Featured A Timeline of the KJV-Only Movement

I left this out of the 1980s:

1982--Thomas Nelson publishes a new Greek New Testament edited by Zane C. Hodges and Arthur L. Farstad, The Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text. This is somewhat different than the Textus Receptus underlying the KJV, but many fundamentalists who are not KJV-Only welcome it as representing their views of the Greek text.

 

Add to the 1990's:

1990-1992--Gary R. Hudson and Doug Kutilek put out a newsletter to combat the KJV-Only movement, the Baptist Biblical Herfitage. Both of these men are strong against the movement in those days. I'm not aware of what they are doing nowadays. (It may have continued longer, but I am not aware of that. In Vol. II, Number 4 (Winter, 1991-92), they print a letter from missionary to Japan John R. Himes (Guess who!) about how there is no KJV-based Japanese Bible. Unfortunately, this is printed without his permission, and his mission board, Baptist World Mission, asks in vain that they not print his letter!

 

Add to the 1980s:

1989—The Bible for Today, D. A. Waite’s publisher, puts out a thorough expose of Peter Ruckman, The Ruckman Conspiracy by R. L. Hymers. Hymers goes so far as to say, "Ruckmanism is apostate precisely because it attacks the Word of God, given by God in Hebrew and Greek. Ruckmanism corrects the God-breathed words with a translation. This is apostasy" (p. 22). With this Waite and the DBS take a firm stand against Ruckmanism that will be weakened eventually by their partnership with G. A. Riplinger.

 

Add to the 1980s:

1987--Lutheran Theodore P. Letis edits a book of essays, The Majority Text: Essays and Reviews in the Continuing Debate. It has essays by Wilber Pickering, S. M. Houghton, James Borland (later at Liberty University), others, and himself. It is a defense of the Textus Receptus, even criticizing the Hodges/Farstad Majority Text Greek NT as being inadequate. This position came to be known as confessional bibliology, and is often embraced by young Calvinists as a replacement for the KJV-Only movement. Letis later participates in a symposium at Pensacola Christian College.

 

Sure, go ahead and post it so we can check it out! William Carey and his team always translated their versions with a word for immerse. Unfortunately, the KJV translators did not translate, but transliterated, being Church of England.

 

As evidence that an actual movement did not start until 1970, note the following:

1963—John R. Rice edits and publishes A Coffer of Jewels about the Bible. Included is an essay by W. A. Criswell on “The Preservation of the Word of God,” which does not mention anything about a KJVO movement, evidence that the movement was not yet in existence at that time based on Rice’s irenic positions.

And a rewrite of a previous entry:

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. Though Chapter XIX is on preservation, there is nothing about a controversy involving the preservation of the KJV, evidence that there was not yet a definable movement in 1969.

 

Good question, but I'm not sure I know the answer. That version was strongly opposed by fundamentalists since it was done by liberal Baptist R. G. Bratcher at the urging of neo-Orthodox translation scholar Eugene Nida. But I've not seen evidence of a cause and effect about that and the KJV-Only movement.

 

Not germane to the OP.

 

2000-2010

Throughout first decade of the new century, D. A. Waite and The Bible for Today produce many short works, including defenses against Bob Jones U. (Bob Jones University’s Inconsistent Position, 2000) and Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Central Seminary Refuted On Bible Versions, 1999). On the anti-KJV-Only side, two major works by Rick Norris and James Price appear.

Controversy arises among KJVO advocates with some saying that the term “inspiration” can be applied to a translation (Shelton Smith of the Sword of the Lord, Gail Riplinger, etc.) and others saying it must not (the Dean Burgon Society, Jack Schaap of First Baptist Church of Hammond, IN, etc.).

2001—Jack Hyles (1926-2001) passes. His son-in-law takes over the pastorate of First Baptist of Hammond, and the leadership of Hyles-Anderson College.

2001—In his book Touch Not The Unclean Thing (subtitle, “The Text Issue and Separation”), author David Sorenson takes the stand that to separate on the basis of a Bible translation is squarely in the mold of the original fundamentalists. While taking a stand against Peter Ruckman’s position, he also opposes the Hodges/Farstad Greek New Testament as being edited from a “rationalistic philosophy” (p. 39, fn 5).

