Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Illustrations
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The Language of the King James Bible
- Part II The History of the King James Bible
- Part III Literature and the King James Bible
- 8 Milton, anxiety, and the King James Bible
- 9 Bunyan’s biblical progresses
- 10 Romantic transformations of the King James Bible
- 11 Ruskin and his contemporaries reading the King James Bible
- 12 To the Lighthouse and biblical language
- 13 The King James Bible as ghost in Absalom, Absalom! and Beloved
- 14 The King James Bible and African American literature
- 15 Jean Rhys, Elizabeth Smart, and the “gifts” of the King James Bible
- Chronology of major English Bible translations to 1957
- Chronology of English Bible translations since 1957
- Select bibliography on the King James Bible
- Index of Bible quotations
- General index
11 - Ruskin and his contemporaries reading the King James Bible
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Illustrations
- List of Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I The Language of the King James Bible
- Part II The History of the King James Bible
- Part III Literature and the King James Bible
- 8 Milton, anxiety, and the King James Bible
- 9 Bunyan’s biblical progresses
- 10 Romantic transformations of the King James Bible
- 11 Ruskin and his contemporaries reading the King James Bible
- 12 To the Lighthouse and biblical language
- 13 The King James Bible as ghost in Absalom, Absalom! and Beloved
- 14 The King James Bible and African American literature
- 15 Jean Rhys, Elizabeth Smart, and the “gifts” of the King James Bible
- Chronology of major English Bible translations to 1957
- Chronology of English Bible translations since 1957
- Select bibliography on the King James Bible
- Index of Bible quotations
- General index
Summary
This chapter focuses upon John Ruskin (1819–1900) as perhaps the most biblically literate of all nineteenth-century writers, who owed much to the KJB in his prose style, which was admired worldwide, and yet who came to understand its limitations as a translation from the Hebrew and Greek. Unique in the range of his interests, which are reflected in his massive œuvre, Ruskin is also representative of his age. (His dates coincide almost exactly with those of his monarch, who outlived him by a year.) First, then, let us consider the Victorian age.
Nineteenth-century Britain was broadly Christian, largely Protestant, and, judging by the newspapers, passionately interested in religious news. Individual believers were ready to defend their own doctrinal and sectarian positions against those who held different views, often with gusto. Before the 1860s, most people believed in the literal truth of the Bible and regarded the Four Last Things – death, judgment, heaven, and hell – as being central to their faith. With the possibility of everlasting punishment in hell fire hanging over you, it was important to be sure that you had access to the means of grace. Religious battles of words raged between different groups, sects, and parties, each of which believed that it had access to a saving truth. Apart from the Roman Catholics (about 5 percent of the population by 1860), all turned to the KJB as the authoritative source; and many Catholics had some acquaintance with the KJB.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The King James Bible after Four Hundred YearsLiterary, Linguistic, and Cultural Influences, pp. 234 - 252Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010