THE SHORT OXFORD HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

Although the Authorized Version proclaimed itself to be ‘Appointed to be read in Churches’ no formal
authorization was ever given to it. Its consistent dignity of expression, its memorable cadences, its felicitous, if
limited, choice of vocabulary, and its general intelligibility meant, however, that it effectively displaced its rivals
within the space of a generation. Its translations of certain familiar passages, such as the 40th chapter of Isaiah
(‘Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God ...’), the 37th chapter of Ezekiel (‘The hand of the
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Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was
full of bones ...’), the 5th, 6th, and 7th chapters of the Gospel according to St Matthew (containing the Sermon on the
Mount), the opening verses of St John’s Gospel (‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God ...’), or St Paul’s famous account of Christian Love (I Corinthians 13, ‘Though I speak with the
tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal ...’) have
often been integral to how English-speaking readers since 1611 have understood the majesty and simplicity of the
Word of God. For some three and a half centuries it has formed a vital link between the divided English and Scottish
Churches and the linguistically distinct English and Scottish nations. It has also been hallowed, memorized, quarried,
cited, and echoed by a whole variety of Christian opinion wherever English came to be spoken. Despite its occasional
mistranslations, its awkwardnesses, and its misreadings which have niggled subsequent scholars, it was not
substantially revised until 1881-5. The Authorized Version triumphantly managed both to sum up and to embrace the
best aspects of all the translations that had preceded it. No modern version has ever approached its richness and its
resonance.
Andrewes and Donne
In 1618, as proof of his active interest in the theological basis of the religious divisions of Europe, James I sent a
group of English churchmen to the great Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church convened at Dort (Dordrecht) in the
Netherlands. Representatives from Lutheran Germany and from the Calvinist Churches of Switzerland and France
were also invited. James’s decision to send English observers stemmed not simply from his interest in the contentious
subject of the Synod - the disruptions caused by the teaching of the unorthodox Dutch theologian Arminius - but also
from a long-held desire for reconciliation between the Protestant powers of Europe. In the event, the revisionist
doctrines of Arminius were condemned and his followers were dismissed from their official posts. The Synod of Dort
had only a limited impact on the affairs of the English Church. For the many Calvinists within its body the
reaffirmation of the doctrine of Predestination, which Arminius had questioned, and the return to the asperity of the
strict discipline of the Reformed Church were welcome gestures. To certain prominent Anglicans, however, the Synod
confirmed a deep-seated distaste for the extremes of Calvin’s teaching and for the practice of the Genevan and Dutch
Churches. It was against them that the word ‘Arminian’ was sneeringly, if inaccurately, employed in the increasingly
vituperative debate, between advocates of continued Reformation in the Church of England and those who tenaciously
held to the ideal of the Anglican compromise and to its
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twin pillars, both of them anathema to Puritans: episcopal government and liturgical worship.
In 1621, with some reluctance, James I appointed William Laud (1573-1645) to the see of St Davids. ‘He hath a
restless spirit and cannot see when matters are well’, the King is said to have remarked, ‘but loves to toss and change
and to bring things to a pitch of reformation floating in his own brain’. Laud proved himself a vigorous and forthright
defender of the Anglican position, both in written controversy with the Jesuit John Percy (known as ‘Fisher the
Jesuit’) over the nature of ‘Catholicity’ and in his assaults on the supposed ‘indiscipline’ of Puritans within his own
Church. Under Charles I his promotion was rapid. He became in turn Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1626 and of
London in 1628 and in 1633 he was elevated to the archbishopric of Canterbury. As the would-be imposer of
liturgical uniformity and as an encourager of a modestly baroque ritual and decoration within churches, he aroused
intense hostility among his opponents, alienating both potential friends and convinced foes alike. His sporadic
ruthlessness as an administrator and his close association with the King became one of the prime causes of active
opposition to the policies of the court voiced within the House of Commons and beyond it. In 1641 he was impeached
for high treason by a predominantly Puritan Parliament and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was belatedly
tried in 1644 and executed on Tower Hill in January 1645.
The ‘Arminian’ Laud’s failure to impose an acceptable and lasting degree of uniformity on English and, by