There are two subjects which need comment, though in rather different ways and not unrelated.
First, 2011 sees the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James’s Bible, known as the Authorised Version (AV). It was good that in January BBC Radio 4 celebrated this historic Bible translation.
There were three programmes fronted by the Today programme presenter James Naughty telling the story of how the King James’s version came about. These included visits to Hampton Court, where the conference took place which first commissioned the work, and Oxford, where one of the groups of translators worked on the project. On the second Sunday of the year there were long readings on Radio 4 from the Authorised Version. It was delightful to listen to the early chapters of Genesis over our Sunday breakfast.
The re-emergence of heavy shepherds
What would you think if you received a letter from your church leaders that read like this? ‘Are church members …