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It’s often been in taverns, with a cosy drink to hand, that the best theology has been done – take Cambridge’s White Horse Inn, from which the Reformation spread through England. Carrying on the tradition, welcome to The Merrie Theologiane!

Here we believe that good theology is not something dry and dusty. Good theologians are a merry breed. Why? The good theologian chuckles at how absurdly good the gospel of Jesus is. He laughs, because he doesn’t take himself too seriously. And he knows the power of a good giggle: tittering at what tempts him robs it of its power. So don’t be a pompous ass. Be a merrie theologiane!

To help you chortle through all your theology, each month we’ll introduce you to some more merrie theologie.

Bibles worth burning...

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

Reading different versions of the bible can be a good thing. But sometimes it can be quite surprising. Read Psalm 91:5 in the Coverdale Bible of 1535 and you’ll find ‘Thou shall not nede to be afrayed for eny bugges by night’ (‘bug’ meant ‘something terrifying’). 

Bored or naughty typesetters, however, once forced bible readers to be much more wary:

In the 1562 edition of the Geneva Bible, Matthew 5:9 read ‘Blessed are the placemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.’ 
A 1716 edition of the King James Bible has Jesus say ‘sin on more’ in John 5:14, rather than ‘sin no more’. 
A 1795 edition had Jesus say in Mark 7:27 ‘Let the children first be killed’ instead of ‘Let the children first be filled’.

Probably the worst mistakes, however, were made in the 1631 and 1653 ‘Wicked Bibles’.  In the 1653 edition, 1 Corinthians 6:9 read ‘the unrighteous shall inherit the kingdom of God’ and the 1631 edition had the seventh commandment as ‘Thou shalt commit adultery.’  The bibles were ordered to be burned, and the sloppy (one hopes it was just sloppiness) printer fined a then-hefty £300.


The Wicked Bible

In the Charing Cross Bible of 1651, the bored typesetter replaced Ezekiel 48:5 with the following rant: ‘I amme sick to mye Hart of typesettinge... I telle you, onne daye laike this Ennyone with half an oz. of Sense should bee oute in the Sunneshain, ane nott Stucke here alle the livelong daie inn this mowldey olde By-Our-Lady Workeshoppe.’ 

It also included the following three extra verses at the end of Genesis 3:

25. And the Lord spake unto the Angel that guarded the eastern gate, saying Where is the flaming sword which was given unto thee?
26. And the Angel said, I had it here only a moment ago, I must have put it down some where, forget my own head next.
27. And the Lord did not ask him again.

Unlike the ‘Wicked Bibles’, however, the Charing Cross Bible was (after painstaking research) proved to be a forgery.  

 5 Comments

Ruthie-Roo   (Sat 2 Aug)
had a good chuckle at the charing-cross bible-errors! Felt a bit sorry for the little man stuck in the mowldey olde basement...
Ed Mayhew   (Fri 12 Sep)
The Bibles we used to have at church had 'sexual immortality' as a sin to be avoided.
Andrew Gosden   (Sun 2 Nov)
Loved this. I have a Bible owned by my father which should be called the Baptist's Bible as Rom 12:2 says "Be ye not confirmed"
Samuel C   (Mon 4 May)
I love your guys' articles. I should have found these years ago!
CiELHmCqdqQr   (Tue 24 May)
Hello! Very good job(this site)! Thank you man.
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