Difference between revisions of "Geneva Bible"

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-[[Category:Bible]][[Category:Christianity]][[Category:European History]][[Image:Geneva_Bible.jpg|thumb|350px|right|1599 Geneva Bible original frontispiece]]
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-The '''Geneva Bible''' was the first full-length [[Bible]] to be published in the [[English]] language. Its original compilers and publishers produced 144 separate editions between 1560 and 1644 AD, beyond which time King [[Charles I]] and [[Archbishop of Canterbury|Archbishop]] [[William Laud]] forbade its printing in [[England]]. The [[Geneva]] Bible virtually disappeared until modern times. The Geneva Bible is now available in a hardcover edition published in 2006 by Tolle Lege Press.<ref name=Bible>Lillback, Peter A., DeMar, Gary D., Federer, William J., ''et al.'' ''1599 Geneva Bible: The Holy Scriptures Contained in the Old and New Testaments.'' White Hall, [[West Virginia|WV]], [[United States of America|USA]]: Tolle Lege Press, 2006. 1400 pp., cloth. ISBN 0975484699. Also available in black (ISBN 0975484613) and calfskin (ISBN 0975484621) leather-bound editions.</ref>
-== History ==
-=== Tyndale's New Testament ===
-The [[Roman Catholic Church]] had spread throughout the territory that was once part of the Western [[Roman Empire]]. Yet the Church reserved for its own clergy the right to own the written text of the [[Bible]]--and no European monarch permitted any of his subjects actually to possess a copy of the Bible printed in any language other than [[Latin]].<ref name=Foster>Foster, Marshall. "The History and Impact of the Geneva Bible." ''1599 Geneva Bible'', ''op. cit.'', pp. xxiii to xxvi.</ref>
-In 1526, [[William Tyndale]] began his first efforts to translate the Bible into [[English]]. For this defiance of the royal edicts then in force, the authorities pursued him. He fled to [[Germany]], where he met [[Martin Luther]], and from there to [[Belgium]]. There he produced a mechanically printed edition of the [[New Testament]], and his friends smuggled 6,000 copies of it into England. Authorities in Belgium hunted him, arrested him, and imprisoned him in Vilvoorde, and on March 6, 1536, he was executed.<ref name=Foster/>
-Tyndale's New Testament did not reach the common man in England. It did, however, influence the English clergy and might have been an impetus behind the Reformation in England.<ref name=Foster/> Significantly, [[Anne Boleyn]] was executed in the same year as was Tyndale--and subsequent to this, King [[Henry VIII]] began his sweeping purge of the monasteries in his realm.
-=== Bloody Mary ===
-In 1553, Queen [[Mary I]] acceded to the throne upon the death of her half-brother, [[Edward VI]]. This Catholic queen quickly earned the nickname "Bloody Mary" by her ruthless persecution of the English Reformers and her execution of 300 of them. Another 800 Reformers fled to the continent, where they gathered in [[Geneva]], [[Switzerland]], then known as [[John Calvin]]'s "Protestant Rome."<ref name=Calvin>Authors unknown. "[http://switzerland.isyours.com/E/guide/religion/christianism/john.calvin.html John Calvin (1509-1564)]" ''Switzerland Is Yours'', Micheloud and Cie, 2006. Retrieved November 2, 2007.</ref> There they set about creating an English-language version of the entire Bible, and one that would have no ties to any monarch, whether in England or elsewhere in Europe. Among the men involved in this project were [[William Whittingham]], [[Miles Coverdale]], [[Christopher Goodman]], [[Anthony Gilby]], [[John Knox]], and [[Thomas Sampson]].<ref name=Foster/>
-=== The First Edition ===
-The Geneva translators avoided the [[Latin]] Bible version, or [[Vulgate]], and sought access to the oldest and most authentic [[Hebrew]] and [[Greek]] manuscripts they could find. Their research benefited, ironically, from the Fall of the [[Byzantine Empire]] in 1453, an event that had forced many Christian clerics to flee the fallen city of [[Istanbul|Constantinople]] with their manuscripts in hand.
-In 1557, Whittingham produced a revised edition of Tyndale's original New Testament. Then in 1560 the reformers produced the first edition of the Geneva Bible. This they dedicated to Queen [[Elizabeth I]], who by then had succeeded to the throne after the death of her sister, "Bloody Mary." Under Elizabeth's patronage, the Geneva Bible became the Bible of choice not merely for clergy but also for laity.<ref name=Foster/>
-=== Later Editions ===
-From the beginning, the Geneva Bible was a study Bible, richly annotated and illustrated. The 1599 edition had the most extensive annotations of any of the Geneva Bibles, and a table of interpretations of (mainly [[Old Testament]]) proper names.
-The Geneva Bible was highly popular in England, and indeed the [[Jamestown]] expeditionaries carried it to America in 1607. Likewise, the [[Pilgrims]] carried it with them to the [[Netherlands]], where they had fled, and then to what later became their [[Plymouth colony]] (in modern [[Massachusetts]]) in 1620.
