Written on the Heart

I'm looking forward to seeing Written on the Heart at the Duchess Theatre later this month.

"Across an 80 year divide, two men translate the word of God into the English tongue. For one, it means death at the stake [Tyndale]. For the other, it could mean an archbishop's mitre [Andrewes]. After almost a century of unrest, the King James Bible was intended to end the violent upheavals of the English reformation. But deep-seated conflicts force a leading translator to confront the betrayal of his youthful religious ideals, for the sake of social peace. Written by David Edgar, whose extensive work for the Company includes Destiny, Pentecost and Nicholas Nickleby, and marking the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible, Written on the Heart is directed by RSC Artistic Director Designate Gregory Doran."

Edgar is drawn to writing about the process of negotiation, about middle-aged men in conference, balancing principle with expediency:

“I’m interested by the way in which people with political beliefs come to make compromises in the way that Andrewes compromises. There are individuals, radicals in their youth, who decide that a certain amount of what they fought for has been achieved. We didn’t get everything we wanted, they say, but we’re satisfied with how far we have come. It’s this far - but no further. Yet there’s a younger, more radical generation who refuse to agree to this. You can’t have the franchise on this, they tell their elders. Don’t think that the battle has been won, just because you say so. Andrewes is somebody who believes in this far but no further and in the play he is confronted by Tyndale, the heroic Protestant martyr who stuck to his guns.”

Michael Billington, in his review of the play, states:

"Edgar stages a dream-like encounter between Andrewes and Tyndale that gets to the heart of the drama. Andrewes, guilt-haunted over his persecution of schismatics, emerges as a trimming traditionalist; Tyndale is a radical appalled to find a church that still relies on chalices and altar rails, and a new version of the Bible that sacrifices meaning to music. You don't have to be a scholar to follow the argument, since Edgar gives us plenty of textual evidence and, even if his play requires an interest in history, it exposes the divisions that today still rend the Anglican church."

Similarly, Rachel Boulding in the Church Times writes that Edgar:

"embodies the conflict in the character of Andrewes.



So he fashions an excellent history lesson, fleshing out how and why these debates are not just academic concerns, but why they matter, then and now. Thus the debate crackles into life, and Andrewes incarnates the two sides in his inner turmoil, strug­gling between guilt over his supposed betrayal of puritan colleagues, and personal ambition (there being much amused specu­lation about who will be the next Archbishop of Canter­bury in 1610)."

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Gerry Rafferty - Whatever's Written On Your Heart.

The King James version in context

Yesterday I attended the special lecture for Bible Year 2011 arranged by Dr Graham Gould at Holy Trinity with St Augustine of Hippo Harrow Green. Entitled The King James version in context: the Church of England and the Bible in the early seventeenth century, the lecture was given by The Very Revd Dr David Hoyle, Dean of Bristol.

Hoyle began by vividly describing the awkward and difficult nature of the Reformation as it impacted in parish level where, as Eamon Duffy has demonstrated, Catholicism was in rude health. So, candlesticks and church plate had to be melted down and sold off, altar tables removed, rood screens defaced or torn down, chasubles unstitched, walls whitewashed, relics discarded and paintings of saints hidden in parishioners’ houses.

He then spoke about the central significance of the Bible to Protestantism, quoting William Chillingworth as saying, "... the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants!" Prior to the Reformation, only one translation of the Bible was in use; the Vulgate, created by St Jerome and used by Catholic churches for 1,000 years prior to the Reformation. However, sermons and prayers in services were in English and English compendiums of Gospel stories were in circulation. Bible stories were also told through the visual imagery of Catholic churches.

Leading up to the Reformation we see: English becoming established as a language of power and excitement through the work of Chaucer, Langland and others; the development of the printing press with Caxton printing collections on the Catholic saints; and the beginnings through such as Erasmus and Wycliffe of new translations of parts of the Bible. Luther understood himself to have been saved from his anxiety about Hell by his reading of scripture leading to his emphasis on sola scriptura. Tyndale was similarly convinced that the truth could not be known until we hand the scriptures in our hands in English.

Tyndale was a literary genius and 75% of the King James Version of the Bible is essentially his translation. This occurred via 'The Great Bible,' which combined Tyndale's translations of the New Testament and part of the Old - Tyndale was unable to complete his translation of the Old Testament - with the Coverdale translation (a full translation of the Bible into English based on the Vulgate) making up the gaps including the Psalms in particular. The King James Version was not a new version, being based on The Great Bible, but sought to make a good translation better through its various translation companies or committees. Interestingly, it was read aloud before being finalised and this testing by ear contributed to its subsequent influence on English language and literature.

Hoyle was particularly interesting in his emphasis on the complexity of the process of change with the irony that Henry VIII gained the title 'Defender of the Faith' for opposing Protestatism, giving instances of reluctant conformity to Protestantism, and dissatisfaction with the King James Version following its publication in contrast to the later acceptance of it as the 'Authorised' version.

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Philip Bailey - Bring It To Jesus.