Bible bother

The Government has let it be known that the Prime Minister plans to send a copy of the King James Bible to every school in the country. The initiative is intended to mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of the KJV and to acknowledge its impact on our culture and society. Apparently Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education,  is writing a forward to the edition and has commented on the significance of the KJV:

Some people look at certain battles, or some look at certain parliamentary acts, as hinge moments in history, I actually think the translation of the Bible into the vernacular is a critical moment in the life of the nation.

It’s a thing of beauty, and it’s also an incredibly important historical artefact. It has helped shape and define the English language and is one of the keystones of our shared culture. And it is a work that has had international significance.

I would want to say that the Bible is much more than an important historical artefact but welcome the government’s attempt to acknowledge the significance of the KJV.

Needless to say, the usual headbangers have been swift to respond. The National Secular Society’s President Terry Sanderson comments:

“It‘s not as if Bibles are in short supply in schools, but if (Mr Gove) intends to go ahead with this, will he also please ensure that a copy of On the Origin of Species is sent out on Darwin Day. This book is much harder to find in schools and would be in line with his policy of promoting science and evidence-based education. I‘m sure that he could write an excellent foreword to this, too.

The British Humanist Association has joined in with its campaigns officer Richy Thompson stating:

Either the Government is funding this initiative itself at a time when it is making severe cuts elsewhere, or the Church is funding it but using the Government as a vehicle through which to promote Christianity - both are unacceptable.

I really don’t think the NSS and BHA interventions merit much comment and to be honest their complaints sound rather half hearted.

Much more interesting is the revelation that The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley have a bit of a scoop with an exclusive of the preface to the KJV written by Little Mickey Gove.

Gamechanger

Today we remember the life and death of a man whose gifts, passion and dedication to his work helped to change people’s lives and shape our culture. His gift was to harness a developing technology and to use it to make life changing communication available to the masses.

William Tyndale (1494-1536) committed his life to translating and publishing the Bible. Drawing from the Hebrew and Greek texts, he used the development of the printing press to make the Bible available for wide distribution in the common tongue. During this year when we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible it is important to remember that the scholars who laboured on that work drew heavily on Tyndale’s translation. Tyndale was strangled at the stake and his body burnt in Brussels after being found guilty of heresy. His dying words are recorded as being ‘Lord, open the King of England’s eyes’. Within four years of his death four English translations of the Bible were published in England.

Worth remembering this great scholar, translator and Christian martyr, whose work was so significant, on the day we also remember the death of another game changer, Steve Jobs CEO of Apple.

Route 66 #SH2011

Apart from being the title of one of the first songs I learnt on the guitar as a teenager, Route 66 is the title of Spring Harvest 2011. We’ve been going as a family for quite a few years and there is much I enjoy about the event. It’s a good family break, always a joy to spend time with friends and there is an excellent programme for the kids. There is usually something on the teaching side of the programme that I find refreshing and challenging, and plenty of time for good conversation.

Of late there have been a few SH developments I have not been so keen on: the worship has become more focused around the performance of the worship leader/band; the Bible readings have drifted from exposition to talk, becoming more like the evening celebration addresses, and there is still too much of the old pals act between the leadership team up front. I blogged about some of these concerns last year on a post titled Feast or Famine.

This year the Spring Harvest focus is firmly back on the Bible, hence the Route 66 title, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the team encourage us to engage with scripture. Gerard Kelly has been heavily involved in developing the material and his Bible Readings a few years ago, taking a multi-arts approach to help explore the text, were excellent. What I am not looking forward to is the Skegness climate as the last time we forsook Minehead for the East Coast it snowed.

I shall attempt to blog during the event and the Twitter hashtag is #SH2011 for those who want to follow. No news about a Tweetup yet but where two or three Twitterati gather…

Here’s Gerard Kelly explaining the idea behind Route 66.