-In 1604, shortly after his own accession to the throne, King [[James I]] commissioned [[King James Bible|his own version]] of the Bible, that would later come to be known as "The Bishop's Bible" or, more commonly, the '''Authorized Version'''. James' motive for promulgating his own version was simple: he did not want the people to have in hand a Bible with all the marginal notes that the Geneva Bible had. The reason was equally simple: those marginal notes might encourage lay readers not to credit James' overriding dogma of "the divine right of kings" that was central to his authority.<ref name=Brown>Brown, Michael H. "[http://www.reformedreader.org/gbn/igb.htm Introduction to the Geneva Bible for the historic Baptist faith.]" ''The Reformed Reader'', 1988. Retrieved November 2, 2007. Brown's essay is a scathing indictment of Kings James and Charles and of the [[Church of England]] that they headed. It is also flawed on account of the almost vitriolic [[argumentum ad hominem]] that Brown employs against James and his successors and allies. At the time of his writing, the Geneva Bible remained out of print, and this might have informed his bitterness. Whether he would have written a more refined essay had he known that the Geneva Bible would one day be published once again, is perhaps impossible to determine.</ref>
-This version was first published in 1611. A later king ([[Charles I]]) would take the first steps toward suppression of the Geneva Bible toward the end of his reign. In 1644, the Geneva Bible went out of print and would remain out of print for more than four hundred fifty years.
-=== Modern Editions ===
-In 2003, L. L. Brown and Company published an edition of the 1599 Geneva Bible.<ref name=LLBrown>''The 1599 Geneva Bible''. Ozark, [[Missouri|MO]]: L. L. Brown Publishing, 2003. Cited in Preface, ''1599 Geneva Bible'', Tolle Lege Press, ''op. cit.'', pp. xix-xx.</ref> This edition included the [[Apocrypha]] and a metrical rendition of the Book of Psalms originally intended to encourage their recitation in church.
-In January of 2004 a group of concerned American individuals and organizations formed the 1599 Geneva Bible Restoration Project to restore and republish the richly annotated 1599 edition. Seventeen organizations and 270 individuals and families contributed funds for the project.<ref name=partners>"1599 Geneva Bible Restoration Project," ''1599 Geneva Bible'', ''op. cit.'', pp. v to xvii.</ref> The Project acquired the rights to the L. L. Brown copy, but omitted the Apocrypha and metrical Psalms and sought as much as possible to authenticate the original text as printed in 1599. The Tolle Lege edition makes no attempt to "modernize" the text, other than to update some of the spelling. Instead of "translating" the many out-dated words, it includes a glossary intended more as a guide than as a hard-and-fast body of rules. The editors state in their front matter that they wished to deliver an edition as close in meaning to the original as practicable.
-== Review ==
-=== The Text ===
-Foster<ref name=Foster/> states that the Geneva translators relied heavily on manuscripts originally brought to Geneva by Christians fleeing the conquering [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turks]] in 1453. Random comparisons between the [[New Testament]] and the Nestlé-Aland Greek New Testament and its critical apparatus<ref name=Aland>Aland, Barbara, Aland, Kurt, Karavidopoulos, Johannes, Martini, Carlo M., and Metzger, Bruce M., eds. ''The Greek New Testament''. [[Stuttgart]], [[Germany]]: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2001. With "A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament," by Barclay M. Newman, Jr. 219 pages, leather. ISBN 3438051133</ref> support that claim. The Geneva text tends to follow the so-called Byzantine family of manuscripts at certain points at which the original Greek text is in dispute.
-Likewise, the [[Old Testament]] Geneva text appears to follow the [[Masoretic Text]] prepared by the Hebrew "Masoretes" of the latter part of the second century AD, and pays no homage to the [[Septuagint]] of [[Ptolemy I Soter]] of [[Alexandria]].
-==== Distinction from the Authorized Version ====
-The Geneva Bible is often called the "Breeches Bible" because of its rendition of {{Bible ref|book=Genesis|chap=3|verses=7|version=KJV}}. The Geneva text<ref name=Gen37>''1599 Geneva Bible'', Tolle Lege Press, ''op. cit.'', p. 6</ref> reads as follows:{{Cquote|Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig tree leaves together, and made themselves breeches.}}
-In fact, if any version of the Bible, printed or electronic, does ''not'' translate Genesis 3:7 in the words quoted above, then it is ''not'' a Geneva Bible.
-The differences in the actual text between the Geneva and Authorized Versions are minor. Nevertheless they are critical to distinguishing the Geneva Bible from the Authorized Version or any other version.
-=== The Marginal Notes ===
-The copious marginal notes are the key feature of the Geneva Bible, and its key difference from the Authorized Version, which has no such notes. As Foster<ref name=Foster/> stated, the Geneva Bible is the first true ''study Bible''. Its translators sought to explain to the common man not only what the Bible said but also what it meant.
-These notes are highly revealing of the mind-set of the Geneva editors. For that reason they are at least as valuable as a source of insight into Reformation thinking as they are as explanatory text of the Bible itself.
