Origin of the TERM King James Only

[rlvaughn]

Fundamental Methodist Church, at least in 1960s, used the King James Only


Springfield, MO Daily News, December 8, 1964, p. 4

 

[rlvaughn]

King James Bible Baptist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana.


The Shreveport Journal, Friday, August 28, 1964, p. A7

 

[rlvaughn]

"Beware Modernist Bible"
"We preach, teach and recognize only the King James version as the Word of God."
Oak Street Baptist Church, Ponca City, Oklahoma


The Ponca City News, Sunday, October 19, 1952, p. 2

 

[Van]

Certainly the malignancy associated with the term today did not arise until after the modern versions (say 1950) started becoming acceptable as the pew bible. And as in the world, malignancy spawns malignancy.

 

[rlvaughn]

John Walter Dobbins placed ads in newspapers offering to send his writings about the Bible for Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope. The pictured scan is from the Santa Cruz Sentinel-News, Friday, November 17, 1950, p. 14. I used this scan because it seems pretty clear that he makes an exclusive claim for the King James Bible. I have found ads as early as 1927, when he advertised a writing that Jesus was born June 24th, Not Christmas. It included the phrase "King James Bible Only."

Dobbins was born in Walcott, Indiana, and moved to Des Moines around 1918. According to his obituary he was a member of the Christian Church and a retired Western Union telegrapher.



His subjects suggest an eccentric, but apparently one in good standing in the Christian Church.

 

[Yeshua1]

John Walter Dobbins placed ads in newspapers offering to send his writings about the Bible for Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope. The pictured scan is from the Santa Cruz Sentinel-News, Friday, November 17, 1950, p. 14. I used this scan because it seems pretty clear that he makes an exclusive claim for the King James Bible. I have found ads as early as 1927, when he advertised a writing that Jesus was born June 24th, Not Christmas. It included the phrase "King James Bible Only."

Dobbins was born in Walcott, Indiana, and moved to Des Moines around 1918. According to his obituary he was a member of the Christian Church and a retired Western Union telegrapher.

View attachment 4683

His subjects suggest an eccentric, but apparently one in good standing in the Christian Church.

Found this for origin!
The Origin and Danger of KJV- Only-ism ; Kent Hovind et al Refuted

 

[rlvaughn]

Found this for origin!
The Origin and Danger of KJV- Only-ism ; Kent Hovind et al Refuted

Interesting read. Thanks.

KJVO advocates claim that their movement began with William Burgon, a man who criticized the Revised Version and the MSS (Manuscripts) upon which it is based off of.

While true that some KJVO advocates claim this, it is also true that some KJVO opponents (such as Bill Combs) make this argument as well.

Most scholars associate the KJVO movement beginning with Benjamin G. Wilkinson. This is simply false...he was not trying to promote a movement to use the KJV Only.

I think he gets this right, for the right reasons. Nevertheless, Wilkinson's book makes a contribution through Ray and Fuller.

J.J. Ray was the origin of the KJVO movement, with Burgon and Wilkinson being a type of proto-KJVO.

I think Ray's book hit at the right time, though I am not sure how much influence it had on the various movers. (Perhaps not so much till D. Otis Fuller?) It came at the right time because of the strong reaction of conservatives and fundamentalists against the Revised Standard Version in 1952-1953. Putting it completely on Ray also ignores antecedents and contemporaries that were promoting the same thing -- some before, though not in any book I know of. I think the best explanation is that the modern movement in favor of King James Only is a confluence of various streams that flowed together and create a river because of the anti-RSV sentiment.

Of course, ultimately, "origin of the movement" is not exactly the same as "origin of the term."

 

[Yeshua1]

Interesting read. Thanks.
While true that some KJVO advocates claim this, it is also true that some KJVO opponents (such as Bill Combs) make this argument as well.
I think he gets this right, for the right reasons. Nevertheless, Wilkinson's book makes a contribution through Ray and Fuller.
I think Ray's book hit at the right time, though I am not sure how much influence it had on the various movers. (Perhaps not so much till D. Otis Fuller?) It came at the right time because of the strong reaction of conservatives and fundamentalists against the Revised Standard Version in 1952-1953. Putting it completely on Ray also ignores antecedents and contemporaries that were promoting the same thing -- some before, though not in any book I know of. I think the best explanation is that the modern movement in favor of King James Only is a confluence of various streams that flowed together and create a river because of the anti-RSV sentiment.

Of course, ultimately, "origin of the movement" is not exactly the same as "origin of the term."

Think that link sent to you explained the background very well, and do see this as a reaction against modern versions coming to "take over" for the Kjv....

 

[Garrett20]

Dr. Price taught at Temple Baptist Seminary in the 1970's, and was my Hebrew prof there in the fall of 1976. Sometime during my undergrad years (graduated in 1976), Dr. Roberson, the pastor of Highland Park Baptist church) and president of the schools there, said from the chapel pulpit that we would tolerate no more discussions about Bible versions in the dorms. However, neither then nor at any time in the 1970's did I ever hear the term "King James Only." After seeing your post, I looked in his book (copyright 2006), but couldn't find any place where he talked about when the term was first used.

Off topic, but I was baptized by my TTU wrestling coach (also an ordained Pastor) at Highland Park Baptist. Thanks for sharing, John!

 

[rlvaughn]

Sometime during my undergrad years (graduated in 1976), Dr. Roberson, the pastor of Highland Park Baptist church) and president of the schools there, said from the chapel pulpit that we would tolerate no more discussions about Bible versions in the dorms. However, neither then nor at any time in the 1970's did I ever hear the term "King James Only."

John, Garrett's post above brought this comment back to my attention. You mention Pastor Roberson saying he would not tolerate the discussions about Bible versions in the dorms, but also that you never heard the term "King James Only." I assume the "discussions about Bible versions" were student arguments over which Bible was best and should be used. Would that be correct? If so, even though the term was not used, did anyone take what would be considered a King James Only position?

Thanks.

 

[John of Japan]

Off topic, but I was baptized by my TTU wrestling coach (also an ordained Pastor) at Highland Park Baptist. Thanks for sharing, John!

Hey, I wrestled in High School and then in an intramural tourney at BJU, but when I transferred to TTU in 1972 they did not yet have wrestling there. Glad to know that you were able to wrestle there.

 

[John of Japan]

John, Garrett's post above brought this comment back to my attention. You mention Pastor Roberson saying he would not tolerate the discussions about Bible versions in the dorms, but also that you never heard the term "King James Only." I assume the "discussions about Bible versions" were student arguments over which Bible was best and should be used. Would that be correct? If so, even though the term was not used, did anyone take what would be considered a King James Only position?
Thanks.

You are correct that the problem Roberson was addressing was students in the dorms. However, I don't remember hearing any such discussion, and no professor ever discussed the issue as far as I remember. I didn't become aware of and interested in the issue until just before my first furlough in 1986.

TTU in those days had a college and seminary, but also a 3 year Bible school mostly for older students. I was led to understand that in the 1970's there was a Bible School prof who was KJVO, but I can't source that. On the other hand, in the Greek classes the UBS text was used both in the college and seminary. I still have mine, UBS 2 I think. So the school itself was far from being KJVO.

These facts are reasons I say that there was no KJVO movement per se until 1970, when those books came out by Ruckman and Fuller. There were KJVO individuals and even books, but no movement.

 

[Yeshua1]

You are correct that the problem Roberson was addressing was students in the dorms. However, I don't remember hearing any such discussion, and no professor ever discussed the issue as far as I remember. I didn't become aware of and interested in the issue until just before my first furlough in 1986.

