The King James Bible Project: 9th May 2011

Monday 9 May 2011

9th May 2011

‘In translating the Bible, Tyndale introduced new words into the English language, and many were subsequently used in the King James Bible:

Jehovah (from a transliterated Hebrew construction in the Old Testament; composed from the Tetragrammaton YHWH)

Passover (as the name for the Jewish holiday, Pesach or Pesah)

Atonement (which goes beyond mere "reconciliation" to mean "to unite" or "to cover", which springs from the Hebrew kippur, the Old Testament version of kippur being the covering of doorposts with blood, or "Day of Atonement")

Scapegoat (the goat that bears the sins and iniquities of the people in Leviticus, Chapter 16) From Daniell, David (1994) William Tyndale: a biography. New Haven & London: Yale University Press

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Welcome to the 2011 ‘Thought for the Week’, compiled by staff in the Department of Humanities

The blog was first conceived to celebrate the four-hundredth anniversary of the King James Bible and in particular, the life and work of one of its major translators, William Tyndale. It seemed particularly appropriate that the University of Gloucestershire, with its Christian Foundation, should celebrate, not just the impact of the King James Bible, but also the contribution of this famous Gloucestershire resident.

The Tyndale family resided in the Severn Vale, and a monument to William Tyndale (c 1494 – 1536) stands today at North Nibley in Gloucestershire. Tyndale was a Protestant reformer, scholar and eventually, martyr, who translated the Bible into the Early Modern English of his day. Tyndale’s contribution extended beyond the scope of theology and translation but rather, in the view of biographer David Daniell, amongst others, ‘he made a language for England’, which permeated a whole culture and was then exported across the world.

2011 is also the year in which the University of Gloucestershire celebrates the 10th anniversary of its university title. Throughout this year, this blog will feature a weekly entry on which to reflect – and to which you are also invited to respond. We hope you enjoy – and learn from – these contributions and wish you a very happy, peaceful - and thoughtful – 2011.