-==== Literalism ====
-The Geneva editors regarded their Bible as literal history. This included the history of [[creation]], the genealogy of the pre-[[Great Flood|Flood]] Patriarchs<ref>{{Bible ref|book=Genesis|chap=5}}</ref>, and the full history and exact time-line of the ancient [[Judaism|Jews]]. Some of their notes beg explanation--for example, their counting of the "four hundred years" of oppression of the Israelites<ref>{{Bible ref|book=Genesis|chap=15|verses=13}}</ref> as beginning with the birth of [[Isaac]] and not with the entry of [[Jacob]] into [[Egypt]]. This, however, is a minor quibble.
-==== Eschatology ====
-Though they took their Bible ''history'' literally, they did not take ''prophecy'' nearly as literally. This is especially true as regards [[eschatology]] (literally, "the last words"). Like their friend and protector [[John Calvin]], the Geneva editors held to the following doctrines:
-# [[Covenant theology]]. This holds that the covenant promises originally made to [[Abraham]] and his direct lineal descendants the [[Israelite]]s no longer apply to them, but apply instead to the Church. By "Church" they did not mean any one denomination, but rather the whole body of Christian believers.
-# [[Postmillennialism]]. This holds that the Second Coming of [[Jesus Christ]] will take place ''after'' the "thousand years" of imprisonment of Satan.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=Revelation|chap=20|verses=1-3}}</ref>
-# [[Preterism]]. This holds that the prophecies mentioned in {{Bible ref|book=Revelation|chap=4-19}}, {{Bible ref|book=Daniel|chap=7-12}}, {{Bible ref|book=Zechariah|chap=12}}, and elsewhere, had already been fulfilled at the time of their writing.
-==== Anti-Catholic sentiment ====
-The Geneva editors infused their notes with many attacks against the [[Roman Catholic Church]]--hardly a surprise considering the persecution in which the RCC, and Queen Mary I, were then engaging. The most striking attack against Rome is the handling of the prophecy of the Two Witnesses in Jerusalem<ref>{{Bible ref|book=Revelation|chap=11|verses=1-14}}</ref> The Bible says, of course, that two men prophesied for 1,260 days in the court of the [[Temple of Jerusalem]]. The Geneva notes say instead that the two witnesses stand for "ministers" of the Word of [[God]] that are ''outside'' of the RCC, and that the 1,260 days are actually 1,260 ''years'' that began with the Crucifixion (which they assumed had taken place in AD 33 or 34) and ended with the accession to the papacy of [[Pope]] [[Boniface VIII]] (r. 1294-1303). Boniface was famous for issuing a papal bull stating that, to be saved, every man had to be a member of the RCC--and the Geneva notes further accused Boniface of obtaining his office by fraud. The notes on other verses in Revelation go further: they identify the [[Roman Empire]] and the [[Roman Catholic Church]] with the Beast of {{Bible ref|book=Revelation|chap=13}}.<ref>The original [[Greek]] word is ''therion'', which means not merely a wild animal but a murdering and ravening one.</ref>
-==== Royal authority and its limits ====
-The Geneva editors, in their notes, spoke of limits on royal authority, and this is probably why [[James I]] specifically ordered a translation of the Bible ''without'' annotation. He construed any limit on royal authority as a challenge to his own authority. For example, the note for {{Bible ref|book=Exodus|chap=1|verses=19|version=KJV}} says the following of the [[Hebrew]] midwives who disobeyed the Pharaoh in refusing to kill Hebrew boy-children at birth:<ref name=Ex119>''1599 Geneva Bible'', Tolle Lege Press, ''op. cit.'', p. 60</ref> {{Cquote|Their disobedience herein was lawful, but their dissembling evil.}} The very notion that the disobedience of a royal command might be a lawful act would be anathema to a king who believed that he ruled by divine right and answered only to [[God]] and not to any of his subjects.<ref name=Brown/> The footnote for {{Bible ref|book=Exodus|chap=1|verses=22|version=KJV}} would surely have been worse:{{Cquote|When tyrants cannot prevail by craft, they burst forth into open rage.}}
-The firm belief of the editors of the Tolle Lege edition is that these marginal notes were the catalyst not only for the furtherance (such as it was) of the reformation in England, but also, and more to the point, for the political revolutions in the English-speaking world<ref name=Foster/>--presumably beginning with the [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1688 and continuing with the [[American Revolution]] of 1776-83. They hold this belief even though the Geneva Bible ceased printing in 1644, long before [[William and Mary]] and more than a century before the American Revolution. Brown<ref name=Brown/> points out that the [[Church of England]] retained all of the trappings and hierarchical structure of the [[Roman Catholic Church]], the chief difference being that the Archbishop of Canterbury answered no longer to the [[Pope]] of [[Rome]] but directly to the British crown.
-== References ==
-{{reflist|2}}
-== External Links ==
-* [http://www.tollelegepress.com/ Tolle Lege Press] (Company site)
-* [http://www.1599genevabible.com/ 1599 Geneva Bible] (Official site)
-* [http://www.genevabible.org/ Geneva Bible 1599] (Unofficial site)
-== See Also ==
-* [[King James Bible]]
-* [[Biblical chronology dispute]]
-[[Category:Bible Versions]]
-{{Bible Versions}}

Difference between revisions of "Geneva Bible"

Revision as of 01:41, October 7, 2009

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