The Book of Books. Melvyn Bragg

      

      Table of Contents

       Also by Melvyn Bragg:

       Title Page

       Dedication

       PROLOGUE

       PART ONE - FROM HAMPTON COURT TO NEW ENGLAND

       CHAPTER ONE - THE SCOPE OF IT

       CHAPTER TWO - THE ROAD TO 1611

       CHAPTER THREE - THE FOUNDATION IS LAID

       CHAPTER FOUR - THE KING JAMES VERSION IS COMMISSIONED

       CHAPTER FIVE - THE FOUR COMPANIES

       CHAPTER SIX - THE MAYFLOWER AND THE COVENANT

       CHAPTER SEVEN - THE BIBLE IN THE CIVIL WARS (1642-51)

       CHAPTER EIGHT - THE NEW MAP

       CHAPTER NINE - THE GREAT AWAKENING

       PART TWO - THE IMPACTION CULTURE

       CHAPTER TEN - THE ROYAL SOCIETY (1660): EARLY MODERN SCIENCE AND THE BIBLE

       CHAPTER ELEVEN - LANGUAGE

       CHAPTER TWELVE - THE BIBLE ITSELF AS LITERATURE

       CHAPTER THIRTEEN - FROM SHAKESPEARE - THE BIBLE AND LITERATURE (1)

       CHAPTER FOURTEEN - AMERICAN LITERATURE AND THE TWENTIETH CENTURY - THE BIBLE ...

       CHAPTER FIFTEEN - THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENLIGHTENMENT

       CHAPTER SIXTEEN - THE MATTER OF RICHARD DAWKINS: THE NEW ENLIGHTENMENT

       SEVENTEEN - MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT AND WILLIAM WILBERFORCE

       PART THREE - THE IMPACT ON SOCIETY

       CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - SLAVERY AND THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA (1)

       CHAPTER NINETEEN - SLAVERY AND THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA (2)

       CHAPTER TWENTY - THE BIBLE AND EDUCATION

       CHAPTER TWENTY ONE - ON A MISSION AROUND THE WORLD

       CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - THE BIBLE AND SEX

       CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE - THE BIBLE AND WOMEN

       CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM AND THE SOCIAL GOSPEL

       CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - THE BIBLE AND DEMOCRACY

       AFTERWORD

       Acknowledgments

       PICTURE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

       SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

       INDEX

       Copyright Page

       Also by Melvyn Bragg:

      Fiction For Want of a Nail The Second Inheritance The Cumbrian Trilogy: The Hired Man A Place in England Kingdom Come The Nerve Without a City Wall The Silken Net Autumn Manoeuvres Love and Glory Josh Lawton The Maid of Buttermore A Christmas Child A Time to Dance A Time to Dance: the screenplay Crystal Rooms Credo The Soldier’s Return A Son of War Crossing the Lines Remember Me

      Non-fiction Speak for England Land of the Lakes Laurence Olivier Cumbria in Verse (edited) Rich: The Life of Richard Burton On Giant’s Shoulders The Adventure of English 12 Books that Changed the World In Our Time The South Bank Show: Final Cut

      To the Reverend Marie-Elsa Bragg With love

       PROLOGUE

      In 1953, Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in Westminster Abbey. She swore her oath on the King James Bible. This version of the Bible was printed in English in 1611. It was inspired by James I, who was also crowned in Westminster Abbey, 350 years before Elizabeth II. His cousin, Elizabeth I, had, on the last day of her life, indicated that he was to be her successor.

      The Bible was a book which changed and moulded the English-speaking peoples. In America, Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as President on the King James Version as were other Presidents including George Washington, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama.

      This is no mere ceremonial token either in the United Kingdom or in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and elsewhere. This binding ritual signifies and honours a bond of faith and an acknowledgement of the unique reach and power of this book.

      You may be a Christian. You may be anti-Christian, or of another religion, or none. You may be an atheist fundamentalist and think the Bible is monstrous, a book to be dismissed or derided.

      But whoever you are in the English-speaking world, I hope to persuade