The story of the King James Bible (KJB) – or the Authorized Version (AV) – is, as its multiple names suggest, not one but many stories. To begin with, its creation entailed many different stories. It was the work not of one translator but of several groups or “companies” of translators whose charge was not to produce their own original translation but rather to cull from and revise the work of earlier English translations of the Bible. The end result was the product of a collective effort not only of the various individuals who made up each company of translators, and the different companies (each assigned to particular sections of the Bible), but also the amalgamated efforts of prior English translators dating back over roughly a hundred years before the 1611 KJB was first published. In addition, this transhistorical translation story itself originated in the court of James I, which involved a still more complex tale about the intimate relationship between politics and religion in Jacobean England.

Yet these are just the beginning of a vastly more complicated and multifaceted story – indeed, a collection of interrelated stories – of how, over the course of the past four centuries, the KJB became the most popular and influential translation of the Bible among English-speaking peoples. Indeed, it became the single most influential book in the English language and arguably the greatest work ever produced by a committee. This larger story – the reception history of the KJB – is a story that comprises not only different individuals but also different peoples, countries, and historical eras. It is a story so complex that it is best told not by one voice but by many. That is why we created The King James Bible after 400 Years. Bringing together leading scholars from a wide range of different fields of study relating to the KJB and its influence, this book offers new insights intended to spark new kinds of conversations about the many different roles the KJB has played since 1611.