| HN Mirror

"The commenters on here have noticed a greater uptick in religious and theist discussions/topics."

First, I was not aware that the original 1611 KJV had been scanned and was on the Internet Archive. Mind you, I'd never previously looked either.

Second, my interest in the KJV has precious little to do with theistic interests or activities. I'd suggest that this is true for many other too who have an interest in their own Western culture and its historical origins. If you had studied history with any degree of seriousness then you would appreciate this.

As can be gathered from my rather long post on the 1611 KJV, there are many reasons for why one would take an interest in this book. For starters, the KJV is one of the quintessential books of the era (ca 1600 and the Elizabethan era) for studying written language of that time. Moreover, the KJV was written with great care and finesse and edited with care and scholarship. As I mentioned, Shakespeare was still alive at the time, so a comparison of his writing style with that of Christopher Marlowe, Donne, Jonson, Spenser and others along with the KJV is inevitable.

Moreover, the KJV had great political consequence; it changed the English language not to mention the politics of England and the Anglophone world in huge ways. It's historical and political significance cannot be underestimated.

The KJV Bible cannot be taken in isolation either. Earlier Bibles also had a huge political significance at various times throughout history; their influence on both the culture and politics of their day was often huge. For instance, William Tyndale was accused of heresy and put to death for publishing his Bible (the Reformation was a very dangerous political time). The Geneva Bible published some 50 years before the KJV was very important and influential, it was the Bible of Shakespeare, Cromwell, Knox and many other notables of the era.

Late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance English Bibles act as important reference points for the English language, as the source material from which they are translated into English comes from ancient and [mostly] unchanging texts, Hebrew, Latin Greek etc. thus the changes in the English language can be checked and traced over time. For instance, nuances in the translation from Hebrew texts to Tyndale, to Geneva, to KJ, etc are very noticeable and are analyzed by linguists. Other older Bible texts such as the Latin Vulgate Bible also act as reference 'clamps' or stating points for translation.

Another interest I have in the King James Bible is the printing technology of the day used to print it. The best printing technology of the day would have been used for printing the KJV, so it's an excellent reference point for comparing other printed texts of the era. (You'll note my minor criticism of the somewhat low resolution of the Internet Archive scan. Being as low as it is, I cannot satisfactorily analyze or judge certain printing features of the KJV, which to me, is a disappointment).