Paul Miller on 18 Feb 2003  •  Link

[Translators to readers of the 1611 King James Bible.]
Truly wee neuer thought from the beginning, that we should neede to make a new Translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one,... but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones, one principall good one, not
iustly to be excepted against; that hath bene our indeauour, that our marke.

Brief history of the King James Bible
http://www.av1611.org/kjv/kjvhist…

James I (1603-25 AD)
http://www.britannia.com/history/…

"In the Beginning" is an excellent book by Alister McGrath that tells the story of the King James bible and how it changed a nation, a language, and a culture.

Jenny Doughty on 19 Feb 2003  •  Link

This link takes you to the page on the Gutenberg website where you can download the King James version of the Bible.

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/…

vincent on 8 Apr 2004  •  Link

More on Bible: Many of the colonists [mass] used the Geneva version, and there is a good chance that it was in circulation in London too, most Royalist would not touch it because of the idea of separating the king and state judicary. "Tis why James I insisted that it be redone to get rid of the thought that Royalty was not the Ideal situation.
http://www.reformed.org/documents…
http://www.reformedreader.org/gbn…

Terry F on 16 Nov 2006  •  Link

Power and Glory: Jacobean England and the Making of the King James Bible
by Adam Nicolson
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2003

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Glo…

AKA

God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible
Adam Nicolson
HarperCollins, 2003

http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Secret…

King James I assembled scholars and clergyman to create a new translation of the bible to settle conflicting church dogma between Catholics and Prosestants and unite England as a nation. [Between 1603 and 1611 the three panels of experts translated but 49% of the text anew, incorporating Cranmer's Psalter, etc.]

Australian Susan on 19 Nov 2006  •  Link

Cranmer's Psalter
Cramner, when faced with creating a vernacular Prayer Book (pub 1549) had no legally sanctioned translation of the Bible to use for Psalms. He used the version from Coverdale's Bible, which was in undercover circulation in England. He didn't translate them himself.

San Diego Sarah on 24 Oct 2024  •  Link

For 50 years before the Diary the Puritan emigration to New England had been inspired partly by the Bible.

Puritan colonists believed they were establishing God’s kingdom in the New Jerusalem, both metaphorically and literally. Sadly this idea was based on the Book of Revelations; not one of the Bibles' best understood or positive tracts.

Revelation 21 describes the heavenly New Jerusalem with a massive shining wall, “clear as crystal,” with pearls for gates.

Revelation also describes the end of the world, when the wicked are punished and the good rewarded. It tells the story of God’s enemies, who worship the evil Beast of the Sea, bear his mark on their body, and threaten God’s people. Because of their wickedness, they suffer diseases, catastrophes and war until they are finally destroyed.

But God’s followers enter through those pearly gates in the walls that surround the New Jerusalem, a holy city that comes down from heaven. God’s chosen enter, and live in the shining city for eternity. Consequently efforts were made by early migrants to convert the indigenous Americans and the African slaves, until equality threatened the white supremacy.

In the 1980s President Reagan likened the USA to the New Jerusalem by describing it as a “shining city … built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace,” but with city walls and doors.
He was quoting Puritan Gov. John Winthrop, a founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, whose use of the “city on a hill” phrase quotes the Sermon on the Mount.
But Reagan’s description more closely matches that of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21. Like God’s heavenly city, Reagan’s USA also has strong foundations, walls and gates, and people from every nation bringing in tribute.

If people imagine the USA as God’s city, then it’s easy to imagine enemies invading that city. This is how unwanted migrants have been depicted throughout its history: as enemies of God.

All unwanted migrant groups have been accused of being “filthy” and diseased, like the enemies of God in Revelation, targeted as unhealthy and carrying illness.

During COVID-19 (an event considered apocalyptic by some) xenophobic fear focused on Asian Americans and the migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

This constellation of labels from Revelation – plague-bearing, bestial, invading, sexually corrupt, murderous – has been recycled throughout the 400 year history of the USA.

San Diego Sarah on 24 Oct 2024  •  Link

CONCLUSION:

The City of God metaphor of a walled-in city is increasingly outdated in a digitally-connected, global world. As migration rises around the world because of climate change and conflicts, these metaphors and the attitudes they drive are not just obsolete, but they exacerbate crisis.

The Book of Revelation is hardly the way to describe a nation founded on democratic ideals, foremost of which is the separation of church and state -- a metaphor first used by Roger Williams, founder of Rhode Island.
He opined that an authentic Christian church would be possible only if there was “a wall or hedge of separation” between the “wilderness of the world” and “the garden of the church.” Williams believed that any government involvement in the church would corrupt the church.

Instead, we can follow Gov. Winthrop's example and use the more understood Sermon on the Mount.
Or we can use Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” The Golden Rule has echoes in nearly all other religions.

Inspired by this article, which has examples of many Presidents' use of anti-migration speech inspired by the Puritans' use of Revelations:
https://theconversation.com/ameri…