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.