Beer glass Jesus

Confirmation, if confirmation were needed, that the Lord is blessing Beer and Bible, a Chelmsford Diocese initiative to promote the public reading of scripture. During a reading of the Good Book in an Essex pub, drinkers noticed an extraordinary phenomenon as the face of Jesus appeared in the froth of a beer glass. Encouraged by the manifestation, punters drank more and more pints in an attempt to replicate the experience. The landlord of The Punchdrunk Monk described the occasion in the hostelry as ‘spirit filled’ and others claimed that this was affirmation of the local church’s venture into Liquid Church. There is some debate as to which beer produced the froth, some are arguing for Abbot Ale while others maintain it was Bishop’s Finger, however, all are agreed that it wasn’t lager. The passage of scripture being read at the time of the appearance is believed to have been Revelation 22:17. It all adds new meaning to the song ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord’.

There is a great report about Beer and Bible recently published in an Essex newspaper and further information about the initiative can be found here.

Don’t you know it? Bible Year 2011 (10)

I have a Bible on my Blackberry. In fact, I have lots of versions on my phone thanks to Youversion. However, I sometimes feel embarrassed getting my Blackberry out during a service as it looks like I’ve had enough of the liturgy and started to check my emails. I have a mate whose wife wants to get a sign which says ‘It’s O.K. he’s reading the Bible on his iPhone’ to avoid the scowls of disgruntled worshippers.

A couple of days ago I was chatting to a colleague and one of our area bishops and the conversation turned to Bibles on phones and iPads. My colleague explained that in the parish he had encountered a problem with reading the Bible on his phone when visiting parishioners. No sooner has he turned to an appropriate passage than the parishioner says something like ‘Oh, that’s very clever, what sort of phone is that? Can I have a look please?’ Accessing his Bible on his mobile became a distraction in such circumstances and so he has reverted to the printed word. The bishop joked that only the Word of God on the printed page was good enough, before going on to quip that more preferable still would be a scroll or perhaps a wax tablet.

As a wet behind the ears curate I learnt an important lesson while visiting an elderly housebound member of the congregation. I asked her what she would like me to read and she requested Psalm 121. I explained that I only had my New Testament with me. For some bizarre reason you are only given the New Testament when ordained deacon and get the whole enchilada when ordained priest. ‘Don’t you know it?’ my parishioner asked, before proceeding to recite Psalm 121 word for word. She then went on to various evening prayer collects by which time I was in a cold sweat. Needless to say, I never left the house without a Bible and a small copy of the Book of Common Prayer tucked in my jacket pocket after that experience.

I think back to my pastoral visits some 20+ years ago and reflect on how much easier it would have been if I’d had my Blackberry with Bible and daily prayer at the click of a couple of buttons. Then I remember that lovely faithful elderly lady I used to visit and I begin to shake as I think about what she would have said if I’d got my mobile out in the middle of our chat.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

Never take it for granted. Bible Year 2011 (9)

A powerful reminder of what the Bible can mean for a community receiving it for the first time in their own language. In 2010 the Kimyal Tribe of West Papua, Indonesia celebrated the arrival of a plane carrying copies of the New Testament.



It is easy to forget what a precious gift it is to have the Bible in our language and so easy to take for granted. There are still many peoples who do not have the gift of the Bible in their own tongue. For more information check out Eddie and Sue Arthur’s blog including When will Bible translation be finished.

Beer and Bible Video

Here's a short video about Beer and Bible.

 

With thanks to Big Bible for promoting the initiative and Pete Phillips for recording the video with me at #Ashmedia.

Although Beer and Bible was developed by Chelmsford Diocese there is no reason why other churches and organisations can’t have a go, so feel free to get in contact for more information.

Beer and Bible mats

After a fair bit of hassle the Beer and Bible beer mats have finally arrived and are ready for distribution to parishes sharing in this diocesan initiative. In the Diocese of Chelmsford we have a whole range of events to celebrate Bible Year 2011 and through Beer and Bible we are encouraging the public reading of scripture in pubs around the diocese. Any parish participating in Beer and Bible will receive a pack of free beer mats for distribution in their local pubs. Here’s what they look like front and back (the purple border denotes the actual shape of the mats). The Bible is open at Ephesians 3.





