The King James Bible after Four Hundred Years
Literary, Linguistic, and Cultural Influences

Leading scholars chart the complex, multifaceted cultural impact of the King James Bible over its 400 years.

Hannibal Hamlin (Edited by), Norman W. Jones (Edited by)

9781107654136, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 July 2013

378 pages, 8 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.51 kg

'[A] rewarding collection of essays … Readers can expect to make countless gains in their knowledge and understanding of the KJB.' Around the Globe

2011 marked the 400th anniversary of the King James version of the Bible. No other book has been as vital to the development of English writing or indeed to the English language itself. This major collection of essays is the most complete one-volume exploration of the King James Bible and its influence to date. The chapters are written by leading scholars from a range of disciplines, who examine the creation of the King James Bible as a work of translation and as a linguistic and literary accomplishment. They consider how it differed from the Bible versions which preceded it, and assess its broad cultural impact and precise literary influence over the centuries of writing which followed, in English and American literature, until today. The story will fascinate readers who approach the King James Bible from the perspectives of literary, linguistic, religious or cultural history.

Introduction: the King James Bible and its reception history Hannibal Hamlin and Norman W. Jones
Part I. The Language of the King James Bible: 1. Language within language: King James' steamroller Stephen Prickett
2. The glories and the glitches of the King James Bible: Ecclesiastes as test-case Robert Alter
Part II. The History of the King James Bible: 3. The materiality of English printed Bibles from the Tyndale New Testament to the King James Bible John N. King and Aaron T. Pratt
4. Antwerp Bible translations in the King James Bible Gergely Juhász
5. Philip Doddridge's New Testament: The Family Expositor (1739–56) Isabel Rivers
6. Postcolonial notes on the King James Bible R. S. Sugirtharajah
7. From monarchy to democracy: the dethroning of the King James Bible in the United States Paul C. Gutjahr
Part III. Literature and the King James Bible: 8. Milton, anxiety, and the King James Bible Jason P. Rosenblatt
9. Bunyan's biblical progresses Hannibal Hamlin
10. Romantic transformations of the King James Bible: Wordsworth, Shelley, Blake Adam Potkay
11. Ruskin and his contemporaries reading the King James Bible Michael Wheeler
12. To the Lighthouse and biblical language James Wood
13. The King James Bible as ghost in Absalom, Absalom! and Beloved Norman W. Jones
14. The King James Bible and African American literature Katherine Clay Bassard
15. Jean Rhys, Elizabeth Smart, and the 'gifts' of the King James Bible Heather Walton
Chronology of major English Bible translations to 1957
Chronology of English Bible translations since 1957
King James Bible bibliographies: I. The King James Bible: its background, history, and reception
II. The literary-cultural influence of the King James Bible.

Subject Areas: Church history [HRCC2], History of religion [HRAX], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Literature: history & criticism [DS]