The Bible

Region: Europe

Subject: Religious

Medium: Literature


Artist: Various

Description of Artwork: The sacred scriptures of Judaism and Christianity, divided into three sections:The Hebrew Bible or Old Testament is canonical to both Jews and Christians; the Intertestamental literature including what is sometimes called Apocrypha; and the New Testament cannonical in Christianity only. The Bible contains religious ideas shared by both Jews and Christians. The one called God, the Creator of all that exists. The unity of all mankind; a Convenant people to serve God's will toward all nations; the individual's sacred right to be protected from abuse, exploitation or neglect by the rich and powerful or by society itself; and the future as God's time in which his rule will be fully established.


England

Dates of Action: 1409, 1525, 1555, 1560, 1611, 1631

Confronting Bodies: Church

The Incident: 1409 England : The Synod of Canterbury at St.Paul's, London, issued a decree forbidding the translation of the Scripture from one tongue to another, and the reading of a translation later than that of John Wycliffe under penalty of excommunication, unless special license be obtained.

1525-1526 : The New Testament, partly translated by William Tyndale, was printed at Cologne, as it was violently opposed by the clergy in England.


Results of Incident: 1525-1526 : The sheets of 6,000 copies of the Testament were smuggled into England where they were publicly burned by the dignitaries of the Church, thus becoming the first printed book to be banned in England. 1535 : The Old and New Testaments translated by Miles Coverdale were the first complete Bible to be printed in English. Not being licensed by the Church or State, it had to be printed on the Continent.

1538 France-Paris : Regnault was imprisoned and the sheets of the "great" Bible for Cromwell were destroyed.

1611 England : Because of the Crown copyright, no authorized Bible in English was printed in what is now the United States until after the Revolution.

1631 England : The printers were heavily fined and the edition so vigorously suppressed that few copies have survived. It was named the "Wicked Bible".

1926 Soviet Union : Import of the Bible not permitted.

1956 Soviet Union : The Bible published after a lapse of 38 years.

Source: Banned Books 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D., by Anne Lyon Haight, and Chandler B. Grannis, R.R. Bowker Co, 1978. [[Category:]] [[Category:]] [[Category:]] [[Category:]] [[Category:]] [[Category:]]