The local press have been very interested in Beer and Bible and are planning to run some stories in connection with the initiative. We are hoping that +Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Chelmsford, will be reading in various hostelries during Holy Week. One of the hardships of my job is that I had to meet a press photographer to set up a picture for an article on Beer and Bible. Here I am with Dave Chesney, curate of Holy Trinity Springfield in Chelmsford, and the pub is The Oddfellows Arms!



Someone commented: ‘I can see what version of the Bible you are reading but what is the ale?’ The answer is a very pleasant Adnams Broadside.

I have a dilemma, for I shall be giving up alcohol for Lent. Should I not be excused abstinence when my work demands I down a pint in the cause of Beer and Bible?

To be continued… Bible Year 2011 (8)

Excellent podcast by +Stephen Cottrell on the importance of the Bible. Here is the full text and it is always worth listening to him speak.

I have to confess to feeling slightly irritated by the Radio 4 insistence that the 400^th anniversary of the King James Bible is an important cultural event. You know, all that stuff about the incomparable prose of the Authorised Version, its indelible mark upon the English language. Well, all that is true. It is impossible to understand European literature and art without some familiarity with the Bible. It has indeed shaped our culture and our laws.

But the reason we are celebrating this anniversary is not primarily about the form of the Bible, however beautiful, but its content. The Bible is vital and central because it is God’s word, not faxed down from heaven, but inspired by the Spirit, the indispensable record of God’s dealings with his people, written by the people themselves, a record of God’s activity in history, God’s ways and God’s heart and supremely God’s revelation of his self in Jesus Christ who is God’s word made flesh and then the beginnings of the Christian church and the story of how we are formed as God’s people today.

The Bible, which is a great library, a collection of books within a book,  enables us to meet with God and to know God. That is what we are celebrating in this year of the Bible. That is the reason we are encouraging people to open their Bibles. And here it doesn’t really matter which translation you are using. What matters is letting the word of God into our lives and through us into our world. The word that was made flesh in Jesus Christ is made available to us through the written word of scripture and now God wants to write that same word in our hearts.

Sometimes I rather provocatively say to people, I would like to make a change to the Bible. It is this, a simple addition, right at the very end: ‘To be continued  until that great day when we see the Lord face to face.’ The great promise of scripture, the great Christian hope is that  God wants to write his word in our hearts, and we need to listen and brood upon that word so that we can learn to be his people. What was revolutionary about the King James Bible 400 years ago was that it put the scriptures into everyday language and into the ears and hearts and hands of ordinary people. That is also the challenge for us today.

Further details about  Bible Year 2011 in the Diocese of Chelmsford can be found here.

The Writing on the Wall

I am delighted that Revd Dr Maggi Dawn is coming to Chelmsford Diocese to lead two study days on her book The Writing on the Wall.


The Writing on the Wall

Saturday March 26th
Chelmsford Cathedral Chapter House

Saturday May 7th
St Margaret’s Church, Barking

10am – 4pm

2011 is the 400th anniversary of the publication of The King James Version of the Bible. But just how well do we understand the Bible, and its relationship to our culture?
Maggi Dawn, author of The Writing on the Wall, will show how art, music, poetry, sculpture and film have been influenced by the Bible far more than we usually realise. But the arts do more than merely illustrate bible stories and characters: they also open up possibilities for interpretation.

This day will open up some of the theological and devotional adventures that become possible when the riches of the Bible are recognized within the world of the arts, and offer all kinds of inspiration, for teaching, preaching and personal spiritual growth.

Reviews of The Writing on the Wall.

The days are being run as part of the Diocesan Lent and Eastertide Schools. Details of cost and booking can be found here.

