Wednesday, October 31, 2007

This Day in Reformation History

Everyone knows about the bulletin board message.
Few recall the unfundated mandate.
Frankly, the latter had more immediate, profound impact on the Reformation.

That is to say, on September 3, 1538, the King of England ordered the clergy of the church of England to provide by October 31, 1538,

"One book of the whole Bible of the largest volume in English, and the same set up in some convenient place within the said church that ye have care of, whereas your parishioners may most commodiously resort to the same and read it."

Luther posted in Latin, but the King in English: Luther against Indulgences, but the King against all anti-Christian religions.

Praise God for his blessings showered both on German and England in the 16th century!

-Turretinfan

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like that Sept 3 order!!
Martin Luther--long may he be remembered with love and admiration! (and imitation)
--Godith

Anonymous said...

What translation was it that the king's order related to? Matthew's Bible?

Turretinfan said...

Good Question: the order did not explicitly specify.

However the "largest volume" would have made the Matthew Bible the natural choice (the Coverdale Bible was the main alternative at the time, but it was in the smaller "quarto" size).

Tyndale Bibles could - I suppose - have been substituted, but most had already been destroyed, and the translator martyred (apparently by strangulation, followed by a public burning of his corpse at a stake) by the Roman Catholics.

-Turretinfan

Anonymous said...

Since we are talking about Bibles, what's your view on the Geneva Bible and it's accuracy in the mix of time and chance during that period?

Turretinfan said...

I like the Geneva Bible. It's very similar in most places to the KJV. Still, as to translation quality, I think the KJV was an improvement, even if only a minor improvement.

The Geneva Bible is typically the translation that one sees quoted from in Shakespeare.

-Turretinfan