2003—Rick Norris publishes The Unbound Scriptures, with the subtitle of “A Review of KJV-only Claims and Publications.” This is a major contribution against the movement of 479 pages, including the Appendixes, with a massive 49 page bibliography.

2003—On the KJV-Only side, a publisher named Hyles Publications brings out posthumously The Need for an Every-Word Bible, by Jack Hyles (1926-2001). This is from a set of messages preached by Hyles in the Wednesday night services of First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana. Much of the book is controversial, such as when he names non-KJV Bible translations as being from the Devil. For example: “A children’s Bible that is not exactly the King James text is one of the Devil’s bibles” (sic; p. 94).

2005—A new Greek New Testament based on the Byzantine text type with the title The New Testament in the Original Greek, and the subtitle, Byzantine Textform. The editors are Maurice A. Robinson of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and William G. Pierpont. Robinson, who has a PhD in textual criticism, is a well-known scholar of that discipline, and the most effective advocate to date of the Byzantine/Majority text type. The editors are not at all KJV-Only, though some ignorantly call them that.

2006—Fundamentalist professor James D. Price publishes King James Onlyism: A New Sect. An Old Testament editor of the New King James Version and widely known as a Hebrew scholar, Price is well respected even in broader evangelicalism. At 621 pages, including Appendixes, this is perhaps the most erudite critique of the KJV-Only movement.

2009—Until now, the Waites and Gail Riplinger got along famously, with The Bible for Today even selling Riplinger’s book, New Age Bible Versions. The problem is that Riplinger had been deceiving the Waites, since she was on her third husband, having been divorced twice. Letters and article flew back and forth, with other DBS members being involved: H. D. Williams and Phil Stringer. The upshot was that there was a complete break between the two parties. The issue had been building since 2008, but finally came to a head in 2010, when the final break occurred.

2009, February—Jack Schaap is leading Hyles-Anderson College, but co-founder of the school Russell Anderson chastises him in a letter for believing that we should not use the word “inspiration” in relation to the KJV.

 

We compare it to the original Hebrew and Greek. God gave His Word in those languages. The KJV never says anything different. The KJV does not even mention the English language, which by the way did not exist in Bible times.

But seriously, can't you just enjoy the history without getting combative? I'm doing my best to be absolutely fair to the KJV-Only movement in the timeline.

I simply have to answer this, even though it is off topic (though at least it is about history).The Japanese Taikyo Dendo （大挙伝道）revival at the beginning of the 20th century happened with the Japanese Motoyaku (元訳) translation, based partly on a critical Greek NT.

The great Welsh revival of 1904-1905 was in WELSH, not English, so not the KJV.

I could go on and on. There have been many, many revivals without the KJV.

I've never seen a worse statement from a KJV-Only person. You would actually purposefully preach error! Truly awful.

It is also doctrinally mistaken. Yes, God preserves His Word, but it is also our responsibility to preserve the Word of God. We are to read it, memorize it, print it, translate it, distribute it, write it out, comment on it, preach it--we are to preserve the Word of God, and that is what the KJV translators did, preserve the Word of God.

Now, please get off this thread, or at a minimum debate me on the timeline I am presenting.

You are purposely derailing it, and I meant it to be friendly. You are making it controversial. Go away.

 

Getting close to the present day.

21st Century

Throughout the 1990s and the first decade of the new century, D. A. Waite and The Bible for Today produce many short works, including defenses against Bob Jones U. (Bob Jones University’s Inconsistent Position, 2000) and Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Central Seminary Refuted On Bible Versions, 1999). On the anti-KJV-Only side, two major works by Rick Norris and James Price appear.

Controversy arises among KJVO advocates with some saying that the term “inspiration” can be applied to a translation (Shelton Smith of the Sword of the Lord, Gail Riplinger, etc.) and others saying it must not (the Dean Burgon Society, Jack Schaap of First Baptist Church of Hammond, IN, etc.).