Jesus through the Bible: Bible Year 2011 (7)

This is a great trip through the books of the Bible and as several people have commented Jack really looks like he means it.



h/t Rachel Marszalek

Personal or Professional?

An interesting issue has arisen for me about the character and purpose of my blog. On Sunday it was announced that I will be returning to parish ministry and I immediately noticed a large increase in traffic to my blog based on Google searches. I’m fairly sure much of this traffic is from future parishioners so I had a bit of a panic and quickly checked recent posts to make sure I had not said anything I was going to regret. The post about my random album with a naked woman on the front cover caused a slight wobble, but my wife thought it tasteful so I figured there was not a problem.

However, this has made me think about the purpose of my blog and how I will use it in the future. I’ve already noticed that almost subconsciously I post less about my family and tend to keep that information for my Facebook page where there is more control over access. I also notice that I have been putting up more work related posts, particularly in connection with Bible Year 2011. Nevertheless, my blog is still a place where I can fire off my own reflections and observations, not just about faith but about football, culture, politics and whatever else happens to catch my attention.

So the question is this:

Do I keep my blog for my personal thoughts and opinions and roll out a separate blog related to my parish ministry? Or do I merge the two together?

I can see strengths and weaknesses with both approaches and notice that blogging colleagues have taken different stances. I don’t want to lose the character of my blog, such as it is, but I will want to post material related to my work in the parish that may be of little interest to a wider readership. Yet, there is likely to be a certain amount of overlap in material and there may well be things relating to our specific parish context that resonate further afield. 

Thoughts please…

Any excuse!

The Good Book Tour: Bible Year 2011 (6)

To engage with Biblefresh, and to begin exploring the biblical theme for their main event this year, Spring Harvest is joining forces with a few of Britain's cathedrals and some larger churches to commemorate 400 years of the King James Bible and celebrate the retelling of scripture for every generation.

They're joined by poet Gerard Kelly, and historian Derek Wilson for an eight-date tour, sharing insights and reflections on the text, set alongside Lacey Theatre Company's extracts from the award-winning ‘Word on the Street’ (formerly ‘the street bible’).

Ancient meets modern, text meets expression and people meet scripture in an ever-unfolding story. It will be an opportunity to explore how the Bible has shaped and influenced our culture, and to enjoy an evening of theatre, poetry and more.

Details about The Good Book Tour can be found here. Abby Guinness and Gerard Kelly chat about the tour in this short video.

Bible and Culture: Bible Year 2011 (5)

Honestly, this isn’t just an excuse to post a picture of Emilia Fox. Ms Fox was one of the actors who took part in the Readings from the King James Bible on Radio 4 yesterday. As part of the celebrations for the 400th anniversary of the KJV the BBC has been running a series of programmes on the Bible with a particular emphasis on its cultural significance. You can download the readings from the BBC website but you will need to get a move on as they are only available for seven days.

A few bloggers have raised concerns about the focus on the cultural significance of the KJV, arguing that this detracts from encountering the Bible as relevant and significant for people’s lives today and I posted about that in Mythbusting. Others are much more positive about the cultural dimension and are also well worth reading. Maggi Dawn has written a post on the BBC programmes and her book Writing on the Wall explores the impact of the Bible on our culture.

Jonathan Evens has written a short story The New Dark Ages which he is publishing in parts on his blog. I’m grateful to Jonathan for sending me an advanced copy and it is a fascinating and thought provoking reflection on the damage caused by forgetting our cultural heritage, not least the Bible. A character in the story, journalist Don Wolf, writes:

Culture, to be preserved, must be lived and breathed in order that it fertilises future creativity and learning. Too much of our current culture is already blind to the extent to which it utilises and is informed by past culture. We think and act as though we emerge from the womb as fully formed independent individuals with no debt to nurture, yet our every thought and word and action is inevitably and unconsciously predicated on some past learning.

