Thee, Thine, Thou, Wow

Quote of the day:
“In the U.S. you have to be a deviant or exist in extreme boredom. Make no mistake, all intellectuals are deviants in the U.S.”
--William S. Burroughs

Merrie’s favorite commercial:
The one with the aliens in the office talking about a vacation in New Mexico.

Morning music:
A Bach violin concerto, with David Oistrakh
Debussy’s Preludes played by Walter Haas
Beethoven’s Piano Trio No. 2
Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, played by the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam

Today is the 396th anniversary of the publication of the King James bible. At the time, words like “doth” and “sayeth” were no longer used. In fact, they hadn’t been common for many years. But the authors wanted to give the book the sound of an ancient document.

The influence of the King James bible on our culture and language is considerable. This is especially obvious in the liturgies and beloved hymns of churches.

Fondness for the King James version sometimes goes too far. This is usually harmless, even amusing. For example, when certain people prayed in one of my churches, they would automatically switch to King James English, using words like “thee,” “thou,” “leadeth” and “wouldst.”

I think the unconscious assumption was that King James English is God’s language. So God will understand you if you use it when you pray.

Due to the fact that the King James bible was used for hundreds of years to teach English to children, its rhythms, poetry and images have become embedded in our language. It is beautifully and vividly written, and has been mined extensively for creative inspiration.

But respect and affection for this book are sometimes taken way too far. For example, some congregations and individuals consider the King James bible to be the only “true” bible. This is logically impossible, of course, unless you assume the book dropped out of the sky in 1611, and was therefore not based on any previous bibles.

And unless you assume that God speaks only English. King James English.