Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, and Prince Charles at theKing James Bible celebration
The queen’s husband Prince Philip and son Prince Charles joined her along with 2,000 worshipers in honoring the King James Bible.
It’s the “DNA of the English language,” according to Melvyn Bragg, broadcaster, member of the House of Lords, and author of The Book of Books: The Radical Impact of the King James Bible 1611-2011. This is because it’s the most influential book ever published in English. It’s impact on language, culture, and society is unsurpassed.
For example, Bragg disputes secularists who claim democracy came from classical Greece. Instead he credits it to the King James Bible. He says,
“Greek democracy was very limited. It included a small proportion of men, no women, no slaves, no foreigners. The idea of it being open to all with an equal voice coincided with the introduction of the KJB, and it was in that Bible that the ideas found their feet and were spread.”
Early editions of the King James Bible were presented at the altar and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams delivered a sermon rendering tribute to the extraordinary translation.
Official recognition and celebration of the anniversary is significant in a country which has become almost totally secular after having been the seedbed of Christian missions to the world for centuries.
Soli Deo Gloria.
This is the fifth installment in the Story of the King James Bible series celebrating its 400th Anniversary.
Read the prequels:
1. King James Bible – The King with videos
2. King James Bible – Impact
3. King James Bible – Influence
4. King James Bible – John Wycliffe
Read the sequels:
6. King James Bible – William Tyndale
7. King James Bible – Bible Wars
8. King James Bible – King & Bible
©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith” (Jude 1:3)
Tuesday November 29, 2011 A.D.
Read my November 2011 newspaper column:
Marco Polo’s Dragons.
The sum of Thy word is truth, and every one of Thy righteous ordinances is everlasting. (Psalms 119:160)
