Wide as the Waters, Benson Bobrick
Wide as the Waters, Benson Bobrick
List: $24.99 | Sale: $17.50
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Wide as the Waters
The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution it Inspired

Author: Benson Bobrick

Narrator: Malcolm Hillgartner

Unabridged: 11 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/28/2021


Synopsis

Next to the Bible itself, the English Bible was—and is—the most influential book ever published.

The most famous of all English Bibles, the King James Version, was the culmination of centuries of work by various translators, from John Wycliffe, the fourteenth-century catalyst of English Bible translation, to the committee of scholars who collaborated on the King James translation. Wide as the Waters examines the life and work of Wycliffe and recounts the tribulations of his successors, including William Tyndale, who was martyred, Miles Coverdale, and others who came to bitter ends. It traces the story of the English Bible through the tumultuous reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary Tudor, and Elizabeth I, a time of fierce contest between Catholics and Protes-tants in England, as the struggle to establish a vernacular Bible was fought among competing factions. In the course of that struggle, Sir Thomas More, later made a Catholic saint, helped orchestrate the assault on the English Bible, only to find his own true faith the plaything of his king.

Wide as the Waters is a story about a crucial epoch in the history of Christianity, about the English language and society, and about a book that changed the course of human events.


About Benson Bobrick

Benson Bobrick earned his doctorate from Colombia University and is the author of several critically acclaimed works, including Wide as the Waters: The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution It Inspired; Angel in the Whirlwind: The Triumph of the American Revolution; and Testament: A Soldier's Story of the Civil War. In 2002, he received the Literature Award of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He and his wife, Hilary, divide their time between New York and Vermont.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mark

I almost wonder why this story needed to be told: it's been told over and over. I'm not sure I heard many big things that were new to me (though many small things were). But I've never read this story quite like this: the cohesive story of just the English Bible. Well done. Enjoyable. Good pace. Rep......more

Goodreads review by Matt

Because of its misled defenders in the "King James Only" movement, the Authorized Version of the English Bible is often dismissed by mainstream evangelicals for being archaic, based on unreliable manuscripts or (an even lower blow) corrupted by the sexually deviant monarch who oversaw its translatio......more

Goodreads review by Alisha

I lingered over the beginning of the book, but after I got into the flow of the historical narrative, it went pretty quickly. Anyone who is interested in history and language may enjoy this. I had a rudimentary knowledge of Henry VIII and William Tyndale, but this book expanded greatly on my knowled......more