Pilgrims, Plymouth Rock, and the KJV

The following is from the book Myths: Fact and Fiction about Teaching and Learning by Israel Galindo. How well do you know fact from fiction?

FICTION: The place where the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620 is marked by the actual Plymouth Rock on which they stepped onto the New World.

FACT: There is no proof that the Pilgrims stepped onto that now famous rock enshrined at Plymouth, Massachusetts. The story is not found before 1741 when a Pilgrim descendant who was born twenty-six years after the event put forth the story.

FICTION: The King James Version of the Bible remains the “truest” Bible version available.

FACT: Myths die hard, especially if they are dear to the believer. There is nothing sacrosanct about the KJV, as its history will attest. King James I of England was motivated to create a “new” Bible version partly because of his hatred of one of the two current ones, which he called, “very partial, untrue, seditious, and savouring too much of dangerous and traitorous conceits.” In 1604 forty-seven of England’s best Bible scholars and linguists began work on a new translation. The goal was not to create a new translation, “but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones one principal good one.”

Because the text of the KJV was to be used at church services, the translators worked hard to make it suitable for reading aloud, changing punctuation so as to give emphasis to its rhythmic prose. It was written as language was then spoken. The work took about seven years to complete, and was printed in 1611. In its first year alone, three editions were printed. While a masterful work, it was not without its detractors. Upon reading the new version, one scholar commented that it “bred in me a sadness that will grieve me while I breathe, it is so ill done.” It took 250 years before any large-scale revision of the text was attempted. It was indeed the best for its time.

You can order a copy of the book Myth: Fact and Fiction about Teaching and Learning by Israel Galindo (ISBN 0-9715765-4-8) directly from Educational Consultants.