If It's Not King James...

I once saw a bumper sticker in Waco that read "If It's Not King James, It's Not the Bible." These days, that kind of staunch devotion to the King James Version (KJV) is rare. The New International Version and other translations have largely taken the KJV's place in American Christianity. But on the anniversary of the KJV's printing, which is traditionally thought to have happened four hundred years ago this week, on May 2, 1611, Christians and other admirers of the Bible should pause to reflect on the most important book ever published in English. Commemorations are taking place all over the English-speaking world, including one recently convened by my colleagues and I from Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion, featuring presentations by Mark Noll, Lamin Sanneh, Philip Jenkins, and others.