Distinguished Bible scholar Jack Lewis writing on the KJV's legacy

Jack P. Lewis, professor emeritus of Harding School of Theology here in Memphis, has written a short article about the legacy of the KJV, which appeared online this morning on the Commercial Appeal's "Faith in Memphis" website.

The article offers an overview of the history -- and some of the misconceptions -- that surround the provenance of the "Authorized Version":

King James was not a translator. History records no financial contribution by King James to the preparation, nor any official act of approval by King or church. Nevertheless, the KJV has been known as the Authorized Version, meaning it was authorized for use by the Anglican Church. Bible printing in England was a royal monopoly. In America, there is no organization to authorize for Christendom.

Lewis points out as well that, contrary to popular belief, the KJV was in fact the ninth version of the Bible to appear in English, following on the efforts of Tyndale and earlier versions such as the Bishop's Bible and even the Catholic Douay-Rheims.

Lewis also points out that the KJV, though highly esteemed by many, is by no means a perfect translation, particularly for contemporary readers. "The English language also has changed dramatically so that the KJV has 800 words that have changed their meaning. Some like 'prevent' or 'let' now have the opposite meaning."

I had the chance to meet Dr. Lewis several months ago at a commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the King James held at Harding Seminary, and I am pleased to commend to you both his scholarly graciousness and his erudition. You can find the full text of Dr. Lewis's article here.

(My thanks to Scott Newstock of Rhodes College for bringing the article to my attention)

Christian Brothers University in Memphis Celebrates 400th Anniversary of King James Bible

CBU Celebrates 400th Anniversary of King James Bible
Dr. Ellie G. Bagley to Discuss the Catholic Response

Dr. Ellie G. Bagley, Assistant Professor of Religion at Middlebury College and international expert on the Catholic response to the King James Bible, will present “Catholics and the King James Bible: Stories from England, Ireland, and America,” as part of the Catholic Roundtables at Christian Brother’s University, Monday, October 24 at 7:00 p.m. in Spain Auditorium on the CBU campus.

This fall, CBU is joining with other area institutions to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. This Bible is celebrated as a monument of English literature and a central text in British and American Protestantism, but what did Roman Catholics think of it? Bagley’s talk will present a variety of Catholic responses to the King James Bible, from its initial publication in 1611 through its 300th anniversary in 1911. The textual and theological objections posed by Catholic authors in England, Ireland, and the United States rallied support for the Douai-Rheims Bible in Catholic communities while also causing Protestants to re-examine their loyalty to the King James Bible, especially in the 19th century.

Dr. David Dault, Assistant Professor of Religion and Philosophy, notes "I'm very appreciative of the efforts of our colleagues at Rhodes College and across the city who are helping to make this series of events around the 400th anniversary a reality. We hope that Dr. Bagley's visit will add an important Catholic perspective to the symposia and discussions occurring throughout the fall here in Memphis in honor of the King James Version."

A renowned expert on the Catholic response to the King James Bible, Bagley is currently presenting at conferences and exhibitions worldwide marking the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible. Her work draws attention to the criticisms posed by Catholics from 1611 through 1911 and their effects on Protestant communities in England, Ireland and the United States. Besides being an international lector, Bagley is well published and the author of Catholic Critics of the King James Bible, 1611-1911 which is forthcoming with Ashgate Press. Her current research focuses on the Catholic vernacular Bibles of the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. Bagley earned her Doctorate of Philosophy in Theology from University of Oxford and M.A. in Editorial Studies and B.A. in English both from Boston University.

This lecture, as part of the CBU Catholic Roundtables, is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. David Dault at (901) 321-3341 or ddault@cbu.edu.

APHA Conference deadlines approaching

For folks who might be interested in attending the 2011 American Printing History Association conference in San Diego this fall, the deadline for Early Bird registration is this Thursday, September 15th.



The theme this year is "Printing from the Edge":

What have been the transformative moments in printing history that have changed the direction of printing, typography, papermaking, bookbinding, or book design, and moved us to a new edge? What are today’s frontiers? Where is tomorrow’s edge?

