Episode 30: Theology of the King James Language (Jan Martin)
Y Religion
BYU Religious Education
4.9 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2021
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
One of the great debates of the 16th century took place between William Tyndale and Thomas More over Tyndale's translation of the Bible into English. Both men knew how words had the power to shape theology. Tyndale's translation informed later English translations, including the King James Version. But were Tyndale's choices right? In this episode, Dr. Jan Martin shares her research on how the King James language in the Book of Mormon provides amazing insights into these theological translation debates.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, Why Religion friends, Professor Anthony Sweat here. Welcome to another fabulous episode of Why Religion. |
| 0:07.0 | A little question to start. Have you ever had a debate with someone over the meaning of a word? |
| 0:12.6 | Maybe you debated with a friend how quandary is different than dilemma, for example. |
| 0:18.1 | Or how the word loathe has a different meaning than hate. |
| 0:22.0 | Or maybe like in the movie Princess Bride, |
| 0:24.4 | how unbelievable is different than inconceivable. |
| 0:28.2 | He didn't fall? |
| 0:30.5 | Inconceivable. |
| 0:32.1 | You keep using the wharf. |
| 0:33.9 | I don't think it means what you think it means. |
| 0:36.5 | Sometimes the debates get so intense, |
| 0:38.4 | we may even turn to a third party to try settle it, |
| 0:41.0 | maybe a parent or a friend, or most likely today, Google. |
| 0:45.9 | Well, one of the greatest debates in the entire Western world |
| 0:49.2 | took place in the 16th century between William Tyndale and Sir Thomas Moore |
| 0:53.5 | over the definition of words. |
| 0:57.0 | The debate was so intense that it spanned five years and resulted in producing three books. |
| 1:02.0 | That's a big debate. |
| 1:04.0 | Well, what was it all about? |
| 1:07.0 | William Tyndale was a Protestant reformer, and he was producing a radical translation of the New Testament into common English from the Greek. |
| 1:14.6 | Thomas Moore was a Catholic, and for many good reasons opposed Tyndale's translation work, fearing that it was biased against the church. |
| 1:22.6 | Moore remarked about Tyndale's work that, quote, |
... |
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