Some praise for old Bancroft

Romans 13:7 Render therefore to all their dues...honour to whom honour.

At the time the King James translation was made, Richard Bancroft (1544-1610) was Bishop of London and then in 1604 made the Archbishop of Canterbury. Bancroft was the supervisor and overseer of the translation project. He died before the finished product was published. Much of what I hear and read about Bancroft is negative (and some deservedly so). For that reason, I was pleasantly surprised when I came across a short piece about Bancroft by Paul V. M. Flesher, a professor in University of Wyoming’s Department of Religious Studies. Writing about the discovery in 2016 of the remains of Bancroft in a crypt beneath the St. Mary-at-Lambeth Church, Flesher included this tribute to his connection with the translation authorized by King James I.

“Bancroft was perhaps the most important figure in the creation of the King James Bible…

“James convened the Hampton Court Conference in January 1604 to address their concerns. It was not a success for the Puritans. Bancroft, who was then bishop of London, was widely known as a fierce opponent of the Puritans. He helped persuade the king to reject the Puritan calls for church reform.

“But, James shared one desire with the Puritans, which he granted. That was their request for a new, ‘authorized’ translation of the Bible. Even as he acceded to their request, he added a twist: James put the anti-Puritan Bancroft in charge of the project…

“Archbishop Bancroft pioneered a new approach to Bible translation, one which helped the translation overcome the political and religious conflict in which the project was conceived.

“Earlier translations had essentially been done by individuals, without consultation or review. Bancroft brought together 47 experts in biblical studies from Oxford, Cambridge and London. Here, he was surprisingly even-handed, bringing in the best scholars whether they were establishment or Puritan…

“And, by all accounts, the King James Bible succeeded. Within 50 years, its ‘majesty of style’ made it the widest circulating English Bible. It traveled to the American colonies, where it was frequently reprinted. For more than 300 years, it was the main Bible used in the English language, and no other Protestant Bible could compete with it.

“Archbishop Bancroft, whose burial site we now know, was a partisan bulldog for the Church of England establishment. Yet, he guided the creation of a new Bible translation that lasted for more than four centuries and was accepted by most branches of Protestant Christianity.”

The Coffin of Archbishop Bancroft and the King James Bible, by Paul V. M. Flesher, professor in University of Wyoming’s Department of Religious Studies.