The Bible in English : its history and influence

The greatest of the earlier translators of the Bible into English, William Tyndale, died in 1536 as a martyr for his work.

Immediately after him, however, translations proliferated: the Bible has now been translated into English from its original Greek and Hebrew more than 3000 times.

This is the extraordinary story of the Bible in England from approximately the fourth century, and its later translation into English in Britain and America to the 21st century.

Biblical scholar David Daniell charts the profound impact successive versions of the Bible have had on the people and communities that read them.

He explains the work of major translators, the history of influential translations including Coverdale's, the Geneva Bibles and the King James Bible, and how greatly Americans have contributed in the late-20th century, especially after the American Revised Standard Version. Encompassing centuries of change - from a time when no-one except priests had knowledge of the Bible beyond traditional stories mixed with saints' lives, through later years when ordinary people were steeped in Biblical doctrine and language, to the present when popular knowledge of the Bible, we are told, has disappeared - this text reveals how the endeavour of translating the Bible into English has changed religious practice, the arts, society and even the English language itself.