Harper's on the KJV
The King James Bible's 400th birthday is everywhere. The current issue of the Century features Jon Sweeney's review of three books on the subject; earlier this year, Timothy Larsen wrote lovingly of the Bible of his childhood.
The cover story in last month's Harper's (subscription required) has a provocative premise: the editors asked seven literary writers to "select a verse or short passage from the [King James] translation and respond to it, with no restrictions on the form of this response." Like so many other articles on the KJV, the forum's intro text focuses on the translation's language:
Reading the King James Bible aloud is no longer the cornerstone of an American education, even for the religiously devout; none of the major Christian denominations use the King James Version as their primary scripture, opting instead for more recent, "accessible" translations. Yet the language of the King James Bible remains our language.
