God’s Secretaries (Magill’s Literary Annual 2004)
At a glance:
- Author: Adam Nicolson
- Type of Work: History, literary criticism, literary history, and religion
- Time of Work: 1603-1611
- Setting: England, especially London, Oxford, and Cambridge
- Principal Characters: James I, Richard Bancroft, Robert Cecil, Lancelot Andrewes, George Abbot, John Boys, John Reynolds, Sir Henry Savile, Miles Smith, Samuel Ward, Henry Barrow
- Subjects: Literature, England or English people, Seventeenth century, Kings, queens, or royalty, London, Bible, biblical imagery, or biblical symbolism, Puritans or Puritanism, Church or churches, Protestantism or Protestant churches, Reformation, Episcopal church, Philology or philologists
“I was a Translator.” So wrote Samuel Ward in 1614 in listing his qualifications for an appointment to a position in the Church of England. He did not elaborate, and he did not have to. He meant that he had worked on the King James Bible, helping to produce the new translation of the most significant book in seventeenth century England, a translation that turned out to be one of the most influential works ever produced in English.
About fifty translators worked on the King James Bible between 1604 and 1611, and the story of how they produced their translation is told in this...
[The entire page is 1853 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
