3 ms·
Well, yes and no. We definitely have better manuscripts now, much better textual apparatus to organize and assess their variations, and much better research int
by smithkl42 11y ago
Well, yes and no. We definitely have better manuscripts now, much better textual apparatus to organize and assess their variations, and much better research into what the Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic words would likely have meant to their original hearers. It also suffers from some horrible printing decisions: why folks continue to print the KJV with proper names in italics, and each verse as a separate paragraph is beyond me. But the KJV was a ground-breaking translation at the time: kind of like ALGOL or something like that. Nobody uses it anymore, but its ideas were what everybody has built on. And unlike nearly any modern translation, its English style means that it has rightly become a literary classic on its own rights. Yeah, it's not the Bible I read. But for certain uses (memorization, for instance, where rhythm and style is more important than every word coming across as familiar), it can hardly be beat.
- wyclif 11y agoI agree with everything you say here, especially about the manuscripts, except that it isn't true that "nobody uses it anymore." AFAICT, it's still the most popular English Bible by a wide margin. The KJV isn't perfect, and we do have better manuscripts now, but it's still a very popular Bible translation worldwide.
- smithkl42 11y agoI know that there are various random churches and/or pastors who continue to advocate the use of the KJV, usually because of some (so far as I can tell) imaginary belief in the superiority of the Textus Receptus. But I would have thought that they were very much in the minority these days. Still, you seem to have a point about its popularity. According to this list, it's #2 (behind the NIV) in sales. That's a lot higher than I would have expected, given how rarely I see it used or quoted in my circles. http://thomrainer.com/2014/12/top-ten-bible-translations-2014/ http://thomrainer.com/2014/12/top-ten-bible-translations-201...
- RanPaulHubbard 11y agoFOR THIS EXACT REASON, I CHOOSE THE DIANETICS TRANSLATION OVER ANY OTHER.