Tiny church finds original King James Bible

Not sure where to put this, but it is cool as hell. Tiny church finds original King James Bible – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

The ornate old Bible that had been sitting in plain view on a table near the last row of pews for longer than anyone could remember is an original King James Bible - one of perhaps 200 surviving 400-year-old original editions of arguably the most important book ever printed in English.

In fact, the Bible at St. Laurence Church in Hilmarton, England, was sitting right under a hand-lettered sign saying it was an original.

The sign said it had been found in "the parish chest" in 1857, that the cover had been added, and that it was the second of the two impressions published in 1611 - the year of first publication.

Click to expand...

Link contains pictures and a video. It really is remarkably cool, a 400 year old bible, from the very first year the King James Version was printed, sitting out in the open for any one to see.

I hope they ensured it and have decide it to secure it when no one is present in a vault.

I don't need to be religious to fully appreciate this finding - absolutely awesome. I'm such a book nutt. If I was rich I'd hoard them.

Just an FYI.

Chappy said:

Just an FYI.

“The Anglican Church’s King James Bible took decades to overcome the more popular Protestant Church’s Geneva Bible. One of the greatest ironies of history, is that many Protestant Christian churches today embrace the King James Bible exclusively as the “only” legitimate English language translation… yet it is not even a Protestant translation! It was printed to compete with the Protestant Geneva Bible, by authorities who throughout most of history were hostile to Protestants… and killed them. While many Protestants are quick to assign the full blame of persecution to the Roman Catholic Church, it should be noted that even after England broke from Roman Catholicism in the 1500’s, the Church of England (The Anglican Church) continued to persecute Protestants throughout the 1600’s.” — John L. Jeffcoat III, WWW.GREATSITE.COM​

Click to expand...

There was a point to that?

Wow, all that history just sitting right there. Just fascinating.

Redress said:

There was a point to that?

Click to expand...

Just some religious history dating back to the Protestant Reformation.

The irony is that the church - at the time of printing this book - was hostile ot the Protestants and now this book, being Protestant in origin, was once a loathed Holy Book. Many versions of Bibles were confiscated, burned - and their owners killed for possession of them.

Being a protestant at that time was tempting fate. It's amazing that one survived.

This book was crafted in 1611 - which places it a full 30 years before the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia and 60 years after Luther scribed his 95-Thesis. this was long after the death of Henry VIII - which is why the Protestant Church was, once again, a target.

Redress said:

There was a point to that?

Click to expand...

My contribution was labeled as an FYI. So the point was informational. Context is everything when it comes to history. And, to elaborate, King James' Bible was a political document intended to reinforce the king's absolute authority over the English church. It is truly ironic that today American Protestant denominations fail to recognize that the King James' Bible was intended as a mechanism for oppressing the English Protestants who had their own English-language Bible at the time, indeed their's was not subtlety twisted to the needs of the English tyranny.

Aunt Spiker said:

… this was long after the death of Henry VIII - which is why the Protestant Church was, once again, a target.

Click to expand...

Just to clarify, Henry's church was the Anglican church not the Protestant. The Anglican church is a Catholic church; e.g., it celebrates the Catholic Eucharist and laying on of hands. I was raised and confirmed an Episcopalian; i.e., the American Anglican church.

You can distinguish the Anglicans from the Protestants because it was the latter group who eventually beheaded Charles I, James' son and successor. You may have heard of Oliver Cromwell and the Roundheads if not the First English Civil War.

Chappy said:

Just to clarify, Henry's church was the Anglican church not the Protestant. The Anglican church is a Catholic church; e.g., it celebrates the Catholic Eucharist and laying on of hands. I was raised and confirmed an Episcopalian; i.e., the American Anglican church.

You can distinguish the Anglicans from the Protestants because it was the latter group who eventually beheaded Charles I, James' son and successor. You may have heard of Oliver Cromwell and the Roundheads if not the First English Civil War.

Click to expand...

Absolutely!

History is pretty crazy. I use to think "I'd love to live back then, the food would be great!" - but not anymore. No thanks too many nutters in power.