Featured A Timeline of the KJV-Only Movement

I am compiling a timeline of the KJV-Only movement. I will post what I have up until 1970. Feel free to add dates, disagree, etc. Also note that this is designed to be an historical study, not a discussion on the merits of the movement. I will ignore posts that go the wrong direction on this.

 

KJVO Timeline

1611—The KJV translation is finished and published. It is also called the Authorized Version due to the King of England’s authorization.

1831—The Trinitarian Bible Society is founded for the purpose of countering liberal trends in Bible translation. It continues nowadays as a staunch defender of the traditional Greek and Hebrew texts.

1871— John William Burgon (1813-1888) publishes The Last Twelve Verses of Mark, a defense of the traditional text of the passage. These verses are not found in the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus manuscripts of the Greek New Testament. He is often called “Dean Burgon” because of his position as the Dean of Chichester. Burgon is often quoted by KJV-Only authors because of his defense of the Byzantine/Majority text of the Greek New Testament, but he was not KJV-Only or even TR-Only.

1881—Burgon publishes The Revision Revised in opposition to Westcott and Hort’s work and the English Revised Version of the New Testament.

1881-1882—Brook Foss Westcott (1825-1901) and Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828–1892) publish their two-volume Greek New Testament, based on the Alexandrian Greek text family.

1896—The Traditional Text of the Holy Gospels, by Burgon, is edited by Edward Miller and published after Burgon’s death in opposition to Westcott and Hort’s work.

1930—Seventh Day Adventist Benjamin Wilkinson publishes Our Authorized Version Vindicated, later included in the book edited by David Otis Fuller, Which Bible?

1950’s to 1970’s—Various fundamentalists write (usually pamphlets) against liberal translations such as the RSV and the TEV.

1955—Jasper James Ray writes God Only Wrote One Bible, revising it in 1970. He is somewhat of a mysterious character, not being known by the general public, though he names himself as a “Business Mgr., Missionary, Bible Teacher” on the title page. While being KJV-Only, this book does not appear to take an inerrant KJV position. It does not spark a movement, but later has influence in the movement. David Otis Fuller calls it a “splendid book.” (David Otis Fuller, Which Bible?, 3rd ed. Grand Rapids: Grand Rapids International Publications, 1970, 3.)

1956—Edward Hills publishes The King James Version Defended. A genuine scholar of textual criticism, he provides ammunition for KJV-Only writers, though he himself was not one.

1964—Peter Ruckman publishes Bible Babel, thus kicking off his KJV-Only career. However, this book does not have the influence his later books did, and did not launch the movement.

1967—Edward F. Hills publishes Believing Bible Study, espousing a traditional text position.

1969—Influential fundamentalist John R. Rice (1896-1980) publishes his magnum opus, Our God-Breathed Book, the Bible. It does not take a KJV-Only position.

1970—David Otis Fuller edits and publishes a book of essays about the KJV and the Greek text behind it, Which Bible? He includes a complete book by Benjamin C. Wilkinson, a Seventh Day Adventist scholar: Our Authorized Bible Vindicated. While Fuller’s book is not KJV-Only per se, it gives impetus to the beginning of the movement. He includes essays by men who are not at all KJV-Only, such as Zane Hodges, a Majority Text scholar, and Robert Dick Wilson, an OT scholar.

1970—Peter S. Ruckman publishes The Christian’s Handbook of Manuscript Evidence under his Pensacola Bible Press. He will publish many more books defending the KJV, becoming more and more radical. I credit these two 1970 books by Ruckman and Fuller as the impetus for the beginning of the KJV-Only movement.

 

Interesting, but not part of a timeline.

 

I was hoping this would not be a "battle" but an historical study.

 

Hi, Dave. Thanks for stopping by my thread. Good post, in line with the OP. I'll add an entry at 1967 about that, since KJV-Only people did object to it.

My pastor-father gave me a New Scofield soon after it came out. It was not a new translation, but simply an updated one. I think it's in our storage unit, so I wasn't able to put my hands on it this morning. It would have the modern word in parentheses where the archaic word was, like instead of "thou" it would have "[you]". As I recall, some of Scofield's notes were edited to a more contemporary view of dispensationalism.

In reference to Hyles-Anderson College and your pastor back in the day, at that point in its history I don't think Jack Hyles and the college was officially KJV-Only yet, though probably by your time there were many advocates there due to how fundamentalism was being divided. Hyles himself did not turn KJV-Only in public until after his mentor, John R. Rice, died in 1980. The biography by his daughter says that this is because he did not want to offend Rice, who was actually against the position, but that he already held KJV-Only views by then.

As the KJV-Only movement developed, some KJV-Only writers came out against it, though I don't seem to have any literature directly against it. Looking on Amazon, there is a pamphlet by Ruckman against it dated 2012, About the New Scofield Reference Bible. I don't think the Dean Burgon Society ever came out with anything against it. In fact, D. A. Waite did a similar thing with his Defined King James Bible.

