My favorite way to discover a new favorite book is to happen across it in a bookstore. It's much like uncovering a hidden treasure, that you only later realize how lucky you were to find.
This is exactly how I came across Wide as the Waters by Benson Bobrick. I only bought it because I was visiting my favorite secondhand bookstore, and I don't like to leave a bookstore empty-handed. Honestly, it had been awhile since I'd read a history book, something I'm not really in the habit of doing. But that's something I'd like to change. Because while reading history takes a lot longer than fiction, it's incredible how much you learn that applies to our modern world.
That's what happened as I read with Wide as the Waters. This book is, essentially, a history of how the English Bible (until the King James version) came to be. But it's more than a history of revisions and translations. It's a history of England itself, from the fourteenth century to the eighteenth - with all the monarchs, wars and conflicts in between. The translation of the English Bible is an integral part of the history of England itself.
The book begins in an era where the only Bible translation (aside from Greek and Hebrew) was in Latin, and common people had no access to the scriptures. Through the efforts of various scholars and translators (most of whom were martyred) such as Wycliffe and Tyndale, the Bible gradually began to be translated from Greek and Hebrew to English - something that had never been done before. But it was by no means a smooth path. Everything from Henry VIII's infamous remarriages to Queen Mary's Protestant persecution had an impact on the spread of the English Bible. And it's quite remarkable to see not only how politics influenced the spread of Christianity, but how the Bible itself transformed the political climate of England.
The tagline of this book makes a bold claim - that the English Bible ultimately inspired a revolution. After reading the book, it was incredible to see how it truly did, and how much of an impact having access to the scriptures had on the politics and people of England.
Though it took me awhile to finish this book (I mean, it is a history book. Some parts flew by, and others, like details of the various translators who drafted the King James version, took longer to get through), I learned so much from it that I had never heard before. Mostly, it was incredible to see how powerful the words of the Bible have been throughout time. No one can deny that it's the most influential book in the world - and the English translation was undeniably the most influential book in England's history.
Rating: 5/5 stars
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