©2001, Simon & Schuster, 379 pp. incl. appendices and index, in hardback

Too often I have forgotten the sacrifices made, and the dangers endured, by others so that people like me can hold an English Bible translation in their hand. Bobrick’s account gave me a greater appreciation for the translators and of God’s providence in the people and path that were involved in the translation process.

The Bible had been translated into Latin years earlier. Although the English church had been recognized as early as 314 A. D. the scriptures remained in a language foreign to most of its hearers.

By the fourteenth century the Roman Catholic Church was in increasingly troubled waters. Civil authorities were wanting some revenues that had been exclusively the Church’s domain. The Church faced much internal corruption. Into such a time John Wycliffe was born. The Oxford graduate and professor soon found himself in opposition to the pope on a number of issues. One of these issues was Wycliffe’s passion to translate the scriptures into the language of the English common man. He believed that since Christ spoke in the language of the people of His day that the people in any location needed to have God’s word in their own language. He and his subordinates concentrated on translating the Bible into English. Although he died in 1384 the hatred toward him was so great that his bones were exhumed in 1428, burned, and his ashes then tossed into a nearby river.

Wycliffe’s work was continued by men God raised up in later years. The book provides a fascinating account of God’s work in gifted linguists, noted royalty, and a great invention used to spread the English translation throughout England and beyond.

The printing press was invented around 1450. This was almost 50 years prior to the birth of the gifted William Tyndale. In the midst of the changing landscape resulting from the Renaissance and also ideas shared on newly printed pages, God’s word was translated anew, printed in large numbers and disseminated widely. King Henry VIII feared Tyndale’s translation and its effect on the civil order in the realm. Yet this same king approved an English translation that was largely based on Tyndale’s work.

The author continues to trace the advance of, as well as the assault on, the availability of the Bible through subsequent royal reigns after King Henry VIII. One of the most interesting sections of this work was the biographical information the author provides for the translators of the King James Bible. I was amazed at the talent assembled on the Committee and the labor involved in bringing this translation into existence.

Throughout this volume, Bobrick provides many insights into how this different translation influenced the language of that day and even of ours. He also compares some translated verses with their counterparts in earlier or subsequent translations. This allows the reader to be in a sense “on the scene” and better understand the progress of the translation work as well as why particular choices of phraseology or words were made.

In the last chapter the author focuses on some of the effects the Bible had in opening up man’s thinking not only in regard to salvation but also to living in a civil realm. Appendices include a chronology of the translation process, comparative translations of chosen texts and a list of the translators that were in the various groups of linguists who were assigned to translate sections of the Bible for King James.

The author evidences much research in this work and often brings in bits of history that make reading about the developments of this era even more interesting. I recommend this book to all who want a better grasp of the evolution of Bible translations in the English language. God’s overruling hand of providence can be clearly seen in the people and times that this account encompasses.

Review ©2009 Byron Snapp, Hampton, Virginia