The project has gone ahead thanks to £370,000 from charities and philanthropists after Mr Gove was forced to deny earlier this year that funding was a problem. David Cameron reportedly told Mr Gove that, while he supported the idea, it should avoid using taxpayers’ money amid objections from non-religious groups. The project is backed by religious leaders across the faiths, academics, historians and cultural figures, including Lord Melvyn Bragg. The first Bibles will arrive this week and all schools are expected to have them by the end of the month. ‘Every school pupil should have the opportunity to learn about this book and the impact it has had on our history, language, literature and democracy.’ The third official translation of the Bible into English, also known as the Authorised Version, was commissioned by the Protestant King James I in 1604 and published in 1611. It became the Church of England’s official version and was spread worldwide by the British Empire. It also brought phrases such as ‘salt of the earth’ and ‘land of Nod’ to the English language. The Right Reverend John Pritchard, Bishop of Oxford and chairman of the Church of England Board of Education, said: ‘This is a fitting way of marking the seminal contribution this version of the Bible has made to our culture. ‘It symbolically places the King James Bible at the heart of the educational process which it inspired.’ Maulana Shahid Raza, chairman of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board, said: ‘I hope it enables children of all faiths to discover the heritage and cultural legacy of their country and helps them to grow up in a peaceful, cohesive and tolerant society.’ Diarmaid MacCulloch, professor of the history of the Church at St Cross College, Oxford University, said the King James Bible ‘represents the culmination of a century of Biblical translation in the first golden age of modern English literature’.
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Schools across the UK will be receiving the King James to celebrate its 400 year anniversary
Mr Gove said yesterday: ‘The King James Bible has had a profound impact on our culture.
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King James Bible for every school in England: Copies sent around the country to mark 400 years since it was published
By Sarah Harris
PUBLISHED: 07:38, 16 May 2012
Every state primary and secondary school in England is to receive a copy of the King James Bible.
Around 24,000 Bibles are being distributed to schools this week by the Department for Education to mark last year’s 400th anniversary of its publication.
Education Secretary Michael Gove, who describes the Bible as the most ‘important book written in the English language’, has insisted that every child should have the chance to appreciate its literary riches.