Timeline entry:
1967--The New Scofield Reference Bible is published, a regular KJV with updated words in brackets, thusly: "[you]" for "thou." As the KJV-Only doctrine became prominent, some advocates began opposing this reference Bible, but D. A. Waite and his "The Bible for Today" organization published something similar, the Defined King James Bible. (I'm not sure of the date it was published. Amazon says 2005, but that seems late.)

 

I date the movement to 1970, though books were written before then opposing changes to the KJV. I say 1970 because that is the year two influential books came out, Which Bible? ed. by David Otis Fuller, and Ruckman's The Christian Handbook of Manuscript Evidence.

By around 1973 there were discussions going on among the students at Tennessee Temple (where I was), so that Dr. Lee Roberson prohibited such discussions from the chapel pulpit. There was also a KJV-Only professor in the Bible Institute there at that time.

 

Thanks for the correction.

 

1970s

1971—D. A. Waite (1930?-2024. Anyone know what year he was born?) founds his ministry, The Bible for Today. It majors on the defense of the KJV. Waite has written many books defending his position. With a genuine ThD from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a PhD in speech from Perdue U., he deserves to be called “Doctor,” unlike the occasional degree mill doctorate held by some on both sides of the controversy.

1973—Things begin to heat up in the debate. Herbert F. Evans, a layman follower of Peter Ruckman, has an exchange of correspondence with John R. Rice about the KJV-Only issue. It is published by Wonderful Word Publishers, a ministry of a missionary to Latin America named Cimino, as DEAR Dr. JOHN: Where is my bible? (sic). The correspondence was begun by Evans in response to the 12/14/72 Sword of the Lord article by Rice with the title, “Why Divide God’s People Over Greek Manuscripts They Cannot Know About?” Unfortunately, Evans and Cimino do not get permission from Rice to print his letters.

1973-1974—By around this time, there were discussions going on among the students at Tennessee Temple (where I was), so that Dr. Lee Roberson from the chapel pulpit prohibited such discussions. There was also a KJV-Only professor in the Bible Institute there at that time.

1975—Thomas Nelson Publishers commissions an update of the KJV with the title, New King James Version. It is finally finished and published in 1982.

1975—Kenneth I. Brown, a professor at fundamentalist seminary Detroit Baptist Divinity School (later renamed Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary) writes a pamphlet in favor of the critical text: A Critical Evaluation of the Text of the King James Bible. Other fundamentalist schools such as Bob Jones University, Tennessee Temple College and Seminary (later called Tennessee Temple University) and Maranatha Baptist Bible College (later called Maranatha Baptist U.) are using the UBS Greek New Testament, a critical text, in their Greek classes.

1977—Thomas Nelson publishes The Identity of the New Testament Text, a scholarly book by Wilbur N. Pickering. This is not actually KJV-Only, but should be classified as a defense of the traditional texts. It does have a cogent critique of Westcott and Hort and the priority of the Alexandrian text type.

1978—D. A. Waite founds the Dean Burgon Society. This society advocates for the KJV-Only doctrine with literature and meetings. His position is that the KJV is not inspired and inerrant, but the only version we should use in English. However, his writings never admit errors in the translation of the KJV that I’ve been able to find.

1979—D. A. Waite hits his stride and begins to write numerous books from the KJV-Only position. That year he publishes Heresies of Westcott & Hort. He also begins to publish copy machine reprints that year of previous defenders of the TR, such as John Burgon (I’m not sure when Burgon’s books were first reprinted by The Bible for Today.) I still have his reprint in that format of A Guide to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament, by Edward Miller, a colleague of Burgon. These reprints benefit both sides of the debate.

 

Correction from a friend: the NKJV did not update "thee" and "thou" but only regular archaisms.

 

Correction from a friend: "First edition of NKJV NT came out as a kivar paperback in 1973. Needed a lot more revision before reaching final form."

For those ignorant of "kivar" as I was, here is a link: Products - LBS

 

Also missed:

1979--Baker Book House publishes the first important book opposing the KJV-Only movement, The King James Version Debate, by leading evangelical scholar D. A. Carson. The subtitle is “A Plea for Realism.” He says in the Introduction that "these pages are given over to an easy introduction to two things: biblical textual criticism...and some of the principles upon which translations are made" (p. 10). He is particularly concerned with those who "make the adoption of this view a criterion of orthodoxy" (Ibid.).

 

1980s

Throughout the 1980s Peter Ruckman and other KJV-Only authors become more prolific. Various small KJV-Only colleges are started to draw students away from the major fundamentalist schools which still don’t follow their doctrine, such as BJU, Tennessee Temple, Maranatha, Central Seminary, etc. Ruckman in particular becomes more and more radical, often insulting personally those he opposes. He is targeted with believing that the original texts of Scripture can be corrected from the KJV. His followers are called Ruckmanites. Thus, more and more in the movement distance themselves from him.