This year, we celebrated a cultural artefact – the 1611 King James Version Bible – which is among those artefacts that will shortly be lost from sight should this dark blight on our culture continue its relentless progress. When this Bible is lost from sight, we will not only lose the artefact itself but all that it has contributed to our culture in terms of imagery, story, phraseology and much, much more.

From my own point of view the opportunity to listen to Emilia Fox’s voice must be a good thing and the fact I can do that during my personal devotions makes it even better.

Mythbusting: Bible Year 2011 (4)

Several of my recent posts have focused on the 400th anniversary of the King James version of the Bible and I make no apology for that. It seems to me that as this significant event is being acknowledged in the church, the media and wider society, it gives us a great opportunity to promote the value and importance of the Bible to our culture. Anything which encourages engagement with the Bible is to be embraced and treated as a gift not a problem.

However, I hope I have also sought to point out that what is most important is not a focus on one particular English translation of the Bible as a cultural artefact but reading the Bible in a translation appropriate for our own particular context today. I want people to discover that the Bible contains Good News for each of us, for our communities and wider society. This is certainly the focus of Bible Year 2011, which we are celebrating in Chelmsford Diocese, and of the many other initiatives across the country including Big Bible and Biblefresh.

There are several good blog posts drawing attention to some of the issues and problems raised by the King James translation and these are an important counter balance to some of the more effusive articles about the King James version.

Tim Goodbody raises a concern about the way in which the KJV has locked some people into an idealised "traditional" faith, holding back the church in mission.

Eddie Arthur has posted a couple of pieces on myths surrounding the KJV or Authroised Version of the Bible. Eddie and his wife Sue are Wycliffe Bible translators and he draws attention to fallacies about the KJB as an English translation and then widens out the debate from an international perspective.

What I find encouraging and exciting is that so much attention is being given to the Bible at this time and it would be a tragedy if we didn’t make the most of it.

Introducing the iBible

Out in time for Bible Year 2011, the must have iBible. ‘It saves only the verses that apply to you. It even self deletes the verses it knows you don’t like.’

As the advert says ‘It’s guaranteed to enrich your iWalk with God.’




Alternatively, you could just pick up the Bible in a modern translation and read it. Lots of help and advice on how to get the best out of reading the Bible from Biblefresh and Big Bible.

We need a big picture: Bible Year 2011 (3)

Another message I missed in the midst of the New Year celebrations was Rowan Williams’s New Year message. In it the Archbishop reminds us that we all need a big picture to help us make sense of our lives. Taking the theme of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible,  Rowan suggests:

Whether you're a Christian or belong to another religion or whether you have nothing you'd want to call a religion at all, some kind of big picture matters. If we 're going to talk about a 'big society', that'll need a big picture, a picture of what human beings are really like and why they're so unique and precious. This year's anniversary is a chance to stop and think about the big picture – and to celebrate the astonishing contribution made by that book four hundred years ago.

The full text of Archbishop Rowan’s message can be found here.

On a similar theme I have organised a series of courses in the Diocese of Chelmsford on how we can explore ‘the big picture’ and details can be found here.

Details of other Bible Year 2011 initiatives in the diocese can be found here.

Retro-fitted grandeur: Bible Year 2011 (2)

Following yesterday’s post on the excellent BBC production The Story of the King James Bible a friend, Canon Martin Wood, drew my attention to an article in The Independent titled Battles of a Book by Boyd Tonkin. The piece was published on 31st December so may well have been missed by many gearing up for the New Year celebrations but it is well worth a read.

The article begins with an important reminder of the controversial and violent history that accompanied the early days of translating the Bible into English. It is easy to forget, as copies of myriad translations of the Bible lie unread on dusty bookshelves, that people like William Tyndale gave their lives to make the scriptures accessible to the ordinary punter or, as Tyndale would say, ‘the boy that driveth the plow’. 

After months in his fortress jail, he (Tyndale) went on trial and received the inevitable death sentence. He was strangled at the stake with an iron chain. Then his corpse was burnt. According to legend, the translator and reformer William Tyndale ended his life in September 1536 with the words: "Lord, open the king of England's eyes."

