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| The Bible (Landmarks of World Literature) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Stephen Prickett, Robert Barnes
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Category: Book
Buy Used: $120.00
Used (4) from $120.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 2962573
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 153
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0521365694
Dewey Decimal Number: 220.61
EAN: 9780521365697
ASIN: 0521365694
Publication Date: August 30, 1991
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: ex library stamps etc hard cover very light shelf wear nice book
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Product Description
This study focuses on the Bible as a landmark of literature, showing both how it has influenced writers through the ages and how it in turn has been influenced by contemporary literature. It describes what is known about the historical context of the documents, the changes of interpretation they have undergone over the centuries, and the problems and influence of various translations, ranging from Tyndale to the Good News Bible.
Book Description
This study focuses on the Bible as a landmark of literature, showing both how it has influenced writers through the ages and how it in turn has been influenced by contemporary literature.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 23 more reviews...
 Pluses & Minuses May 18, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As best as I can determine, this is the only paperback edition of the King James Version with all 80 books included on the market. As such, as you're after one this will have to be it and I've bought more than one myself.
Unfortunately, the notes in the back are not Christian (they contain a lot of so-called 'higher criticism') and perhaps this explains why the word 'Holy' is not included on the cover also. The type in the part before Genesis is a little small in parts but most people don't buy this kind of edition for the sake of those words anyway.
Great Content ! - Poor Construction )-: May 13, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was glad to find a 1611 KJV with apocrypha. The text is easy to read and is same English used in he revised authorized KJV we currently have today. What else can I say about the content, other than it is - God's Holy Word!
I have owned my copy for 4 years, and I use it regularly. The first problem I had was the size of the book. It is so thick, it is almost cube-like in appearance. The thickness makes the book cumbersome to handle. Second, the paperback binding is weak. The entire Gospel of Luke has liberated from the binding. I have glued it back several times. Each time a few more pages come loose.
 A Good Source of English Bible History April 5, 2008
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
This reviewer got this surprisingly low priced edition of the King James Bible (KJV) because of historical interest and to win a friendly wager. A young lady who is Protestant and this reviewer discussed the KJV, and we agreed that based on the Epistle Dedacatory,dedicated to King James I of England (1603-1625), that the KJV was an anti-Catholic Bible. However, she disagreed that the original KJV had the Aprocrypha Books which are in all Catholic bibles but not in most Protestant bibles. So, the friendly wager was made, and this reviewer won this friendly wager.
The editors' Introduction is of historical interest. There are good comments on the different arrangement of the Hebrew Bible (for Christians the Old Testament) and the Christian Old Testament. In the earliest editions of the Christian Bible,the Apocrypha Books (Judith, Tobit or Tobias, Baruch, Ecclesiasticus,not to be confused with Ecclesiastes, Wisdom, and I Maccabees and II Maccabees)were part of the Christian Bible for over a thousand years. Readers should note that for political and religious reasons, this rearrangement was made by 400 AD.
Another point the editors made in the introduction was that the KJV and other editions of the Bible were based on what might be called layers of translations. Much of the Hebrew Bible was originally written in Hebrew and Aramaic. The editors speculate that Hebrew, the oldest known biblical language, may have been introduced to the Ancient Hebrews from other Mesopotamian peoples. The first known translation of the Hebrew Bible or most of it was made between c. 287-247 BC whereby the Hebrew was translated into Greek. This translation was known as the Septuagint and exposed the Hebrew Bible to larger readership. Many of the Ancient scholars in Western Civilization knew Greek but not Hebrew.
As mentioned above, St. Jerome (346-420 AD) translated the Latin Vulgate Bible which, again, was the Christian Bible in Western Europe. The editors noted that as early as St. Jerome, the Christian Bible had already undergone layers of translations. The Catholic Church authorities, contrary to popular opinion, did not discourage translations of the Bible into vernacular languages as long as they were based on the Vulgate Bible. For example St. Bede (680-735)was working on an Anglo-Saxon translation when he died. In other words the Bible had undergone layers of translations in the early history of Christianity.
By the time of the Reformation (c. 1517-1650), there were several Protestant translations most of which had anti-Cathoic overtones. Some of these omitted the Aprocrypha, but the earliest KJV did not. The translators worked under severe restrictions impose by James I which can be found on pages xxvi-xxvii of the introduction. For example, James I stated that he wanted to word ecclesia to be translated as church(Church of England) and not congregation as the Puritans, whom James I did not like, would have it.
The introduction also shows the serious divisions among the Protestants themselves. Many of the "reformers" hated each other and their followers as much if not more than the Catholics. For example, the German Protesants who met with their Catholic counterparts at Diet of Speyer in 1529 had to be silenced due to their loud internal disputes. When the Catholic authorities called the Council(s) of Trent (1545-1663), their Protestant guests had to again be silenced. This was not so much due to Protestant disputes with Catholicism but due more so to their rancorous internal disputes. Such divisions can be seen in the Epistle Dedicatory and James I's comments on other Protestant bibles. For example the editors cite James I's remarks that the Geneva Bible, a Protestant Bible, was the worst Bible he had ever seen.
The original translators' notes are worth reading. These men had to be as accurate as they could with translating the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek while adhering to James I's guidelines which were very restrictive. The notes not only present the difficulties faced by the translators, but they are are of historical interest.
Readers should also note that some of the early KJVs had embarrassing errors. One edition of the KJV was known as the Murderers' Bible because typesetters omitted the word "not" in the Sixth Commandment about not killing (the Seventh Commandment for Catholics). Another edition was known as the Wicked Bible because typesetters forgot the word "not" in the Seventh Commandment (Eighth Commandment in the Catholic Bible) about not committing adultry. One early edition of the KJV was know as the Vinegar Bible because Christ's parable about going into the vineyard was set in type as vinegar. Yet, the KJV survived these careless errors as well as other which can be found on pages 141-143 in Father Graham's book titled WHERE WE GOT THE BIBLE.
Readers may ask why this reviewer gave this Bible a high rating. The KJV is an expression of great English Literature. The translators knew that the English language was undergoing rapid changes in the 17th. century, and they used what some call Archic English to give the KJV a permanent place in biblical literature. The verses are cadenced, and the use of the Archaic English is a pleasure to read. Younger readers may think this reviewer is old fashioned, and they may be right. However, this reviewer likes the reading of the KJV.
This reviewer also wants to correct a historical error re English translations of the Bible. Some men have argued that the Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible, an English Catholic translation, was written in response and as a reaction to the KJV. Such an assumption does not stand historical scrutiny. The Catholic Douay Rheims Bible was finished in 1609, and the KJV was finished two years later.
This reviewer highly recommends the Oxford Classics edition of the KJV. This book has interesting historical notes and a solid bibliography to attract interested readers. As a couple of reviewers stated the Oxford Classics edition of the KJV is very reasonably priced, and even though this edition is paperback, it is well bound and made to last. Readers would do well to get this book.
A reasonably good choice for one's library February 4, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a copy of the KJV complete with the Apocrypha texts that are often lacking in copies of the KJV today. For that reason, along with the nice type setting and layout, this is a nice copy of the King James and I am certainly pleased to own it, and I've recommended this edition, with caution, to others. The editorial notes, while of some efficacy express a perspective that is too concerned with "historical" aspects of the Bible. The Bible is not a science text, nor an historical document. Scholarship running in the vein of history (or science for that matter) is only going to be of limited value. The use of "BCE", and "CE" is simply an academic barbarism that people who actually believe they live in the year of our Lord will rightly find distasteful. Such a dating system has little place in commentaries accompanying the text of the venerable translation of the very work that gives rise to the use of "BC" and "AD". However, one should read the KJV for other reasons than the affected commentary inserted around the text, and this edition otherwise presents the KJV very nicely.
The Bible: Authorized King James Version with Apocrypha December 31, 2007
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is the version used by Catholics and is missing Psalm 151, 3 and 4 Maccabees. It does not contain the entire Apocrypha!
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