Geneva Bible “Overview”
Robert Vaughn
Member Posts: 7 ✭
Geneva Bible: Text and Notes:
https://www.logos.com/product/46562/geneva-bible-text-and-notes
A Faithlife Support Department agent stated that the overviews in the product pages are provided by the publisher or author. This case, however, is obviously an exception since the page lists the publisher as the original 1560 publisher, Rovland (sic) Hall in Geneva.
The “Overview” for the Geneva Bible states that “Some of history’s most influential men, such as William Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, John Milton, John Knox, and John Bunyan, used the Geneva Bible.”
I am unsure of significance of this statement, for example, re John Bunyan (and perhaps Milton, too). Does this mean he merely “used” the Geneva as a Bible, or that Bunyan used the Geneva Bible instead of the King James Version? This is more of an urban legend found on the internet as opposed to a documented fact about Bunyan. Information supporting Bunyan’s use of the Geneva Bible as his primary Bible is not substantial. In fact, the writings of Bunyan himself give ample proof that he was primarily using the King James translation rather than Geneva – based on his Bible quotations, references to marginal readings, and so forth.
In The Legacy of the King James Bible (published by Crossway in 2011) Leland Ryken observes, “It might be expected that as a Puritan Bunyan (1628-1688) would have used the Geneva Bible, but the evidence points to the King James Bible instead. This is easy to establish from the occasional direct Bible quotations in The Pilgrim’s Progress...” (p. 188). Ryken is a recently retired professor of English at Wheaton College, and a credible witness.
I hope Faithlife/Logos will consider that a reference implying that John Bunyan primarily used the Geneva Bible is not well substantiated and consider revising that part of the “Overview” of the Geneva Bible.
https://www.logos.com/product/46562/geneva-bible-text-and-notes
A Faithlife Support Department agent stated that the overviews in the product pages are provided by the publisher or author. This case, however, is obviously an exception since the page lists the publisher as the original 1560 publisher, Rovland (sic) Hall in Geneva.
The “Overview” for the Geneva Bible states that “Some of history’s most influential men, such as William Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, John Milton, John Knox, and John Bunyan, used the Geneva Bible.”
I am unsure of significance of this statement, for example, re John Bunyan (and perhaps Milton, too). Does this mean he merely “used” the Geneva as a Bible, or that Bunyan used the Geneva Bible instead of the King James Version? This is more of an urban legend found on the internet as opposed to a documented fact about Bunyan. Information supporting Bunyan’s use of the Geneva Bible as his primary Bible is not substantial. In fact, the writings of Bunyan himself give ample proof that he was primarily using the King James translation rather than Geneva – based on his Bible quotations, references to marginal readings, and so forth.
In The Legacy of the King James Bible (published by Crossway in 2011) Leland Ryken observes, “It might be expected that as a Puritan Bunyan (1628-1688) would have used the Geneva Bible, but the evidence points to the King James Bible instead. This is easy to establish from the occasional direct Bible quotations in The Pilgrim’s Progress...” (p. 188). Ryken is a recently retired professor of English at Wheaton College, and a credible witness.
I hope Faithlife/Logos will consider that a reference implying that John Bunyan primarily used the Geneva Bible is not well substantiated and consider revising that part of the “Overview” of the Geneva Bible.
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