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The History of our Bible
Today anyone can buy a Bible and enjoy reading it. However, only a few hundred years ago brave men were being persecuted for their attempt to translate the Bible into everyday language, and make it available to everyone.
This book tells the story of these men, their hopes and sufferings, and their success.
This book tells the story of these men, their hopes and sufferings, and their success.
52 pages, Hardcover
First published January 28, 1971
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 5, 2019
From Bede in 673AD through to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, Patricia Hunt tells the fascinating story of those who worked to translate the Bible into English, so as to make it available to everyone, and the events surrounding this action.
Perhaps the reason the book begins, not chronologically, with the story of Caedmon's (c AD 657–684) dream of seeing an angel surrounded by bright light who urged him to sing a song (and he could not sing prior to his visitation) is that this poet, the earliest English poet whose name is known, made the Bible come alive with his songs about the Creation, the Children of Israel and Jesus and the Early Church. He sang them in a language that the people who visited his home at Whitby Abbey could understand, no longer was God's word known only to those who knew Latin.
A few years before Caedmon, Bede had written his 'Ecclesiastical History of England' and also many commentaries on various parts of the Bible. In addition he enjoyed translating parts of the Bible into the common language because he wanted everyone to have at least the Lord's Prayer and the Apostle's Creed firmly in their minds in a language that they could understand. He worked right up to the end, having a scribe take down his spoken words just before his death; he was later given the title 'Venerable' in respect of what he had done.
Over a century after Bede's death, Judith, Queen of Ethelwulf, King of Wessex, taught the king's children to read and Alfred, the youngest, who later became a truly Christian King, promoted the Ten Commandments and worked hard at translating famous Latin manuscripts into Anglo-Saxon. He lived for the good of his people and put aside all personal aims and ambitions in order to devote himself wholly to the welfare of the people whom he ruled.
And there was John Wycliffe, a Yorkshireman born about 1320, who translated the complete Bible into English for the first time. He was Vicar of Lutterworth in Leicestershire from where he arranged for his translation to be copied many, many times and sent all around the country. Because there were not many people who could read, his carriers, known as poor preachers, poor priests or Lollards, gathered people around the church or the village cross and read aloud to them to teach the word of the Lord.
Then Joseph Gutenberg, of Mainz in Germany, began to experiment with movable type around 1450 and he produced the first printed book in Europe, a Latin Bible. Meanwhile, in England, William Caxton set up a printing press and the influence of printing books, including the Bible, spread among the people.
And William Tyndale, born about 1494, wanted all men and women to be able to read the Bible in English, but it was pointed out to him that to translate the Bible was forbidden by Parliament and the Pope. Tyndale's reaction was, 'I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spares my life, e'er many years I will make the boy who drives the plough to know more of the Bible than do many priests.' This comment, and his continued work of translation, eventually led to his fleeing the country and, in places such as Antwerp and Hamburg he found like-minded people to assist in his task. The printing of Tyndale's Bible began in 1525 but there followed a persecution of the man, his Bibles were burnt but he countered by printing them in smaller type to make them easier to smuggle into England.
Miles Coverdale continued Tyndale's work and he produced a new version of the Bible, dedicated to Henry VIII in 1535. Another version in 1537 was dedicated to the King, who made a royal proclamation that a Bible had to be placed in every church in the land. But it was King James I who
later thought that there were too many versions of the Bible available so in 1611 the 'Authorised Version' was produced under his authority; this became a most popular version for almost three centuries.
Patricia Hunt also discusses the German scholar Tischendorf's amazing discovery of the oldest Bible he had ever seen - it was a manuscript dating from the fourth century - in a monastery on Mount Sinai, the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Welsh lady Mary Jones and her involvement in the founding of the British and Foreign Bible Society, modern Bible versions and translations and how they are distributed around the world, an astonishing 100 million copies of the Scriptures being shipped abroad each year at the time of this book (1971).
It is an exhaustive study for such a relatively short book and, like most early Ladybird books, makes fascinating reading.
Perhaps the reason the book begins, not chronologically, with the story of Caedmon's (c AD 657–684) dream of seeing an angel surrounded by bright light who urged him to sing a song (and he could not sing prior to his visitation) is that this poet, the earliest English poet whose name is known, made the Bible come alive with his songs about the Creation, the Children of Israel and Jesus and the Early Church. He sang them in a language that the people who visited his home at Whitby Abbey could understand, no longer was God's word known only to those who knew Latin.
A few years before Caedmon, Bede had written his 'Ecclesiastical History of England' and also many commentaries on various parts of the Bible. In addition he enjoyed translating parts of the Bible into the common language because he wanted everyone to have at least the Lord's Prayer and the Apostle's Creed firmly in their minds in a language that they could understand. He worked right up to the end, having a scribe take down his spoken words just before his death; he was later given the title 'Venerable' in respect of what he had done.
Over a century after Bede's death, Judith, Queen of Ethelwulf, King of Wessex, taught the king's children to read and Alfred, the youngest, who later became a truly Christian King, promoted the Ten Commandments and worked hard at translating famous Latin manuscripts into Anglo-Saxon. He lived for the good of his people and put aside all personal aims and ambitions in order to devote himself wholly to the welfare of the people whom he ruled.
And there was John Wycliffe, a Yorkshireman born about 1320, who translated the complete Bible into English for the first time. He was Vicar of Lutterworth in Leicestershire from where he arranged for his translation to be copied many, many times and sent all around the country. Because there were not many people who could read, his carriers, known as poor preachers, poor priests or Lollards, gathered people around the church or the village cross and read aloud to them to teach the word of the Lord.
Then Joseph Gutenberg, of Mainz in Germany, began to experiment with movable type around 1450 and he produced the first printed book in Europe, a Latin Bible. Meanwhile, in England, William Caxton set up a printing press and the influence of printing books, including the Bible, spread among the people.
And William Tyndale, born about 1494, wanted all men and women to be able to read the Bible in English, but it was pointed out to him that to translate the Bible was forbidden by Parliament and the Pope. Tyndale's reaction was, 'I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spares my life, e'er many years I will make the boy who drives the plough to know more of the Bible than do many priests.' This comment, and his continued work of translation, eventually led to his fleeing the country and, in places such as Antwerp and Hamburg he found like-minded people to assist in his task. The printing of Tyndale's Bible began in 1525 but there followed a persecution of the man, his Bibles were burnt but he countered by printing them in smaller type to make them easier to smuggle into England.
Miles Coverdale continued Tyndale's work and he produced a new version of the Bible, dedicated to Henry VIII in 1535. Another version in 1537 was dedicated to the King, who made a royal proclamation that a Bible had to be placed in every church in the land. But it was King James I who
later thought that there were too many versions of the Bible available so in 1611 the 'Authorised Version' was produced under his authority; this became a most popular version for almost three centuries.
Patricia Hunt also discusses the German scholar Tischendorf's amazing discovery of the oldest Bible he had ever seen - it was a manuscript dating from the fourth century - in a monastery on Mount Sinai, the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Welsh lady Mary Jones and her involvement in the founding of the British and Foreign Bible Society, modern Bible versions and translations and how they are distributed around the world, an astonishing 100 million copies of the Scriptures being shipped abroad each year at the time of this book (1971).
It is an exhaustive study for such a relatively short book and, like most early Ladybird books, makes fascinating reading.
May 2, 2021
A comprehensive account of the history of the English Bible, going from the time of Caedmon the monk some 1300 years ago to the present day. Lots of discussion about early printing and persecution by the authorities alongside the growth and spread of the Bible across the world in more recent times. Hunt presents a wealth of information in an accessible style with a full-page illustration for each tale.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews