Misreading the Bible?
We all know that sects and heresies have started through people misinterpreting the Bible, and many false ideas have sprung up through mistranslations (cf. the mistranslation of Exodus 34: 29 as Moses's possession of horns), and some false ideas have been promulgated by printing errors, such as the famous Wicked Bible. Some more printing errors are catalogued here. But my question is: has any major error, sect, or heresy arisen from a simple misreading (i.e. error of eyesight or careless reading)? If you know of one or have any more good examples of mistranslations or printing errors please feel free to post them below.
posted by Daniel Hill | 6/05/2006 11:58:00 am
3 Comments:
Well, some of the JKV-only people - at the extreme end of that spectrum - actively capitalise on what we might identify as printers' mistakes. Because their final authority is the AV, rather than original language texts, they claim that differences in meaning between them actually demonstrate 'advanced revelation' on the part of the AV!
One of the books on my bookshelf has the title, "Has The Church Misread the Bible?". Subtitled "The history of interpretation in the light of current issues", this book by Moises Silva was published in 1987 by IVP, under the Apollos imprint.
It doesn't answer Daniel's question, but it does show that his question is not confined to the 21st century.
Let's not turn this post into a debate about KJV-onlyism. CG's comment is a red-herring, and he didn't give an example of a major heresy.
Going back to Tyndale's time, his translation was opposed because he was aiming to undo the mischief caused by earlier bad translations based on the Vulgate, in regard to such words as penance where it should be repentance or church where congregation is far to be preferred.
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