TTU in those days had a college and seminary, but also a 3 year Bible school mostly for older students. I was led to understand that in the 1970's there was a Bible School prof who was KJVO, but I can't source that. On the other hand, in the Greek classes the UBS text was used both in the college and seminary. I still have mine, UBS 2 I think. So the school itself was far from being KJVO.

These facts are reasons I say that there was no KJVO movement per se until 1970, when those books came out by Ruckman and Fuller. There were KJVO individuals and even books, but no movement.

was and is the KJVO a reaction against any modern translations supplanting their beloved Kjv?

 

[John of Japan]

was and is the KJVO a reaction against any modern translations supplanting their beloved Kjv?

It's more complex than that.

 

[Yeshua1]

It's more complex than that.

Agreed, and yet the real bitter viewpoints seem to be starting right when the Rsv came out, and then fanned when nas and Niv came out!

 

[Logos1560]

TTU in those days had a college and seminary, but also a 3 year Bible school mostly for older students. I was led to understand that in the 1970's there was a Bible School prof who was KJVO, but I can't source that.

I has at TTU from the fall of 1972 until August, 1977. I graduated from the college in 1975. The Bible School did have a good number of older, married students. There was also a good number of typical-college age students. Some of them perhaps did not have a good enough academic record to attend college. Some of them may not even have had a high school diploma. I know of one preacher who attended who had dropped out of high school and so far as I know he did not have a GED. Some of them may have just wanted to study only the Bible. I had some friends who attended the Bible school, including a former pastor of my home church. The Bible School had a three year diploma and also a four year one.

I think it was during the years 1972 to 1975 that I was told that a Bible School professor had been dismissed or fired for teaching KJV-only views or Ruckman's views.

 

[rlvaughn]

According to David Cloud, Bruce Lackey of Tennessee Temple "defended the Received Text and the King James Bible as the preserved and perfect Word of God."

 

[Logos1560]

According to David Cloud, Bruce Lackey of Tennessee Temple "defended the Received Text and the King James Bible as the preserved and perfect Word of God."

I am aware that David Cloud was at Temple some of the same years that I was although I do not recall meeting him. Perhaps some of my friends in the Bible School may have had some classes with him.

Bruce Lackey was a frequent speaker in the chapel services, and I do not recall him ever claiming that the KJV was perfect. My friends, who had him for a teacher in the Bible School, have not suggested that he taught that the KJV was perfect or that he taught KJV-only views.

 

[John of Japan]

I has at TTU from the fall of 1972 until August, 1977. I graduated from the college in 1975. The Bible School did have a good number of older, married students. There was also a good number of typical-college age students. Some of them perhaps did not have a good enough academic record to attend college. Some of them may not even have had a high school diploma. I know of one preacher who attended who had dropped out of high school and so far as I know he did not have a GED. Some of them may have just wanted to study only the Bible. I had some friends who attended the Bible school, including a former pastor of my home church. The Bible School had a three year diploma and also a four year one.

I was there from '72, having transferred from BJU. I graduated in Aug. of '76, then took a semester of seminary. I didn't know those things about the Bible school--that there was a 4 year diploma, that you didn't have to graduate from high school to go there, etc. Seems like one ought to have at least a GED!

I do remember a country hick who came to our dorm who could barely read. Very sincere, but he couldn't cut it. I guess the basic requirement, then, was being literate.

I think it was during the years 1972 to 1975 that I was told that a Bible School professor had been dismissed or fired for teaching KJV-only views or Ruckman's views.

Sounds right to me.

 

[John of Japan]

Agreed, and yet the real bitter viewpoints seem to be starting right when the Rsv came out, and then fanned when nas and Niv came out!

The fundamentalist opposition against the RSV was not about the Greek texts, but about the liberal renderings, such as "young woman" instead of "virgin."

The NASB was not opposed by fundamentalists in general. I bought a first edition of the NT from the BJU bookstore. Those who opposed the NASB did not do so until Ruckman attacked it. Opposition to the NIV was originally on the basis of its translation method, not its source texts.