (He was often afraid of being confused). How surprised old Pastor H. would be to discover that the translators would work tirelessly today to translate the Bible into today's English. This book is a great read. It lays all the necessary foundation for understanding the climate of the KJV translation, from events like Martin Luther's shockingly courageous translation of the Bible into laypeople's German, to the English royalty's early desire for religious autonomy, evolving into a desire for easing conflict between religious factions. I expected to read of political taint, but was pleasantly surprised at the intellectual honesty and humility of the translators. (Rather than feeling that their generation held a monopoly on understanding, they often deferred to previous generations' interpretations from centuries past, giving equal weight to the opinions of those long dead. This is unheard of in today's egotistical intellectual and cultural climate.
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Summary: A Whimper not a Bang
Review: I give this book 4 stars for taking on the topic but agree with other reviewers who find it disappointing ... perhaps because one gets one's hopes up to read a title like this, "the story of the King James Bible". McGrath has done some thorough research (it is his profession) and introduces some interesting data from the past but he is unable to weave his story together in a way that conveys with power, passion and enthusiasm what was one of the most stunning events in Anglo/American history. I think this book suffers in great part from lack of good editorship. I give it 4 stars for subject matter and being a unique attempt to explore and present in laymen's terms information about this spectacular creation, second only to Shakespeare for those of us who love the English language! -- but I give it a 2-1/2 for the rest.
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Summary: Now You Know.... The REST of the story
Review: I personally do not believe that one need write an essay as a review on such an open forum. My reviews tend to be shorter.... I like or don't like and why. I love this book and it is fairly simple why. 1) Alister E. McGrath is one of the best theological writers of our time and this book will not dissapoint on that realm. 2) this is an honest look at the shaping of the doctrines and theology and the WORD in English. Typical to the style of McGrath, this book is in depth and not hard to grasp and extremely thorough!
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Summary: Dull treatment of a fascinating topic
Review: I purchased this book with great enthusiasm. The jacket blurb promised a "fascinating" treatise on a "tulmultuous time." Instead, McGrath has written a pedantic, almost outline treatment. He merely skims over a huge amount of material, and in no way fulfills the promise on the front cover--"The Story of the King James Bible and How it Changed a Nation, a language, and a Culture." As someone interested in ancient languages, I had hoped for more information on the translation itself. The book kept infering that this was forthcoming, but when it arrived (late in the book), it was cursory and very incomplete. After reading this book, one would wonder what was all the fuss about the King James Version. In no way does this author convey the truly majestic language of this translation, and instead, one is left with the feeling that the politics of the translation were what was important. Perhaps the problem is just the misleading title and promise of the book. A more realistic title might be: 'An Outline History of English Translations of the Bible.'
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