The English Bible was born in the late 1300s, translated by John Wycliffe to give ordinary people access to the scriptures. Despite a ban on reading the Bible in English, translations continued to appear, including the King James Version in 1611. Today, there are hundreds of study Bibles in English, and the Bible’s influence on Western civilization is immeasurable.
Have you ever used the phrase “powers that be”, the words “beautiful”, “peacemaker” or “scapegoat”? If so, then you owe a debt to the English Bible. These words came into being only after the birth of the English Bible. Without a doubt, it is the most influential work of literature in the English-speaking world.
The English Bible was born in the late 1300s AD Before that, the Bible was only available in Latin, in a version called The Vulgate. The Vulgate was a translation of the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts that made up the original Christian Scriptures. Latin had become the language of government while the Romans reigned, so it was only natural that the Bible should be translated into Latin.
It is important to understand the grip that the Church had on Western Europe, what was called “Christianity”. Priests and bishops were the supreme authority and the average person was illiterate. Royalty were generally allowed to read, along with monks in monasteries. The nations were forced into submission by the will of the Pope of the time. A good example of this is when the Pope placed England under interdict when Archbishop Thomas a’ Becket was killed. Until King Henry II did penance, no one in the country could receive the sacraments, which, according to the Catholic Church, relegated them to at least Purgatory and Hell in the worst case. This was likely to result in a rebellion of rank, so Henry made the requisite pilgrimage to Becket’s grave to do his penance there.
The result of this extreme hierarchy was that the laity were unable to read the scriptures for themselves. They had to rely entirely on their priests to read and interpret the scriptures for them. Since some of the priests were barely literate, they weren’t always reliable either. This annoyed many serious priests, including a man named John Wycliffe.
Wycliffe was an English priest, educated at Oxford and a professor there. The excesses and internal corruption of the Catholic Church – the only organized Christian church in existence at the time – disgusted him and he preached against these actions in his classes.
Wycliffe decided that one way to help the people and fight corruption in the Church was to give ordinary people the scriptures in a language they spoke every day. Thus, he began his work to make an English translation of The Vulgate. He published his first edition of the English Vulgate Bible in 1382 and his assistant, John Purvey, published a second improved translation in 1390, six years after Wycliffe’s death.
Because a Bible in the language of the common people could undermine the power of the Church, a law was passed in England in 1408 that also forbade reading the Bible in English, much less owning one. Progress stops for no one, however, and by the mid-1400s translations of the Vulgate had appeared in French, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch. Gutenberg had built his own movable type printing press and his first book in 1454 was The Vulgate in Latin. In 1453, the Ottoman Turks invaded Constantinople, home to many Greek scholars, and fled to Western Europe, taking their knowledge and papyri with them. European universities have started teaching Greek again. From this atmosphere came the scholar William Tyndale.
Tyndale, like Wycliffe, was also educated at Oxford, and then at Cambridge. He was fluent in several languages, including Hebrew and Greek. Tyndale also had a passion to see the scriptures translated into English so that his countrymen could read them. He did much of his translation work outside England, as the 1408 ban was still in effect some 110 years later. His third edition of the New Testament, published in 1534, is the one for which he is truly remembered. Tyndale’s linguistic abilities and poetic ear have given his translations a natural style and beauty which has yet to be surpassed, as far as sheer literary skill is concerned.
Tyndale was burned at the stake by order of King Henry VIII of England for publishing a corrupted version of the Bible. Myles Coverdale, Tyndale’s assistant, went on to publish the first complete Bible printed in English: Wycliffe’s versions had been handwritten.
The climate has changed in England, particularly after Queen Elizabeth I took the throne. Under her patronage, literature flourished and this included the English Bible. During her reign, several other important translations were completed, including the Bishop’s Bible and the Geneva Bible. Despite the Protestant sentiments raging in England during Elizabeth’s reign, a Catholic translation, the New Testament in the Rheims-Douai Bible, was published in 1582. The Reims-Douai Old Testament was published between 1609-1610. This remained the standard Catholic Bible well into the 20th century.
The King James Version, one of the most popular versions of the English Bible ever, was published in 1611, at the request of King James I of England. It took nearly 40 years for this version to surpass the Geneva Bible in popularity, but by mid of the 17th century, this was the Bible of choice for most English-speaking Protestants. The King James Version owes much of its beauty of language and form to the Tyndale Bible. In fact, about 17 to 70 percent of Tyndale’s original wording remains intact in the King James Version.
Over the next approximately 200 years, many more English translations of the Bible were published. Most aimed for greater accuracy and clarity, swapping some archaic or outdated words and phrases for more modern expressions. Some versions, such as the Good News Version and the more recent Contemporary English Version, are intended for younger readers, as well as those unfamiliar with the Bible.
The New Revised Standard Version is considered the most accurate modern translation, as it and its predecessor, the Revised Standard Version, were interpreted with knowledge of the Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient Greek papyri. The new international version is a current translation which aims to be readable and still maintain a literary aspect. This is also the goal of the New King James Version.
In fact, there are hundreds of study Bibles in the English language, in numerous translations. A visit to a Christian bookstore will reveal study Bibles aimed at youth, college students, women, military, police officers, firefighters, doctors, nurses, and many other professions. All of these Bibles strive to present the Christian scriptures in a way that their audiences understand and appreciate. The Bible is also available online, even in older English translations, and in many other languages as well.
The search for a common understanding of Scripture has ushered in a revolution of shocking proportions. It sparked the English Reformation. Authors and playwrights have drawn inspiration from the English Bible for over 500 years. His words and expressions permeate the English language, even among those who are not Christians. Many non-native English speakers begin their language studies with an English Bible. The appearance of the English Bible was a single act that indeed changed Western civilization as we know it.
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