After I decided to follow Jesus my next decision was to go get a King James Bible. This was back in the sixties when there were only a few alternatives to the KJV available.
Today we live in a different world. There’s not only a great multitude of translations and paraphrases available, but there’s an additional multitude of packaging options. It appears there’s a Bible for almost every conceivable situation.
Yet the KJV remains a popular standard and this year there is a celebration of its 400th anniversary.
That means new books and articles about the KJV that tell us that we have much to appreciate about its impact on our culture. As an editorial in the New York Times stated, “It’s barely possible to overstate the significance of this Bible.”
Even atheists have praise for the KJV (according to the Washington Times). The entire KJV Bible will be recited chapter by chapter between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday at the Globe Theater in London.
As far as I know, there are no local celebrations planned but if we hear of any, we will announce it here. There is, however, a display of pre-KJV religious texts currently underway at the Chazen Museum of Art on the UW-Madison campus. It’s titled, “Hidden Treasures: Illuminated Manuscripts from Midwestern Collections.”
Before the invention of the printing press around 1450, and even for awhile afterwards, books were artfully written and painted by hand. Religious texts were among the most common: Bibles, psalters, devotionals, liturgies, etc. Beautiful examples of these texts are on display in this special exhibition through February 27th.
If you go to the Chazen for this exhibition, or for any other reason, be sure to browse the permanent collection on display. The Chazen has an incredible variety of beautiful religious art that belies Madison’s reputation as a thoroughly secular city and university.