The conference takes place October 14-15 at UC San Diego. More information can be found here at the APHA website.

Format changes coming soon

Dear Material Scripture readers -

I imagine you've noticed that I have not been updating much these past few months. It's not because there's not items to write about. Instead, I've increasingly found the format of this site constraining. Blogger has been very, very good to us these past four years, and I appreciate it. However, the time has come for some changes, so that the site can continue to be a resource for folks interested in these materialist approaches to the Bible.

So in the coming few days, this blog will be shifting to a new site - materialscripture.org. There's not much there at the moment, so for the time being continue to check in here. I'll post when the new site is up and functional (probably mid-week the first week of April, 2011). At that time, this site will become dormant.

All the archives will move over to the new site, and there will be plenty of new features. We'll have some static pages that will help explain to new readers what Material Scripture is and how it works, as well as the chance to introduce some new media formats - like video podcasts, which is something I've been wanting to try for a while.

So thanks for reading and staying interested, and look for the announcement about the switchover in the next few days.

Best regards,

David Dault
proprietor, Material Scripture blog

March 2011 Conference Update

This month I presented papers pertaining to Material Scripture at two conferences. They were well received, and the conversations that followed were fruitful. So fruitful, in fact, that I'm looking into expanding at least one of them into a journal article. Here's hoping I find the time!

The first paper is "Hidden Among the Leaves: Protestant and Catholic Battles for Theological Identity Across the First Pages of Scripture," which I presented at the SECSOR conference in Louisville, KY. This paper describes some of my findings from last Summer's visits to the Pitts and Concordia rare book archives. Listen to audio of the presentation here.

The second paper is "A Hospitality of Suspicion: Scriptural Reasoning and Material Scripture in the Tent of Meeting," which I presented in a panel on Scriptural Reasoning at the Mid-Atlantic regional meeting of the AAR, held in New Brunswick, NJ. Audio from the presentation is available here.

At both conferences I got the chance to tell folks about SCRIPT, and made good new connections with people interested in asking material questions about Scripture.

In May, I'll be heading to Syracuse to present in a panel on Iconic Books.

Bart Ehrman to speak at MTSU Friday, Feb 18th

If folks are in or near Murfreesboro (about 40 miles south of Nashville) this weekend, this will be worth your time.

The Middle Tennessee State University Department of Philosophy
is happy to announce a lecture by

Professor Bart D. Ehrman
"Misquoting Jesus: Scribes Who Changed the Bible and Readers Who May Never Know"

Friday, February 18 at 3:30
State Farm Room of the Business and Aerospace Building

The lecture is free and open to the public. Professor Ehrman will be signing copies of his books immediately following his lecture.

Bart Ehrman is the James A. Gray Professor with the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Among Professor Ehrman's fields of scholarly expertise are the historical Jesus, the early Christian apocrypha, the apostolic fathers, and the manuscript tradition of the New Testament.
He is the author of over twenty books. Among his most recent are a Greek-English edition of the Apostolic Fathers for the Loeb Classical Library (Harvard University Press), an assessment of the newly discovered Gospel of Judas (Oxford University Press), and three New York Times Bestsellers: Jesus Interrupted ( an account of scholarly views of the New Testament), God's Problem (an assessment of the biblical views of suffering), and Misquoting Jesus (an overview of the changes found in the surviving copies of the New Testament and of the scribes who produced them). His books have been translated into twenty-seven languages.

The lecture is part of the annual Applied Philosophy Lyceum sponsored by the Department of Philosophy with appreciation to the Distinguished Lecture Committee.

November symposium at Rhodes on Shakespeare and the 1611 King James Bible

I just received word from Professor Scott Newstock, in the English department over at Rhodes College here in Memphis, about a symposium about Shakespeare and the King James Bible on November 11, 2011.

I've been in conversation with Scott about this, and there is hope that we can get some citywide events going on. I'm also looking into what can be done at Christian Brothers University, where I teach, to speak to the "Catholic perspective" on the KJV.

Very exciting year coming up. Happy Birthday, Authorized Version!

See the website for the symposium here.