Tyndale’s prayer was realised with the publication of the King James Bible in 1611. Tonkin draws attention to something that many may not have appreciated, by pointing out that even when it was published the KJB employed a tone that would have seemed archaic in common parlance; he calls this ‘retro-fitted grandeur’ and comments:

In essence, the six companies ensured that the KJB was born an antique. They didn't make the Bible new; they made it old. Its celebrated majesty and sonority stem from a decision to ennoble the language with a melodic, otherworldy splendour. Note how Tyndale's "they were marvellously glad" from the 1520s becomes, in the much later heyday of Shakespeare and Donne, "they rejoiced with exceeding great joy". The KJB sounds archaic to many readers now. It sounded archaic to many readers in 1611.

As Gordon Campbell puts it, "the language of the translators reflects their conservatism". They use "thee" and "thou" with an old-fashioned enthusiasm which might have sounded strange on the teeming City streets outside Stationers Hall, where for nine months in 1610 a revising committee sat. Tyndale and his radical confrères aimed for the demotic language of street and field. The KJB crews retain much of that, but channel it into a new, refined and detached, language of pulpit and pew. Old verb forms such as "doth", "hath" and "saith" abound, whereas by the 1590s - in speech, at least - the modern endings would have become more common.

The article covers more familiar territory in reminding us of the cultural influence of the KJB:

Today it is a commonplace to note that the words and rhythms of the KJB and its source translations shape the speech of countless millions who never open a bible or enter a church. Somehow, the language of the 1611 version never falls from grace (Galatians 5.4) even if its message falls on stony ground (Mark 4.5). In a secular age where ignorance of religion goes from strength to strength (Psalms 84.7) among lovers of filthy lucre (1 Timothy 3.8) who only want to eat, drink and be merry (Luke 12.19), we know for a certainty (Joshua 23.13) that these resonant words endure as a fly in the ointment (Ecclesiastes 10.1) and a thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12.7) of the powers that be (Romans 13.1). They can still set the teeth on edge (Jeremiah 31.29) of those who try to worship God and Mammon (Matthew 6.24). But does this ancient book, proof that there is no new thing under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1.9), now cast its pearls before swine (Matthew 7.6), and act as a voice crying in the wilderness (Luke 3.4) – a drop in a bucket (Isaiah 40.15) of unbelief, no longer a sign of the times (Matthew 16.3) but a verbal stumbling-block (Leviticus 19.14) or else all things to all men (1 Corinthians 9.22) while the blind lead the blind (Matthew 15.14)?

However, Tonkin goes on to argue the greater influence of the KJB across the Atlantic:

What really marked a sea-change, though, was the acceptance of the "habitual music" of the KJB (John Ruskin's phrase) by Puritan writers and preachers quite out of sympathy with the king-and-bishop hierarchy that bred it. Soon, John Milton and John Bunyan would draw on the KJB: it colours Paradise Lost and The Pilgrim's Progress from first lines to last.

It crossed the Atlantic early in the 17th century, and came to fix the tones and timbres of American speech and writing even more firmly than in Britain. From Herman Melville to Walt Whitman, Ernest Hemingway to Allen Ginsberg, American literature could hardly exist without the pulse and flame of the KJB. Today, it suffuses the work of talents as varied as Toni Morrison and Marilynne Robinson, Cormac McCarthy and Bob Dylan – who, in keeping with the seam of radical prophecy that forerunners such as William Blake had mined from the Bible, told us that in changing times "the last shall be first, and the first last" (a direct KJB lift from Tyndale).

The piece has a rather sobering final observation which makes the challenge of promoting the reading of the Bible in 2011 even more stark as Tonkin concludes:

For anyone, religious or not, who cares about the continuity of culture and understanding, Gordon Campbell lets slip a remark to freeze the blood. A professor at Leicester University, he recalls that "When the name of Moses came up at a seminar I was leading, no one had any idea whom he might have been, though a Muslim student eventually asked if he was the same person as Musa in the Qur'an (which he is)".

