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God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible Hardcover – April 29, 2003

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Adam Nicolson (Author)
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4.2 out of 5 stars 172 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 281 pages
  • Publisher: Harper; 1st edition (April 29, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0060185163
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060185169
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (172 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #231,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsMiddle-brow history of a working committee
By L. E. Cantrell on May 28, 2007
Format: Paperback
As always, visiting and reading the words of the previous 63 reviews has proved to be enlightening and useful. Because of certain comments and objections offered in the past, it seems to me that I should begin with statements of what this book is NOT:

--This book is not an advocate of any particular religious issue, sect or cause.

--This book is not a Bible study or, indeed, any sort of religious study guide. Those seeking an exposition of religious truth should turn away right now. This is not for you.

--This book is not an academic text, being largely free of any formal thesis and paying no particular homage to whatever Theory happens to be on the academic boil these days. Academic drudges burrowing for material with which to footnote their footnotes will be wasting their time here in a manner even more dramatically pointless than usual.

--This book is not a self-consciously designed "easy read" written in words and phrases suitable for the comprehension of fourth graders. This author occasionally dares to quote people who lived four hundred years ago in their own words, styles and spellings. Consider this passage: "I am persuaded his Royall mynde reioyceth more with good hope, wch he hathe for happy successe of that worke [the new Bible], then of his peace concluded with Spayne." [Page 65-66 of the hardcover edition] If that taxes your reading skills to the breaking point, seek enlightenment elsewhere.

This book does provide an overview--or perhaps more accurately, a sketch of religion and politics in 17th century England. In many ways, the two words were alternate terms for the same phenomenon, much as they are in Baghdad today.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsA Challenging Foray into Jacobean Society
By WILLIAM H FULLER on September 27, 2003
Format: Hardcover
These observations come from a reader who is a scholar of neither the Bible nor British history and for whom Nicolson's book was the first venture into literature pertaining to the creation of the King James Bible. In multiple ways, then, these are all first impressions. They also represent the reactions of a reader who was steeped in the conservative Protestant ethic prevalent in the Bible Belt of the United States, a broad area of the country where the King James Bible is taken as the literal Word of God and is not to be submitted for interpretation, much less translation. Yes, there are many there who fervently believe that every word in the King James Bible is represented precisely as the Christian deity placed it in the minds of the holy ones who set it on paper and that the King James Bible is the only "true" Bible that has ever existed. Even when one does not subscribe to such a literalist and historically ignorant approach to the contents of the Bible, growing up in such an environment leaves lasting impressions. With this as background, I found Nicolson's work informative and enlightening.
Understand that Nicolson's book is not "Bible study": It does not deal with issues of spirituality; it does not attempt to explicate biblical passages; and it does not care whether or not heaven and hell exist or whether or not God is dead or alive-or has ever existed. It does deal with the social, cultural, economic, and governmental milieu that existed at the time King James VI of Scotland and I of England directed that a new translation be made of the Greek and Hebrew texts comprising the Bible. It explains why yet another Bible was to be created-in addition to the multiple versions that already existed.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe Committee that Made a Classic
By Rob Hardy HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER on May 11, 2003
Format: Hardcover
There are a good many churches in America who insist that the use of any Bible other than the King James Version is anathema. The joke goes that one of the members of such a sect declared, "If it was good enough for Saint Paul, it is good enough for me." The truth is that the KJV is good enough for any English speaker, more majestic than any other version, and that it is a foundation of the English-speaking world more than even Shakespeare is. How this astonishing book came to be composed is Adam Nicolson's story in _God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible_ (HarperCollins). It is a successful account of how diverse personalities, European history, and religious fashions produced a timeless classic.

There were English Bibles before 1611. The KJV grew out of a conference at Hampton Court where the new king took up grievances of the Puritans; the Bible was a byproduct of the conference. James was heartened by the idea of a new translation. He distrusted the widely used Geneva Bible because it had marginal notes about how people ought to view kings, notes he viewed as seditious. Less self-servingly, he thought an authoritative translation might bring religious peace to his conflicted land. The translation was his personal project. There are plenty of jokes about how committees invariably complicate rather than solve problems, but Nicolson shows that in Jacobean England, individuality was distrusted and "Jointness was the acknowledged virtue of the age." The KJV was a product of 54 translators, broken into teams and organized in a fashion that would befuddle a modern CEO, and they followed general or specific rules laid down by King James.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFine history of the making of a remarkable book

I recently re-read Nicolson's fine history of the circumstance and process of the making of the King James version of the Bible. Read more

Published 4 days ago by Montana Skyline
5.0 out of 5 starsFascinating story of how the King James Bible came to ...

Fascinating story of how the King James Bible came to be. A detail book and slow read but well worth it.

Published 9 days ago by Jacksonville FL Girl
5.0 out of 5 starsExcellent book.

Very well written. I enjoyed reading this very much

Published 11 days ago by David
2.0 out of 5 starsTwo Stars

read it to be informed, not entertained

Published 2 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsEXCELLENT book for history buffs.

This author did his homework. The BEST tome regarding the creation of the KJV Bible I've ever found. VERY interesting and from everything I can tell it is historically accurate.

Published 2 months ago by Carole A.
3.0 out of 5 starsGood Information but Nothing Spiritual

The author, seemingly a Christianity-inclined agnostic (p. 241) has collected some good facts and historical background surrounding translation of the world’s greatest Book. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Paul Artale
5.0 out of 5 starsEngaged and engaging

Engaged and engaging
A lively story out of the translation that resulted in the King James Bible. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

A marvelous book about the origins of the most widely read book in the world.

Published 5 months ago by Yvonne Michel
5.0 out of 5 starsGood seller.

As described. Good seller.

Published 6 months ago by Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 starsWriting of King Jame's Bible

Very interesting. It gave a real feeling for the difficulties in writing the King James version of the bible. It reinforced my belief that the bible is God's inspired word.

Published 7 months ago by Richard Griffin

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