First published in 1568, the Bishops' Bible was issued in its last edition in 1602. The first of the fifteen rules given for the guidance of the King James translators stated that the Bishops' Bible was to be followed and as little altered as the truth of the original will permit. Rule fourteen further specified certain English translations to be used when they agreed better with the text than the Bishops' Bible. The Authorized Version was both a revision of the earlier English Bibles and a translation from the original languages, all based on the Bishops' Bible. The immediate concern of this work, then, is why the Bishops' Bible, and the extent to which the King James Bible is indebted to it. And secondarily, the degree to which the King James Bible relies on the earlier English translations, other possible sources that might have influenced the translators, and evidence of the translators at work as they transformed the Bishops' Bible into the Authorized Version. The book includes a detailed history of the Bishops' Bible and its editions as well as a complete collation of the New Testament of the 1602 Bishops' Bible with the 1611 Authorized Version.
Laurence M. Vance is an author, a publisher, a lecturer, a freelance writer, the editor of the Classic Reprints series, and the director of the Francis Wayland Institute. He holds degrees in history, theology, accounting, and economics. The author of twenty-five books, he has contributed over 800 articles and book reviews to both secular and religious periodicals. Vance's writings have appeared in a diverse group of publications including the Ancient Baptist Journal, Bible Editions & Versions, Campaign for Liberty, LewRockwell.com, the Independent Review, the Free Market, Liberty, Chronicles, the Journal of Libertarian Studies, the Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society, the Review of Biblical Literature, Freedom Daily, and the New American. His writing interests include economics, taxation, politics, government spending and corruption, theology, English Bible history, Greek grammar, and the folly of war. He is a regular columnist, blogger, and book reviewer for LewRockwell.com, and writes a column for the Future of Freedom Foundation. Vance is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Grace Evangelical Society, and the International Society of Bible Collectors, and is a policy adviser of the Future of Freedom Foundation and an associated scholar of the Ludwig von Mises Institute.