Baylor to honor 400th anniversary of King James Bible by hosting international conference

Exactly 400 years ago, 47 scholars completed work on a book that would go on to become the most widely published writing in the English language: the King James Bible.

In April, Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion is hosting one of the largest celebrations of the anniversary anywhere in the world, a conference titled “The King James Bible and the World It Made, 1611-2011.” The list of speakers coming to Baylor for the event reads like a who’s who of industry experts, featuring such names as leading New Testament scholar Dr. N.T. Wright from the University of St. Andrews; Dr. Mark Noll of Notre Dame, named by Time Magazine in 2005 one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America; and ISR’s own Distinguished Senior Fellow, Dr. Philip Jenkins. Other speakers include Robert Alter, David Bebbington, Laura Knoppers, Alister McGrath and Lamin Sanneh.

Another highlight of the conference will be the selection of rare and ancient Bibles on display from the Green Collection, one of the world’s largest collections of Bibles and related documents of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Scott Carroll, director of the Green Collection, will give a related presentation about the history of the KJV.

In advance of the conference, Jenkins was a special guest on NPR’s “Tell Me More” earlier this month to talk about the KJV and the impact it’s had over the past four centuries (click here for the audio and transcript).

Sic ’em, ISR!