In Discordance with the Scriptures American Protestant Battles Over Translating the Bible

by Thuesen, Peter J.

• ISBN13: 9780195127362
• ISBN10: 0195127366
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-12-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The story of the translation of the Bible in America begins with the King James Version. In fact, many Americans thought of the KJV as the foundational text of the Republic, rather than a cultural inheritance from Anglican Britain. In the nineteenth century, however, as new editions of the Greek New Testament appeared, scholars increasingly recognized significant errors and inconsistencies in the KJV. This soon 1ed to the Bible revision movement, whose goal was the uniting of all English-speaking Protestants behind one new, improved version of the Bible. Ironically, as Peter Thuesen shows in this fascinating history, the revision movement in fact resulted in a vast proliferation of English scripture editions and an enduring polarization of American Christians over versions of Holy Writ. The recurrent controversies over Bible translations, he argues, tell us less about the linguistic issues dividing conservatives and liberals than about the theological assumptions they have long held in common.

Author Biography

Peter J. Thuesen is Assistant Professor of American religious history and the history of Christianity in the Department of Comparative Religion at Tufts University.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	xi
Introduction Sharper Than Any Two-Edged Sword: The Bible in Modern American Protestantism	3	(14)
The Blood of the Martyr: History, Hagiography, and the Consecration of the English Bible	17	(24)
Coronation of ``King Truth'': Bible Revision and the Late-Nineteenth-Century Imagination	41	(26)
Scripture for the Ecumenical Church: Liberal Protestants and the Making of the RSV Bible	67	(26)
The Great RSV Controversy: Bible-Burning, Red-Hunting, and the Strange Specter of Unholy Scripture	93	(28)
The Virgin Text: Evangelicals and Liberals in the Quest for an Undefield Book	121	(36)
Epilogue
Virginity Lost, Virginity Regained?
Translation and Scripturalism Since 1965	145	(12)
Notes	157	(46)
Bibliography	203	(18)
Index	221