It is wonderful to read someone speaking well of the AV, the truncated version of which has become known as the KJV. (The original AV came complete with the deuterocanonical books.)
Read the whole thing here:
from "On the Square", the blog of the First Things site
Exclamation points notwithstanding, I’m not surprised at all. Contemporary biblical scholars such as Robert Alter have much to say in favor of the KJV. In his book, The Prophets, Norman Podhoretz makes an extensive argument for the KJV, contending that it captures the rhythms and nuances of the Hebrew much better than other English translations.
For regular liturgical use, however, the KJV has too many archaisms that require a translation of the translation. The Revised Standard Version or English Standard Version are to be preferred.
One pastor writes me that he has found a way of getting out from under the bishops conference imposition of the wretched New American Bible (NAB) translation. He says that there is another translation that is permitted–the Latin. So at Mass in his parish, he says, the prescribed lessons are read in Latin, followed by their being read in the Revised Standard Version. I think he may be putting me on, but it’s an idea with interesting possibilities.
I have let my subscription to Crisis lapse, as it is too full of Crisis; however, First Things was accidentally lapsed, and I intend to remedy that at my earliest convenience. First Things and Touchstone both write mostly sensibly about current issues. I miss them.
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Yes, once Deal Hudson left Crisis magazine it was easy to see just how an editor imprints personality on a publication. I also let my subscription lapse.
I, too, am among those who no longer subscribe to Crisis. I also have to agree about the KJV; there is an old joke about the Presbyterian octagenarian who refused to give up his King James, "If it was good enough for St. Paul, it's good enough for me."
Cheers