"Let my people go" (Exodus 5.1), as Tyndale - and the KJB - has Moses tell Pharaoh. In 2011, we may need another kind of Mosaic injunction: Let our people read.

Reading Tonkin’s article I was left wondering how many of us would be prepared to go through what Tyndale faced in order to promote the private and public reading of the Bible?

The BBC scores again: Bible Year 2011 (1)

When the BBC gets it right it really gets it right. The Nativity, shown in the week leading up to Christmas, was a triumph and the Dr Who Christmas special was an excellent reworking of A Christmas Carol. There was also some nonsense last night about something called The Archers but I was busy listening to the football.

Then this morning Radio 4 broadcast the first of three episodes telling The Story of the King James Bible. This was high quality broadcasting, setting the religious and political context for the creation of what has been described as the ‘noblest monument of English prose’. Presented by James Naughtie and based at Hampton Court, the first part, The Commission, will be  rebroadcast this evening and the remaining episodes, The Translation and The Legacy, will go out on Tuesday and Wednesday at 9am. The series will also be available on iPlayer and podcast.

This is a great introduction to the King James Bible as we celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the translation and further testimony to the value of public service broadcasting.

Minting the Word

I’ve been excited to see all the different projects being developed to give renewed attention to the Bible. In 2011 we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible and in Chelmsford Diocese we have made next year Bible Year 2011. But celebrations are not limited to churches and Christian organisations and just as encouraging has been the way in which the anniversary has been picked up in wider society and culture.

As part of their 2011 season The Globe Theatre is putting on The Word is God and the publicity explains:

Written in 1611, the King James Bible was the work of many hands, and has proved over the last four hundred years the undying power of the written and the spoken word. The Globe celebrates that achievement, and that long oral tradition, by reciting one of the great masterpieces of world literature from Palm Sunday to Easter Monday.

A team of actors will present these texts clear and simple, in a theatre which is constantly working to make Jacobean words become flesh.

The Royal Mint has produced a celebratory £2 King James Bible coin.

Commemorate a beloved cornerstone of our culture and language. Four centuries since its first publication; the King James Bible; still praised by scholars for its majestic style and poetic rhythms is now celebrated on the 2011 £2 coin.

I have to confess I am rather ambivalent about this coin, however, I like that on their site the Royal Mint has a summary explanation about the place and importance of the KJV in our nation's history and culture. The designers of the coin also explain their approach:

Paul Stafford & Ben Wright 'Our design for the two pound coin, which marks 400 years since the first edition of the King James Version, celebrates this achievement. Printing matters are at the centre of the history of the King James Bible. After a ban on the printing and importation of the competing Geneva version into England, the King James Version became the most widely accepted translation. As a nod to this, and from the point of view of our own interests and backgrounds as a design agency, we decided to base our design on a representation of the printing process.Typeset in a replica of the black letter typeface used in the first edition, the reversed, raised text of the printing block (on the left) and the recessed text of the printed word (on the right), takes the form of the aptly chosen quote, ‘In the beginning was the Word’ (John 1:1).'

The Royal Mail is planning to issue a set of commemorative stamps to mark the anniversary. Although details about this series are as yet sparse, they are likely to be released towards the end of 2011. In 1999 they did produce a stamp with King James 1st and the Authorised Bible as part of their The Christians’ Tale series.

A film of the story behind the King James Bible is planned for release on DVD. Made by Norman Stone and featuring John Rhys-Davies the docu-drama aims to set the publication of the KJV in its original context. Here’s a taste:



Further details about events to mark the anniversary can be found at the King James Bible Trust.

While it is great to see the various ways in which the Bible is being celebrated and its importance to our history and culture acknowledged, I hope people will also discover that the Bible is as relevant to us today as we read it in our own time and place.

If you would like to find out more about the Bible check out Biblefresh.