Early 2000s (From a friend in the know)—D. A. Wait expels some Ruckman and Riplinger followers from the Dean Burgon Society.

2001—Jack Hyles (1926-2001) passes. His son-in-law takes over the pastorate of First Baptist of Hammond, and the leadership of Hyles-Anderson College.

2001—In his book Touch Not The Unclean Thing (subtitle, “The Text Issue and Separation”), author David Sorenson takes the stand that to separate on the basis of a Bible translation is squarely in the mold of the original fundamentalists. While taking a stand against Peter Ruckman’s position, he also opposes the Hodges/Farstad Greek New Testament as being edited from a “rationalistic philosophy” (p. 39, fn 5).

2003—Rick Norris publishes The Unbound Scriptures, with the subtitle of “A Review of KJV-only Claims and Publications.” This is a major contribution against the movement of 479 pages, including the Appendixes, with a massive 49 page bibliography.

2003—On the KJV-Only side, a publisher named Hyles Publications brings out posthumously The Need for an Every-Word Bible, by Jack Hyles (1926-2001). This is from a set of messages preached by Hyles in the Wednesday night services of First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana. Much of the book is controversial, such as when he names non-KJV Bible translations as being from the Devil. For example: “A children’s Bible that is not exactly the King James text is one of the Devil’s bibles” (sic; p. 94).

2005—A new Greek New Testament based on the Byzantine text type with the title The New Testament in the Original Greek, and the subtitle, Byzantine Textform. The editors are Maurice A. Robinson of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and William G. Pierpont. Robinson, who has a PhD in textual criticism, is a well-known scholar of that discipline, and the most effective advocate to date of the Byzantine/Majority text type. The editors are not at all KJV-Only, though some ignorantly call them that.

2006—Fundamentalist professor James D. Price publishes King James Onlyism: A New Sect. An Old Testament editor of the New King James Version and widely known as a Hebrew scholar, Price is well respected even in broader evangelicalism. At 621 pages, including Appendixes, this is perhaps the most erudite critique of the KJV-Only movement.

2009—Until now, the Waites and Gail Riplinger got along famously, with The Bible for Today even selling Riplinger’s book, New Age Bible Versions. The problem is that Riplinger had been deceiving the Waites, since she was on her third husband, having been divorced twice. Letters and article flew back and forth, with other DBS members being involved: H. D. Williams and Phil Stringer. The upshot was that there was a complete break between the two parties. The issue had been building since 2008, but finally came to a head in 2010, when the final break occurred.

2009, February—Jack Schaap is leading Hyles-Anderson College, but co-founder of the school Russell Anderson chastises him in a letter for believing that we should not use the word “inspiration” in relation to the KJV.

2013—Northland Baptist Bible College begins allowing other versions than the KJV. This does not sit well with the alumni, and the school closes its doors in 2015 for this, music choices, etc.

2013, March—Jack Schaap sentenced to federal prison. John Wilkerson replaces him as pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond.

Around 2015—A group exits the Dean Burgon Society to form the King James Research Council. According to a friend in the know, the main issue is said to be the heavy handedness and over control of D. A. Waite. The departing members include: Phil Stringer, David Sorenson, H. D. Williams, etc.

2015—Russell Anderson writes Pastor Wilkerson demanding that the name “Anderson” be removed from the name of Hyles-Anderson College. The reason? Wilkerson failed to remove all college staff who did not believe in the inspiration of the KJV. The college name does not change.

2016—Peter Ruckman (1921-2016) passes. No one among his followers appears to be able to replace him and lead his movement.

2018—A fundamentalist scholar named Mark Ward is taking on confessional bibliology and what is left of the KJV-Only movement. His book, Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible, is endorsed by some major evangelical scholars. He is scheduled for a debate sponsored by the King James Research Council on “Is the King James Version Readable?”, thus “boldly going where no man has gone before!” It is scheduled for October 21, just a week from now!

 

Point taken. But where was the quote from? Who wrote this "Fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Faith"?