>>>>>I read a book a few years back about the creation of the King James edition. The book was interesting, though not an easy read. That translation was very political, both in motivation and in intention.
>>>>>
>>>>>Tamar
>>>>
>>>>As has been pretty much every translation - especially of the New Testament. Does make you think Islam may have learned from this in the takfiri assertion the Quran must not be translated but one must come to it in its original language - though of course even then there is a huge body of Hadith and Sahabah - some of which are commentary by the Prophet himself.
>>>>
>>>>The problem is much more complicated for the Bible of course because of the multiple authorship, the political translation and councils as to what would be excluded or included, and the multiples languages that were sole sources for some of the material.
>>>>
>>>>Takes a lot of faith to get very literal.
>>>
>>>Old Testament was pretty much standardized at the point of Nicea Council. Dead Sea scrolls confitmed that text didn't change since that time, i.e. few centuries before the council.
>>
>>And all of it written several decades after the death of Christ, even by the earliest estimates.
>
>That's the New Testament. Old Testment was ... well, older. Remember the first five book are the Torah and that's been around for a while ( remember the Lost Ark ? <g> )
>
>One of my favorite things about the committee that put the New Testment together is they decided to end it with Revelations. Talk about a big finish. John of Patmos was living in a cave when he started seeing things. Pretty sure the bread was getting moldy - ergotomine moldy. The only thing trippier than Revelations is reading the folks who have decided the English translation is the roadmap to reality, past, present and future. Wow.

Thank you for the fundamental correction re old testament vs. new testament.

Revelations is a trip indeed, Lots of signals to get started for those whose future visions are far darker than mine. Terrific read as literature, too.