1980--John R. Rice dies. After his death, during the 1980s Jack Hyles joined the KJV-Only movement. Rice had mentored him and put him on the national stage through his Sword of the Lord conferences on revival and soul winning. Since Rice opposed the movement, Hyles kindly waited until his death to come out as a KJV-Only pastor and Bible college founder. Thus, Hyles-Anderson College joins the KJV-Only side of the dispute. Co-founder Russell Anderson becomes radical on the subject with later implications for after Hyles dies.

1981—Bob Jones University Greek professor Stewart Custer comes out against the KJV-Only movement with a short book of 36 pages, The Truth About the King James Version Controversy. It is published by BJU Press.

1983—Comic book tract publisher Jack Chick goes public with support for the KJV-Only movement by publishing a book by Barry D. Burton, Let’s Weigh the Evidence. It is not meant to be a scholarly work, but is aimed at the man in the pew, with tons of punctuation marks, such as twelve question marks after one sentence (p. 17), and quite often five or six exclamation marks.

1987—Samuel Gipp publishes An Understandable History of the Bible. In the footnotes he quotes both Westcott and Hort and other normal sources, but also the radical Peter Ruckman’s works. Sometime during this decade he also publishes a strange pamphlet with no date supporting the movement with the title, Answers to the Ravings of a Mad Plunger, with a cartoon on the cover of a bathroom plunger character ripping the Bible in two! This work is in answer to a paper by a pastor he does not name, “Who Can Refute.”

1989—Samuel Gipp publishes The Answer Book, a Q & A book about his position.

 

1990s

This is a big decade for the KJV-Only movement. Some very influential books are published by Waite and a new author, Gail Riplinger. It is also a big decade for those who oppose the movement. Several major works are published by these in opposition.

1991—Al Lacy self publishes Can I Trust My Bible? Other minor works are self published by KJV-Only advocates throughout the decade. Peter Ruckman and others such as D. A. Waite’s The Bible for Today ramp up their defense of the KJV-Only doctrines.

1992—D. A. Waite, Defending the King James Version, The Bible for Today Press. Waite would publish more and more as the world moved into the 21st century.

1993— G. A. Riplinger publishes New Age Bible Versions under her new publisher, A. V. Publications. It presents a view similar to that of Ruckman, though without his acerbic approach, and is a great success. Her claim is that all modern English translations than the KJV are based on New Age philosophy. This book is a bombshell, convincing many undecided folk of the KJV-Only position. She will continue to publish books supporting the movement for a long time. Her actual given name of Gail and her identity as a woman comes out, Opponents point out that she has no Bible or ancient language degrees, and her advanced degree is in Home Economics! Later it would be revealed that she had been divorced twice and was on her third husband, but those in the movement back her work completely at this time.

1993—Final Authority, subtitle A Christian’s Guide to the King James Bible, by William P. Grady. A Grady was a Hyles-Anderson professor at the time, so this is an indication of the direction the college was headed with Jack Hyles still alive and leading. However, some say that this book was accused of being Ruckmanite, and Brady was let go from the college for that reason. In the 21st century, Hyles himself would take a Ruckmanite position.

1993--Jack Hyles joins the KJV-Only authors' ranks with his book, Enemies of Soul Winning, published by Hyles-Anderson Publishers. Chapter Five is "False Bibles--Enemies of Soul Winning." One realizes soon that Hyles is taking a radical position when he writes, "I have more respect for the person who says that one of the false Bibles contains the very words of God than for a person who says only the original contains the very words of God" (p 44). This is a complete break with his mentor, John R. Rice, who had written, “When we speak of verbal inspiration we mean that God gave the very words originally to the Bible writers, and as they put them down in the original manuscripts the very words were the words of God” (Twelve Tremendous Themes, 67–68).

1995—The King James Only Controversy is published by well-known apologist James White. White is is an evangelical, probably not a fundamentalist, but his book is welcomed as a resource by non-KJV-Only fundamentalists. Critics to this day point out that White’s doctorate is from what some call a degree mill, but then various KJV-Only advocates have the same Achilles heel, so this turns out to be a moot point.

1999—From the Mind of God to the Mind of Man, subtitle, "A Layman's Guide to How We Got our Bible," edited by James B. Williams. This influential work includes essays opposing the movement by many fundamentalist pastors and professors, including men like conference speaker and former missionary Williams, Pastor John Ashbrook who had written a book targeting New Evangelicalism, professors from various fundamental colleges and seminaries, Baptist World Mission executive Ernest Pickering, and other leaders.

1999—Waite and The Bible for Today publish Forever Settled, by missionary to England and Dean Burgon Society member Jack Moorman. Because of the book quoting Ruckman many times, some begin to doubt the veracity of the DBS opposition to Ruckman and Ruckmanism. This book brings to light the KJV-Only view of some (Ruckman, Waite, etc.) that the Septuagint (LXX) is not from before Christ, and therefore there are no NT quotes from the LXX.