What book has the most history?

[Rev. Rye]

It puzzles me why the KJV garners such reverence. It is an obviously ideologically driven version. A translation driven by an obvious agenda.

Why do the jesus freaks get so deliriously misty eyed about it?

Let's face it, if I were pressed to select a particular version of the bible I would pick the so called "Wicked Bible" which states "Thou shalt commit adultery". Now there is a commandment I could go along with comfortably.

Ironically, the Wicked Bible IS the KJV. A fun bit of trivia with which to mock the god-botherers.

I think most of it has to do with its being the dominant Bible of the non-Catholic English-speaking world for about three centuries. And it's remained powerful, largely for the same reason the collected works of Shakespeare are, partly because it's in the public domain, and partly because it's shaped our language in immeasurable ways. Indeed, IIRC, Richard Dawkins included a long list of common English phrases that came directly from the KJV.

As a proper translation of the text (See the Amplified Bible for my preferred version), the KJV fails spectacularly (indeed, at one point, it mentions the Jews CELEBRATING EASTER),



But when even Christopher Fucking Hitchens devoted one of his last pieces to praising what an achievement in literature it is, it shouldn't be too hard to see why its following has thrived.