The Legacy of the King James Bible
CBN.com Editor's Note: Taken from The Legacy of the King James Bible by Leland Ryken, © 2010. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org. Used with permission.
The KJV's impact on Western Civilization
Claims that the King James Bible was the most important influence on English and American culture for over three centuries are accurate. This is partly camouflaged because discussions of the influence of the Bible on culture are couched in terms of the generic "Bible," without recourse to what Bible is in view. But between 1700 and 1975, any consideration of biblical influence on public life, politics, education, music, and art is actually a consideration of the King James Bible. (p. 114)
If we move back in American history, the icon of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia gives us a notable confirmation of the hold that the King James Bible has had on the national consciousness. The famed cracked bell contains the following inscription from
: "Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof." Every year two million visitors read the verse. (p. 105)The gate of Harvard University bears the inscription, "Open ye the gates that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter." This is
, straight from the KJV. Engraved in stone on the outside of Emerson Hall at Harvard University is : "What is man that thou art mindful of him?" In instances like these, the King James Bible is a leading means by which the Christian faith continues to assert its presence in institutions that began as Christian but have long since been secularized. But KJV inscriptions do not appear only at universities that were originally Christian. During my years at the University of Oregon, I could see an engraving of the following verse at the entrance to the library: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" ( ). (p. 107)The KJV in famous speeches
Abraham Lincoln's speeches show a continuous influence of the King James Bible by way of either stylistic effects or direct quotation. A biographer claims that Lincoln's "speeches and public documents were littered with biblical allusions."5 There is no better illustration than Lincoln's ten-sentence Gettysburg Address…The opening clause of the speech will suffice to illustrate how the King James Bible is present: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty . . . ." The formula threescore and fourscore occurs dozens of times in the KJV, with
coming closest to Lincoln's opening phrase: "The days of our years are threescore years and ten." Lincoln's vocabulary of conceived and brought forth come from Old Testament messianic prophecies and the nativity story in the Gospels. And to refer to national forbears as fathers is to use an Old Testament idiom. (p. 102)Speeches on the floor of the US Congress, for example, were until recently laced with King James formulas and allusions, and sometimes biblical references still occur. As recently as July 19, 2007, Senator Robert Byrd said in a speech from the floor of the Senate, "The Book of Proverbs in the Holy Bible, the King James Bible, tells us a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." (p. 104)
Some of Churchill's great speeches of World War II kept the King James Bible alive in his nation's active vocabulary. On Trinity Sunday, May 19, 1940, Churchill inspired his nation with a speech that ended with quotations from the KJV: "Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice: 'Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. . . .'" The main biblical text is the KJV Apocrypha (1 Maccabees 3:58, somewhat loosely quoted by Churchill), but other KJV passages also converge. The epithet "man of valour" is a common Old Testament formula (e.g.,
; 11:1; ). "Faithful servants" takes us to and 25:21. More generally, the vocabulary reminds us of the King James style. (p. 102)The most famous referencing of the King James Bible by an orator in modern times is Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech, delivered on August 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It is easy to surmise from the title by which the speech is known—"I Have a Dream"—that King intended an allusion to Moses on Mount Pisgah, viewing the Promised Land. Actually, King does not explicitly refer to either Moses or a promised land. (King did, however, reference Moses and the Promised Land in the speech he delivered the night before his assassination.) Nonetheless, the King James Bible lives on in this speech, partly in the elevated style and affective undertow of the speech, and partly in explicit allusions.
is present as King declaims, "We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." –5 asserts its presence with the statement, "I have a dream that every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together." (p. 104)Books/Music/Arts
The rootedness of Polish-born British novelist Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) in the Bible has produced a book-length study.28 This book shows that the biblical presence in Conrad's fiction consists primarily of direct quotations from the Bible and allusions to it. In the conclusion to the book, the author demonstrates that "the King James version . . . is incontestably the source" of Conrad's biblical references, and then he offers this final statement: "In the English Bible Conrad found a way to enter the traditions of English literature. . . . Without the English Bible, Conrad could not have been the writer we know." (p. 225)
William Golding (1911–1993) wrote a novel that has been a classic for generations of students enrolled in high school English classes. It is entitled Lord of the Flies, and tracing the biblical allusions and symbols in it is so customary in school courses that it is a virtual rite of passage. The title itself comes straight from the Bible, being a translation of the name Beelzebub—in the Old Testament a Philistine god and in the New Testament Satan, or "the prince of demons." When we turn from the title of the novel to the chapter titles, we find more biblical borrowings: "Fire on the Mountain" (multiple biblical passages) and "Beast from Water" (
). The story line of a fall from innocence in a paradisal setting comes from Genesis 3. Beyond these broad outlines, critics have found an ever-expanding network of biblical echoes and symbols. (p. 225)Like many twentieth-century authors, Toni Morrison (1931–) has been the subject of an entire book on the use of the Bible in her novels.30 And like other major novelists, Morrison has taken some of her novel titles from the Bible (Song of Solomon and Paradise). Fictional characters sometimes bear biblical names— Magdalene, Ruth, Pilate, and Hagar in Song of Solomon, for example. Mainly, though, Morrison evokes the Bible not to signal her compliance with its belief system but rather to create what literary critics call an intertext in which the important meaning resides in the interplay between the preexisting text—the Bible— and the new work of fiction. (p. 226)
As a postscript, I will note that even in really contemporary novels, when we might expect an author's allegiance to have gravitated from the KJV to a more recent translation, the King James Bible is still the most frequently used English Bible. By the time we reach page 37 of Marilynne Robinson's Gilead (2004), we read, "The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet" (
).32 Near the end of the novel we read, "The Lord make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace" ( –26). Similarly in Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible (1998) each of the seven "books" into which the novel is divided is preceded by a title page that bears an epigraph taken straight from the KJV, such as this one: "And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars" ( ). (p. 226)Even among modern choral composers who do not predominantly link their compositions to the English Bible, the King James Bible keeps showing up. We can see this partly in the titles of compositions, with the result that people perusing lists of choral music or programs of concerts will find familiar King James lines kept alive in their active vocabulary. Here is a list of random examples: "In the Beginning," by Aaron Copland (based on KJV
–2:7); "I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes," by John Rutter; "Sing Ye to the Lord," by Edward Bairstow; "Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge" and "O Clap Your Hands," by Ralph Vaughan Williams; "If Ye Love Me," by Thomas Tallis; "God So Loved the World," by John Stainer. (p. 110)British romanticist William Blake (1757–1827) was both a poet and artist. His lithographs on biblical subjects are among the most visible icons in college textbooks on literature and art. For a specimen of the whole, we can consider Blake's twenty- one engravings that illustrate scenes from the book of Job. Each engraving is accompanied by a text from the Bible, and it is obvious at once that Blake is quoting from the KJV.18 For example, the inscription for plate 14 is, "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (
). Every time the biblical prints of Blake are put before a college class, the King James Bible is there, too. (p. 196)Relevance today/future of KJV
We need to avoid losing sight of an obvious fact: if we consult the figures of Bible sales today, the KJV appears as either the second or third on the list. The publishers of most modern translations would love to be in the position of the KJV. Furthermore, a survey of Internet sites quickly reveals a far-flung subculture of churches, schools, and individuals whose loyalty to the KJV remains unabated. For thousands and probably millions of Bible readers, the King James Version has not suffered an eclipse. (p. 231)
Now that we know who among literary authors, musical composers, and visual artists used the KJV as their English Bible, we should use the KJV when we interact with their works. There is no excuse for perpetuating the naïve practice of speaking of "the Bible" in connection with the work of these artists, and then quoting from whatever translation we ourselves use. The scholarly enterprise deserves more precision than this. (p. 232)
We should not relegate the King James Bible to the status of a relic in the museum of the past. There are multiple ways in which it can continue to be a living presence in our lives. We can read it. We can choose as our primary English Bible a translation that perpetuates the translation philosophy and style of the KJV. We can use the King James Version when we discuss writers, composers, and artists whose work is rooted in the KJV. The choice is ours. The King James Bible is still sold and available nearly everywhere. (p. 232)
