Book Review VII: The Protestant and Catholic Bible

The King James version and The new King James version, which one is correct?

Answer:

The Books of the Bible were written originally in the Hebrew Language (though the Church fathers say there existed an Aramaic version of the Gospel of Matthew). The Pharaoh of Egypt, who had collected all the books of the world into his new library at Alexandria, asked the Jews for a Greek version of their Old Testament. 70 scholars did the work of translating the Bible and gave him the final texts. This, in history, came to be known as the “Septuagint” Bible (meaning seventy).

In the fifth century, St. Jerome translated the Bible into Latin, the language of the people. In the 16th century, with the invention of the printing press, a great interest in obtaining copies of the Bible arose amongst the nations. Martin Luther lost no time and translated the Bible into German. The Anglicans of England, under King James, translated an English Protestant version of the Bible and prohibited a Catholic edition in the country. This came to be known as the “King James Version”. The English Catholics, who were exiled in France, gathered together in the city of Rheims and came up with an English Catholic edition of the Bible. This came to be known as the “Douai-Rheims” version. The difference between the two versions is that in the King James Bible, 7 canonical books of the Old and New Testament are missing. They are present, however, in the Douai-Rheims version.

England persecuted the Catholics and denied them religious freedom. Spain persecuted the Protestants and denied them religious freedom. The only nation where religious tolerance was permitted (besides the American colonies) was in Holland. That is why the Spanish Jews and the English Puritans went to live there. Holland was blessed for this respect of conscience and became a great nation (despite her small size). Under Cardinal Bellarmine, the Catholic See made an updated version of the Bible in Latin, and this came to be known as the “Vulgate”.

In the 1940’s, with the advance of Biblical scholarship, the English speaking Protestants of the world got together and made an excellent translation of the Bible from the original documents and sources. This came to be  known as the “Revised Standard version”. They included the seven missing books, but in a section apart from the rest of the Bible (for those interested in them or for study purposes). The Catholics made some slight changes in the Revised Standard Version and came up with the “Catholic edition of the Revised Standard version”. It is the Bible that I use and consider to be the best rendition in the world.


Anthony Mellace