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Review
The World's Classics Bible [is] a quite extraordinary success. It is learned but entirely accessible, full of fascinating information ... and executed with great skill and enthusiasm (Frank Kermode )
[The editors] seem to have read everything ... and their commentary consistently illuminates everything it touches upon, from the meaning of single words to the largest issues ... A magnificent achievement (Gabriel Josipovici )
[The editors] seem to have read everything ... and their commentary consistently illuminates everything it touches upon, from the meaning of single words to the largest issues ... A magnificent achievement (Gabriel Josipovici )
Gabriel Josipovici
"[The editors] seem to have read everything ... and their commentary consistently illuminates everything it touches upon, from the meaning of single words to the largest issues ... A magnificent achievement"
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
IN the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
IN the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Well this bible is perfect for me. For me the richness of this version of the bible cannot be beaten. I have other versions of the bible but I think that the King James is nearer to the original versions written in Hebrew and Greek. The type face is nice and clear with the verse numbers at the beginning of the line ie each verse starts a new paragraph. Some of my other bibles are quite difficult to read because the print is small and faint but this Oxford World's Classic bible is very easy to read. It also includes the Apocrypha as well as notes on each book of the bible. It was also EXCELLENT value for money
43 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an ideal edition for someone with no prior knowledge of the Bible, who is interested in it as a work of literature and for its influence on subsequent literature, philosophy and art.
As has been pointed out by other reviewers, the editors' commentary approaches the text from a higher critic's, and not a fundamentalist's, point-of-view. The Authorized Version is put in its historical and literary context, and the original documents are criticised and discussed from a non-partisan perspective, as one would criticise any other collection of ancient texts. They do not mince their words about the "hard passages": the numerous rapes, bloody murders, and ethnic cleansings, and the issue of Christian antisemitism is not avoided.
The commentary is not voluminous: the majority of this formidable brick of a book is made up of the 1611 text itself, printed on thicker-than-usual paper for bibles; the commentary occupies less than a centimetre out of this tome's two inches plus. However it is enough to guide one through their reading (make that skim-reading in the case of the extensive genealogies, censuses, lists of laws, and instructions for constructing temples and curing lepers).
The text is absolutely complete, containing not only the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonical books) but the original lengthy preface by the translators, offering a defence of a new translation of the Word of God into the English tongue.
As the Introduction says, the Bible is the basic book of "our" [i.e. Western, Christian] civilization. Yet to begin at the beginning we are confronted with stories about people whose wealth was measured in donkeys and camels.
What you have in its pages is the very beginning of Christianity, and the foundation on which was built the philosophy and literature of all Christian culture for two thousand years. It is the beginning but not the end, and it is (at times) interesting to read through these simple, humble, and at times bewildering stories, and meandering and confusing treatises and contrast them to the rigor and elaborateness of Christian philosophy and theology and the majesty and strength of Christian art.
As has been pointed out by other reviewers, the editors' commentary approaches the text from a higher critic's, and not a fundamentalist's, point-of-view. The Authorized Version is put in its historical and literary context, and the original documents are criticised and discussed from a non-partisan perspective, as one would criticise any other collection of ancient texts. They do not mince their words about the "hard passages": the numerous rapes, bloody murders, and ethnic cleansings, and the issue of Christian antisemitism is not avoided.
The commentary is not voluminous: the majority of this formidable brick of a book is made up of the 1611 text itself, printed on thicker-than-usual paper for bibles; the commentary occupies less than a centimetre out of this tome's two inches plus. However it is enough to guide one through their reading (make that skim-reading in the case of the extensive genealogies, censuses, lists of laws, and instructions for constructing temples and curing lepers).
The text is absolutely complete, containing not only the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonical books) but the original lengthy preface by the translators, offering a defence of a new translation of the Word of God into the English tongue.
As the Introduction says, the Bible is the basic book of "our" [i.e. Western, Christian] civilization. Yet to begin at the beginning we are confronted with stories about people whose wealth was measured in donkeys and camels.
What you have in its pages is the very beginning of Christianity, and the foundation on which was built the philosophy and literature of all Christian culture for two thousand years. It is the beginning but not the end, and it is (at times) interesting to read through these simple, humble, and at times bewildering stories, and meandering and confusing treatises and contrast them to the rigor and elaborateness of Christian philosophy and theology and the majesty and strength of Christian art.
103 of 110 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What is the point of reviewing The King James Bible according whether you consider it to be true or not?! Anyone thinking of reading the Bible, in whatever translation, are doing so for their own reasons: whether because they believe it to be the Word of God; or because it is great literature and one of the cornerstones of our Western / English speaking society.
Translations do make a big difference, however. Having done a degree in Theology and studied the Bible in its original languages, I am still amazed to find how much difference the choice of one word over another can make. The influences of the people who translated the particluar version of the Bible have a big influence on the meaning that is put across.
The King James Bible was written in England as a result of the Reformation. It was the first translation of the Bible into English (before that the Latin version had been used by the clergy). The language is undeniably beautiful, very rich and powerful. Recitation of selected texts is a particularly beneficial exercise.
If it is comprehension you are looking for, however, a modern translation may be more helpful. The New Internationalist Version is very good, but sacrifices some of the beauty for the sake of clarity (as do all modern translations)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great edition let down by formatting & spelling errors
A great edition of the King James Bible, with interesting supplementary material.
I was surprised by the frequency of formatting / spelling errors however, particularly... Read more
I was surprised by the frequency of formatting / spelling errors however, particularly... Read more
Published 12 days ago by mr. m
The Bible: Authorized King James Version (Oxford World's Classics)
With its start in 1611, the King James Bible 400th Anniversary is celebrated this year, being faithfully translated from the original Hebrew and Greek languages. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Kevin Pople
Has it all
This book really does have it all - Sex, murder, duplicity, magic-tricks, incest and ghosts!
It's like a full season of Dynasty set a few thousand years ago with a guest... Read more
It's like a full season of Dynasty set a few thousand years ago with a guest... Read more
Published 9 months ago by J. Ross
The Bible: Authorized King James Version (Oxford World's Classics)...
The pages are not sewed ! The cover is not hard ! The build is fragile..., apart that is ok...
Published 10 months ago by Mark Sername
King James Bible
Book arrived in excellent condition. Ive enjoyed reading it, the print is a good size,
and Im very pleased with it. Read more
and Im very pleased with it. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mrs. S. V. Rowe
seven sheep on the Ark shock!.
Having studies several different versions of the Bible I was rather disappointed to discover all the scriptural mistakes in this version. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Radikl
The Bible: An Academic's Review
This review isn't about whether The Bible is or isn't the word of God. This review will treat it as any other book, and especially the benefits of this edition for academics. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Tiny Cat
Good in parts
I was forced to read bits of The Bible as a youngster. Some of it was quite entertaining but hardly a page-turner. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Gargoyle
A romping read
In "God" the church has created the ultimate anti-hero. A truly weird and disturbed imagination and a look into a nightmare world where logic, reason and science play second fiddle... Read more
Published on 15 Dec 2009 by A sheep who overthrew the shepherd
failed world, failed mankind, failed writer
To me that God was so busy building the world that the Bible was written by a ghost writer He hired. Read more
Published on 21 May 2009 by Carlos Vazquez Quintana
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