Life of King James

[saturneptune]

This is a thread for information, not debating. Since reading quite a bit and forming an opinion that doctrines of God's sovereignty and grace could have taken on a better name than Calvin considering his history, beliefs, and actions, I have wondered about other historical figures in relation to our Christian heritage. After reading several articles on King James of the King James Bible, I am quite confused. Some articles say he was a Godly man with high moral principles. Others say he was ruthless, and burned anabaptists to death because of their faith.

I would greatly appreciate those who have studied the life of this man to give me their take on his character and his walk with the Lord, realizing none of us are perfect. From reading some background, there was a lot of friction between the Church of England and local autonomous New Testement churches. It seems the Church of England was Protestant in name only, and more resembled Catholic in practice. The Pope was the head of one, and the royalty in England the head of the other. The religious conflicts were numerous:

Church of England vs Catholic Church
Church of England vs Protestant churches, in particular, Presbyterian
Protestant vs Catholic
Everyone vs our ancestors, the local, autonomous New Testement church

It seems we were the object of persecution from everyone else. It also seems society was quite barbaric by executing people who did not agree with the prevailing authority at the time about religion.

As I said above, I would appreciate any person's take on King James place in all of this, and his name being a good name for English Bible. Thanks.

 

[HeirofSalvation]

Well....I have studied (a decent amount) about him, and you are indeed right!! One person says he is a Saint, the next... a demon. My conclusions are roughly this.....
He was not signifigantly better or worse than the rest of the monarchs preceding and proceding him. (accept for the patently evil ones....Mary Queen of Scots etc.) What he was...was the new monarch of an incredibly divided kingdom. Note...he was a Scot, and yet he was the new king of the newly formed "United Kingdom" Hence, he took numerous steps to immediately unify the many factions in the realm. Politically, and intellectually, he was a pragmatist and a genius.

step 1.) locate the Capital of the U.K. in English London instead of Scottish Edinburgh
step 2.) form a united Parliament
step 3.) unify the various Religious factions to prevent further fragmentation of British society
3.a) Convince all factions to use the same Bible. The High Church Anglicans using their Bishop's Bibles, Your Puritans and your Dissenters and your Presbys holding on to their Geneva Bibles.
3.b) Make a new Translation using the best possible manuscripts, utilizing scholars from ALL of these factions so they all have a say in what is translated
3.c) Intentionally write that the KJV is......"diligently compared and revised" and more importantly......"appointed to be read in Churches".

The Ultimate question is really: Did they execute the task well?
James could have been a veritable demon.....but if the translation was done well...It really doesn't matter.

Having studied the translation of the KJV for some years my contention is this:
The KJV was at that time...and to date remains by far the best executed translation, from the best selection of manuscripts, utilizing the most superior scholars, in the English Language. That is really a question of history, textual criticism and translation philosophy. James commanded this project, he did not translate it himself.

KJV inspired? NO
KJV perfect? NO, but just about as close as humans can possibly get
Has anyone else done better? NO
Will anyone else do better? Logically possible: but I doubt it will ever happen.

Do you keep the man's name on it?
Sure, he deserves it, be grateful he did it.
Baptists.....No, we were not invited to the party.... we never are...we never will be. But we can make use of their hard work and be grateful that they had to pay for the whole project

James accomplished what the Holman people attempted....he just wasn't a miserable failure

 

[saturneptune]

Really good post and thanks. He does seem to be a mixed bag. Yes I am greatful someone translated the Bible. I use the NKJV usually. Is your take on the Church of England that is mimincs the Catholic church more than Protestant?

 

[HeirofSalvation]

Is your take on the Church of England that is mimincs the Catholic church more than Protestant?

In effect, yes, and decidedly in "Form". Indeed, when it was first created, it was essentially percieved as a sub-group of the Catholic Church. But over the years, it DID copy a lot of its fellow Protestant tendencies and sort of morph into a legit Protestant "denomination" as it were. By the late 19th century, it was as "Protestant" as it gets. Doctrinally, they essentially preached the gospels essentials as well as anyone. Many respectable men and women of the faith were Anglicans indeed we owe a debt of gratitude to John Newton for "amazing grace" and some others: theologians such as G. Campbell Morgan, Preacher and poet John Donne. Many of our Nations founders were COE. Washington for sure. Unfortunately, The COE's defining characteristic nowadays is that is is liberal. The Major similarity it has with Catholicism is that it is integrally inter-laced with Political Power. Queen Elizabeth II is still head of the Church and "defender of the faith". High-ranking COE bishops actually have seats (specifically for them) in the House of Lords. Their seats are uniquely built for comfort, because they have an uncommon tendency to fall asleep :sleep: