The Crooked Quill

Aside from the rapid growth of the Christian church itself it may just be the most amazing story in the Christian Era-I am talking about The Amazing Story of How We Got the King James Bible and All That Came With It. But the translation and publication of a version of the Bible? Really? Consider the following: for a millennium the church had been effectively deprived of its most important material resource that is the word of God in a language the common people could understand. Once more this was done under the auspices of the official-institutional church! But then there were a few who dared to translate the Bible into the English vernacular. Of course the political and ecclesiastical authorities were not exactly keen on the idea of people having access to a Book coming from the Highest Authority not when it contained ideas which might enable the people to think for themselves and perhaps to think differently about those lower authorities. Needless to say it remained difficult for the average Englander to obtain a personal copy of the Scriptures. Then along came King James one of the most complex and problematic regents England had ever seen. SPOILER ALERT! As it turned out it was James' perceived nemeses the Puritans who goaded the King into becoming the official sponsor of a new translation-written expressly with the purpose that it should be read by all the people! And it would be that same Bible which would not only become facilitative in unseating the Stuart dynasty it would go on to change the world!