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Authorized: The Use & Misuse of the King James Bible
The King James Version (KJV) has shaped the church, our worship, and our mother tongue for over 400 years. But what should we do with it today?
The KJV beautifully rendered the Scriptures into the language of turn-of-the-17th-century England. Even today, the King James version is the most widely read Bible in the United States. The rich cadence of its Elizabethan English is recognized even by non-Christians. But English has changed a great deal over the last 400 years and in subtle ways that very few modern readers or listeners will recognize. In Authorized, Mark L. Ward, Jr. shows what people who exclusively pursue the KJV are missing as they read God's word.
In their introduction to the King James Bible, the translators tell us that Christians must "hear Christ speaking unto them in their mother tongue." In Authorized, Mark Ward builds a case for the KJV translators' view that English Bible translations should be readable by what they called "the very vulgar" and what we would call "the man on the street".
The KJV beautifully rendered the Scriptures into the language of turn-of-the-17th-century England. Even today, the King James version is the most widely read Bible in the United States. The rich cadence of its Elizabethan English is recognized even by non-Christians. But English has changed a great deal over the last 400 years and in subtle ways that very few modern readers or listeners will recognize. In Authorized, Mark L. Ward, Jr. shows what people who exclusively pursue the KJV are missing as they read God's word.
In their introduction to the King James Bible, the translators tell us that Christians must "hear Christ speaking unto them in their mother tongue." In Authorized, Mark Ward builds a case for the KJV translators' view that English Bible translations should be readable by what they called "the very vulgar" and what we would call "the man on the street".
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Published November 19, 2019
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About the author
Mark L. Ward Jr.
7 books458 followersMark Ward (PhD, Bob Jones University) is a video Bible teacher at Ward on Words who also teaches on RightNow Media and in assorted schools. He has written hundreds of Bible-nerdy articles for various publications; he is also the author of multiple books and textbooks including Basics for a Biblical Worldview (BJU Press, 2021), and Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible (Lexham Press, 2018). His next books are Study to Shew Thyself Approved: How to Read the KJV When You Don’t Live in the 1600s and The Parallel King James New Testament, both forthcoming from Lexham Press.
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April 29, 2025
This was a really fun and informative book. I grew up on the KJV, most frequently use the ESV, and also love to read the CSB. The author does an excellent job in building up the KJV’s lasting legacy and reliability while simultaneously critiquing its broader readability and usefulness to modern English audiences. I particularly enjoyed the ‘false friends’ concept - this is a problem which I had never really considered while reading Elizabethan English (be it the KJV or Shakespeare).
Displaying 1 of 1 review