God's Secretaries:
The Making
of the King James Bible

by Adam Nicolson
(HarperCollins 2003)

Study
Guide

When answering these questions for your purposes of study, it is best to answer them completely and in detail. It will help you review for the quiz.

Preface

 
1. What is meant by the anonymity of the Translators and how did that impact the nature and quality of the translation of the KJV Bible?

2. What does it mean that the KJV Bible and its translators took the view of a “constant present” and that it was a “universal text.”

3. In what ways was the KJV Bible a “deeply political book?”

Chapter 1

1. How did the passing of Elizabeth I of England and the succession of James of Scotland appear to the English people in 1603?

2. What did James I want the most for his realms and his world? Answer: peace but what did he mean by that?

3. How did the kings of England and Scotland compare in terms of the power of the monarchy, and national wealth?

4. How did Englishmen react to James I’s plans for union between England and Scotland?

5. What was the mistake that James I made at Newark?

Chapter 2

1. What was London like in 1603 in terms of housing, cleanliness, and population?

2. Describe the impact of the plague of 1603 on London. What groups of people suffered the most from the plague and why?

3. Describe Lancelot Andrewes’ career in the Church of England. What were the various positions that he held? Why was he so highly respected?

4. How did Lancelot Andrewes behave during the plague of 1603? What did some people think of his behavior?

5. What were the beliefs and attitudes that divided the Puritans from Lancelot Andrewes and his followers?

6. What was the nature of the relationship between the English monarchy and church that was established during the sixteenth century? How did the English Church differ from the churches other Protestant and Catholic countries?

Define this term:
Millenary Petition

Chapter 3

1. Who were the various people and groups who attended the Hampton Court Conference? How were they connected to each other? Was anyone excluded and why?

2. How did King James treat his bishops at the beginning of the Hampton Court Conference and why?

3. How did King James treat the Puritan representatives at the beginning of the Hampton Court Conference and why?

4. How was the suggestion of a new translation of the Bible first brought up? What kind of changes did John Rainolds want in the new Bible? What kind of changes did King James want in the new Bible?

5. Why did King James dislike the Geneva Bible?

Define these terms:
John Whitgift
James Montagu
Thomas Bilson

Chapter 4

1. What was James I’s vision for his two kingdoms and the Europe of his day?

2. How did Archbishop Bancroft try to finance the KJV translation? How successful was he?

3. What is meant by the term “jointness” and how does it differ from a modern outlook?

4. How did rules 1-5 of the instructions to the translators promote “continuity?”

5. What is the significance of rule six forbidding marginal notes?

6. What were the mechanics of the translation process sat down in rules 8-11?

7. What is the problem of the Old Testament quotations appearing in the New Testament that rule 15 addresses?

Define this term:
Company

Chapter 5

1. What was Lancelot Andrewes’ involvement in the suppression of Separatism and the imprisonment of Henry Barrow?

2. Describe the type of scholars that Lancelot Andrewes selected to serve on his First Westminster Company.

3. What was at the heart of Bancroft and Andrewes’ opposition to Puritanism and Separatism?

4. Describe the character of John Overall and Richard Thomson.

5. Why was Thomson’s behavior acceptable to the Jacobean church leadership while Barrow’s was not?

Define these terms:
Separatism
Spanish Conference
Henry Barrow
John Layfield

Chapter 6

1. What was the impact of the Gun Powder Plot on the society of Jacobean England? How did the church and government react to it?

2. Who was Henry Garnet? How was he involved in the Gun Powder Plot and what happened to him?

Chapter 7

1. What was the state of morality and corruption in the court of James I? Give examples?

2. How does Nicolson describe and define the term “puritan?”

3. How did various people in Jacobean England use the Bible to decide questions about beliefs, behaviors, and morals?

4. What does the diary of Samuel War show us about the mind of a Puritan?

5. Describe Laurence Chaderton’s personality and his apparent strategy for reforming the English church.

Define these terms:
Christian IV
William Sancroft

Chapter 8

1. How did Hatfield House embody the aesthetics of the Jacobean Age?

2. How would the KJV Bible embody the aesthetics of the Jacobean Age?

Chapter 9

1. What do the three new source documents tell historians about how the KJV Bible was composed?

2. Describe the character, career, and scholarship of George Abbot.

3. Describe the character, career, and scholarship of Sir Henry Savile.

Chapter 10

1. What does the situation of the Scrooby Separatists say about the state of the Jacobean church?

2. What were Lancelot Andrewes’ attitudes toward the words of the Bible and ceremonialism?

3. Compare and contrast the theories of translation espoused by Calvin (secretarial) and Luther (authorial).

4. How did Lancelot Andrewes translate the early Old Testament books?

Define this term:
John Smyth

Chapter 11

1. Describe the work of the General Committee of the Translators.

2. What do John Bois’s notes tell us about how the Translators of the KJV worked?

3. Describe John Bois’s background, education, and career.

4. What was John Bois’s work as a Translator?

5. What qualities were the Translators anxious to see in the language used for the KJV translation?
        A. It could be read out loud.
        B. It would be majestic.

6. What were John Bois’s relations with Andrew Downes and Sir Henry Savile?

Chapter 12

1. What was Thomas Bilson’s “Epistle Dedicatory” attempting to say about the nature and purpose of the KJV?

2. What was Miles Smith’s “Preface” attempting to say about the nature and purpose of the KJV?

3. What did William Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament contribute to the KJV?

4. How did the KJV translators alter Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament?

5. What was the quality of the first printing of the KJV?

6. Describe the competition for readership between the KJV and the Geneva Bible after 1611.

7. Describe the history and results of the translations and revisions that came after the KJV.

8. How has the KJV influenced the English and American languages and literatures?

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