God's Secretaries

The Making of the King James Bible
Adam Nicholson

Adam Nicholson is the fifth Baron Carnoc, which might give him some cred in explaining the inner machinations of Jacobean politics into which he delves in this book, which is about much more than just biblical scholarship in the early seventeenth century. God's Secretaries ranges far in it's opening chapter, to the death of Elizabeth, who Nicholson says was an unpopular, and almost broke, queen at the end of her reign, to the rise of the "puritan" strain of English religion and to the clever way that James I played he various parties against one another to create and preserve the United Kingdom. Incidentally, the original title was Baronet Carnoc, Carnoc being some godforsaken place, possible near J.K. Rowling's castle, in Scotland. This title was sold to on of Nicholson's ancestors by James I in a clever money raising scheme. The Nicholsons became full fledged barons in 1916, courtesy of the first world war and Sir Arthur Nicholson, 11th Baronet and Permanent Undersecretary in the Foreign Office. I'm not sure what a Baronet is, a Baron in toe shoes, maybe?

According to God's Secretaries, James was in a bit of a pickle when he ascended to the English throne on the death of Elizabeth. He had this wonderful invention, the Church of England, created by Henry VIII, which made him the head of the church as well as the state. Other European monarchs were subject to interference in their affairs by the Pope and/or the bishops of the churches in their countries. God trumps the King every time.

Henry had created this marvelous church where he was both king and pope. But, if it was possible to create a new church other people could do the same, and in England, "Puritan" churches had sprung up, churches which taught that every person could read the Bible for themselves and needed no religious authority higher than the elders of their own congregation. Worse, some members and clergy in the Church of England leaned toward their revolutionary notions. James was used to these people because he had been born and raised as the king of Scotland, where the Presbyterian faith made him, as king, just another member of the church, no better than anyone else. James really preferred being the top dog.

In God's Secretaries Nicholson explores how James used the writing of a new standard English translation of the Bible to reinforce his authority over both church and state and, at the same time, temporarily quieted the political strife caused by the religious split between the Church of England and the "Puritans." It didn't last long, of course.

Amazingly, the King James Bible was written by a committee, a big committee with lots of subcommittees. There were both Bishops and Puritans on those subcommittees. Somehow, they found a way to work together and create what has been called the greatest work of prose in the English Language.

Maybe Congress should read this book.

The Wordy Shipmates

Sarah Vowell
Let me start by saying that is is not true that, if her great grandfather had not been processed through Ellis Island by a wiseacre, Sarah Vowell would be know today as Sara Aeiou. Sarah Vowell is a contributing editor the NPR weekend magazine show "This American Life," which is best known for bringing us such fine pieces of journalism as The Santaland Diaries. Her book does not disappoint.

The Wordy Shipmates is a short, concise, not at all wordy history of some of the Puritan founders of Massachusetts Bay colony. Starting with John Winthrop, who wrote and preached the sermon about "a city on a hill" that has been used and abused by John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan to such good effect. We also have John Cotton, ancestor of the more well known Cotton Mather, Roger Williams, psychotically enthusiastic proponent of religious freedom and theological purity, who helped found Rhode Island, Anne Hutchinson, the voice of God on earth and co-founder of Providence and even Mary Dyer, follower of Hutchinson until she becomes a Quaker and martyr to religious freedom at the hand of Winthrop and his fellow Boston magistrates. It is quite a merry crew of brawling Calvinists which Vowell gives us with tongue firmly implanted in cheek.

The gist of the book is that these people are responsible for giving us the great city of Boston. They are the ones who let a cow loose to lay out the city's streets. I'm sure that the blame for the Big Dig can be laid at their feet as well. I can't find my way around Boston with a GPS. Thanks a lot, guys.

They are also responsible in large part for our tradition of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. That concept is one of Roger Williams' crazy ideas, which got him banished from Massachusetts and is written into the charter of Rhode Island. It eventually found itself written into the First Amendment. Way to go Roger!

I can't tell you (actually I am trying to do that) how much I enjoyed reading Sarah Vowell's tale of trial and error, murder, war, bigotry, more murder, mass murder and other fun stuff, which became the foundation of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, and the fine precedent they set for the founding of the United States. The Wordy Shipmates should be required reading for all American middle school students. It should be included in the lovingly crafted high stakes testing that will determine their future lives. It belongs right up there with the Thanksgiving episode of Happy Days.