"The King James Bible owes much of its success to translator William Tyndale, who was martyred in 1536 for his work on translating the original Greek and Hebrew Scriptures into English. Tyndale's work was remarkable."
Amateur historians in Wiltshire got a happy surprise recently when their researches unearthed a previously unknown 1611 copy of the King James Bible which had hitherto been sitting unnoticed on a shelf...Geoff Procter, a member of the parochial church council, said that they had read about a 'fine chained Bible in a glass case' at the church. They then made the link with a Bible that had been sitting on a shelf at the church for a number of years.
There are fewer than 200 original printings of the King James version known to exist, and it is believed that the rediscovered Bible is one of the few remaining editions printed in 1611.
The residents now plan to display the discovery in a special glass case - partly for security and to protect it for future generations but also because the history books say it was kept in one.
To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible, a special exhibition has opened at Cambridge University Library.
Thanks to BBC Religion & Ethics insider Al Rodgers, for his tip-off about a new 'Tyndale' TV programme to be broadcast this coming weekend.New words - we use them still: "scapegoat", "let there be light", "the powers that be", "my brother's keeper", "filthy lucre", "fight the good fight", "sick unto death", "flowing with milk and honey", "the apple of his eye", "a man after his own heart", "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak", "signs of the times", "ye of little faith", "eat drink and be merry", "broken hearted", "clear eyed". And hundreds more: "fishermen", "landlady", "sea-shore", "stumbling block", "taskmaster", "two-edged", "viper", "zealous" and even "Jehovah" and "Passover" come into English through Tyndale. "Beautiful", a word which has meant only human beauty, was greatly widened by Tyndale, as were many others..."
BBC researchers originally contacted The Tyndale Society last autumn to investigate and verify details of Tyndale's dramatic part in the KJV's story.
Tyndale's translations - as embodied in the form of the KJV - have carried the English Bible across the globe - but did you know his words had even made it into outer space?
Thanks to Books & Arts Editor Flammetta Rocco at The Economist, for flagging up The Tyndale Society's forthcoming Ohio conference...In Britain more than 70 celebratory events are planned, starting with an exhibition at St John’s College, Cambridge, and including lectures, reading marathons, symposia, concerts and conferences as far afield as Plymouth and Aberdeen.
The Royal Mail will bring out a series of commemorative stamps and the BBC plans to broadcast a one-hour documentary.
Oxford University Press, which has published King James Bibles since the 17th century, will bring out a 1,520-page special quatercentenary edition.
Houston Baptist University’s Dunham Bible Museum kicks off the celebrations in America. Further events will follow in, among other places, Kentucky, Louisiana and Columbus, where a conference at Ohio State University (in collaboration with The Tyndale Society) will study the enduring literary and cultural influence of the King James Bible on writers such as William Faulkner, Virginia Woolf and Toni Morrison.
23 Further episodes in the BBC's audio series to commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible have now been released in Podcast form as follows:
Introduced by author Kamila Shamsie
Introduced by playwright Howard Brenton
Introduced by The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams
Introduced by novelist Joanne Harris
Introduced by novelist and columnist Will Self
Introduced by screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce
