The Book of God: How We Got the Bible, by Ben Avery & Javier Saltares (Kingstone Comics, 2012), pp. Ages 8+ A graphic novel on the production and preservation of the Bible? Brilliant! I had no previous awareness of KingstoneComics until I happened to see this book in Sam’s. I was intrigued by the idea …
Writing in 1937, in a book subtitled, A Study of Some Pressing Tasks and Problems of Present-Day Protestantism, William Adams Brown listed as one of the key problems this: “The fact remains that great numbers of our children are growing up practically pagan with not even a bowing acquaintance with that greatest of all our …
The Apostle Peter tells us that in Paul’s letters “there are some things … that are hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16). We are not surprised then to find passages which require work to understand. In these cases it becomes particularly clear whether one approaches the Scripture expecting it to conform to one’s own understanding …
Continue reading ‘C. H. Dodd on Paul’s Poor Writing & Defective Imagination’ »
In my last post I mentioned Andrew Blackwood’s book, The Fine Art of Public Worship. He has a good chapter on the public reading of Scripture, a historic part of Christian worship rooted in Scripture which is sorely neglected today. Much needs to be said on this aspect of worship, but here I will simply …
Continue reading ‘Andrew Blackwood on the Public Reading of Scripture’ »
“Hearken, I entreat you, all ye that are careful for this life, and procure books that will be medicines for the soul. If ye will not any other, yet get you at least the New Testament, the Apostolic Epistles, the acts, the Gospels, for your constant teachers. If grief befall thee, dive into them as …
Continue reading ‘Chrysostom on the Value of Scripture Reading’ »
One wonderful development with the upcoming King James Bible Festival at Union University is that a significant portion of the Green Collection will be on display. This will be the first time this amazing collection has visited the Southeast. Listed below are some of the items which will be on display during our festival with …
Continue reading ‘Bible Exhibit at KJV Festival, Sept. 15-17’ »
Robert Alter, in his fascinating book, Pen of Iron: American Prose and the King James Bible, makes this observation about the difference seen in American culture from the 300th anniversary of the KJV (1911) to today. “As I assemble these reflections on the presence of the King James Version in American writing, the fourth centennial …
Continue reading ‘KJV Anniversary & the Waning Influence of the Bible in American Culture’ »
Prefaces and Acknowledgments are often some of the most intriguing parts of academic books. Often you get a glimpse into the heart of a person, and quite often you see who or what has motivated them. David Norton, one of the foremost authorities on the King James Bible, has a new book titled, The King …
“…possession of the scripture in English was prima facie grounds for suspicion of heresy, and a heresy trial could result in imprisonment, excommunication and even death by burning. Nevertheless, some two hundred and fifty manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible, or parts of it, survive, considerably more than of any other text in Middle English” (Mary …
Here is another excerpt from Adam Nicolson’s, God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible. Here Nicolson is describing the widespread attentiveness to Scripture and the in depth, intense preaching of the day. Something to aspire to: “…week after week, preachers would occupy their pulpits analysing texts, pursuing moral and theological arguments, exercising the …