[Author's Note: Apparently, when the server crashed at the beginning of June, one of the posts that went missing was my book review of James White's book "The King James Controversy." I have found where I added my review on amazon, and am putting it back here again.]
The King James Only Controversy
James R. White
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Bethany House; 2 Upd Exp edition (June 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0764206052
ISBN-13: 978-0764206054
Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
Buy Here: Amazon.com

Thanks to Jim Hart and Bethany House Publishers for sending a copy of the book to review!

The “King James Controversy”–the debate on whether the KJV Bible is the only true Bible or not–is on that is very interesting to me for several reasons. First, I grew up in an area where many churches “favor” the KJV, and are functionally KJV Onlyists. Second, I am a bit of a translating geek if you haven’t been able to tell. I have been wanting to read James White’s book for awhile now, and was excited to receive the new second edition in the mail. I haven’t read the first edition, so unfortunately, I cannot compare the two, though it seems that a couple of sections were added, and James added the ESV to most of the translations lists throughout the text.

White has written an excellent book defending modern translations, such as the T/NIV, ESV, NLT, etc. His arguments are thorough, easy to understand, and devastating to the King James Only (henceforth KJVO) position. He shows, primarily, that the KJVO position is built on circular logic, and that if they were to apply their critiques of translations to the KJV itself, it would fail their tests horrible. Their logic is circular, because they set out to prove what they already assume to be true–the KJV is the only true Bible, therefore all other translations must be false because they disagree with the KJV. There are some major problems here, not the least of which is why should we accept the KJV as the standard? KJVOists can’t answer this, outside of “because it is.”

The book is divided into two parts. The first part, which is the main part of the book, focuses on the controversy itself. The second part of the book, about 30 pages, is on “The Textual Data.” This section dives deeper into the the textual variants and translational differences discussed in the main section of the book. Since White discusses some Greek and textual criticism here, it is somewhat harder than the rest of the book for those who haven’t studied either. However, if you are willing to put some work into it, it shouldn’t be much of a problem to follow the main arguments, if not the entire section.

The first section of the book, containing 10 chapters, is extremely readable however. White does a fantastic job of taking “ivory tower” information, and making it accessible to everyone.

Chapter 1 is a summary of the KJVO movement. White looks to define what KJVOism is, and divides the camp into 5 groups. The first three groups, “I like the KJV best,” “The Textual Argument” (The text behind the KJV is the most superior), and “Received Text Only” are not really KJVO although they are usually lumped in with them. They essentially hold that the KJV is the best translation, either through scholarly assessment of the underlying Greek text or personal preference. These three positions all hold that the KJV can, and when in disagreement with the underlying Greek and Hebrew, should, be changed. It is not infallible, even if (in the case of the last group) they consider the text behind it to be. White says that he has a lot of respect for the people who fall into these groups, and that they are unfairly criticized as KJVO when they are not. The problems come with the last two groups, those who hold that the translation itself is inspired and inerrant, and another group that goes even farther, saying that the KJV was inspired in such a way that it supplants the original Greek and Hebrew. This last group would say that the “Greek and Hebrew texts should be changed to fit the readings found in the KJV!” (pg 28).

Chapter 2 delves into the history of translations and shows that the KJVO movement is really nothing new. The same arguments they use (which is explored here and throughout the rest of the book) were used against Jerome when he began a new translation of the Bible into Latin. Ironically, the same arguments came up in favor of Jerome’s translation centuries later when Erasmus wanted to come up with a copy of the Scriptures in their original languages, a mission spurned on the the humanist movement of the Renaissance. We find the arguments springing up again in our day to favor the KJV. White questions “Will there someday be an NIV Only movement?” (pg 40). While I don’t know about NIVO, I wouldn’t be surprised to see an ESV Only movement sometime in the future!

Chapter 3 is a discussion on the basics of translation and textual criticism, which is how we determine which of the variants in the text most likely reflect the original. This chapter may seem intimidating at first for some, but as I stated before, White does an excellent job taking the material and making it very accessible to the readers. This chapter ends with what I think is a new excursus to the second addition which focuses on the critiques of Bart Ehrman, as well as Islam and the Qur’an.

Chapter 4 moves out of the background information, and begins the critique of KJVO proper. It discusses the various editions of the KJV that have come out over the years, as well as quotes from the translator’s preface to the original 1611 version which shows that they never considered their translation to be what KJVOers argue it is today.

Chapter 5 gives an overview of some of the main KJVO advocates, while carefully distinguishing, again, those who favor the underlying text behind the KJV and those who really push the KJVO ideology. Again, this is an important distinction to make.

Chapters 6, 7, and 8 all deal with some of the main arguments put forth by the KJVO camp in greater detail. In these chapters, White expounds on the idea that KJVOism is circular logic, catalogues various differences in the translations and explains why they differ including differing ways of translating the same word/phrase and translations that stem from different variants. These arguments are fleshed out even more in the second part to the book mentioned above. Chapter 8 deals with a very specific argument: the modern translations attempt to remove the deity of Christ. White ably handles this critique, and shows how bad it really is. If we were to posit some grand conspiracy to remove the deity of Christ such as KJVOists do, our only conclusion must be that they did a horrible job of it. They certainly left in far too many verses that speak to his deity.

Chapter 9 deals with problems with the KJV translation itself. White emphasizes that he is not being “anti-KJV” but that it is necessary to engage in this discussion because of the claims made by KJVOists. Because they are claiming the KJV to be inerrant, looking at errors in the translation is necessary. Some of these errors are due to translation errors, but some of them come from the fluidity, the changing nature, of languages in general and English in particular.

Chapter 10 is a sort of quick cheat sheet to the whole debate. It is filled with easily understandable answers to some of the most common questions raised in the KJVO discussion.

If you are wondering what the debate is all about, or if you struggle with trusting your translation because of what others have said, or if you know someone else who is struggling, White’s book is a must-have resource. If you are intimidated because other resources you’ve read are hard to understand, I can’t emphasize enough when it comes to this book, don’t be! White writes in a very clear manner, stopping to explain or define anything that might not be commonly known. Get this book! It will only serve to strengthen your trust in the work of translators. The only drawback, and White mentions this several times, is that this book will probably not change the minds of those who fall into the KJVO camp. This is due to the circular nature of their argument. To reject the KJVO movement from within means that one has to change their very presuppositions, and to do so is an almost impossible task. Almost. The information and argumentation that White gives in his book is certainly well-suited for the challenge.

You can buy James R. White’s book, The King James Only Controversy: Can You Trust Modern Translations? at Amazon.com