King James Only Movement - History

History

The history of the King James Version Only (hereafter KJVO) movement can best be described by a genealogical outline of writers whose books have not only given birth to the movement but also influenced their doctrines. Dr. James D. Price's book, published in 2006, gives the same information in a summary.

Benjamin G. Wilkinson (1872–1968), a staunch Seventh-Day Adventist missionary, theology professor and college president, wrote Our Authorized Bible Vindicated (1930), in which he attacked the Westcott-Hort Greek text and expressed strong opposition to the English Revised Version New Testament (ERV, 1881), in particular because it didn’t support two prooftexts favored by Adventists. He was the first to apply Psalms 12:6-7 to the King James Bible, claiming that the reference is a prooftext for divine preservation of the Scriptures.

Jasper James Ray (1894–1985), a business manager, missionary and Bible teacher, wrote a booklet entitled God Wrote Only One Bible (1955). It was nearly identical to Wilkerson's Our Authorized Bible Vindicated book without note or acknowledgement to Wilkerson's authorship. The result was a continued propagation of Wilkerson's statements but with the misconception of a separate, corroborating affirmation of Wilkerson's ideas.

Regular Baptist pastor David Otis Fuller (1903–1988) edited a book entitled Which Bible? published in 1970. It is an anthology by authors such as Robert Dick Wilson (1856–1930), Zane Clark Hodges (1932–2008) and others, who distinctly reject the "Textus Receptus only" / "KJV-Only" viewpoint and whose writings actually give some information refuting some of the extremes of the KJVO movement. This book, however, is singularly responsible for the "King James only" / "Textus Receptus only" controversial viewpoint that gained wide acceptance among KJV-Only believers. Almost half of the book is dedicated to the ten out of sixteen chapters from Wilkinson's Our Authorized Bible Vindicated.

Peter Sturges Ruckman (1921–present), a Baptist preacher, wrote many books: a series of uniformly bound books that are claimed to be commentaries on various Bible books, topical books on Bible-related subjects and books related to Bible text and translation issues. At least some of his books are characterized by harsh criticism of almost everyone involved in textual criticism, such as Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (1851–1921), Archibald Thomas Robertson (1863–1934), Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834–1892) with the likes of Julius Wellhausen (1844–1918) and Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969). The Christian's Handbook of Manuscript Evidence (1970) is among them. Ruckman was influenced by J. J. Ray's God Wrote Only One Bible, and Ruckman's The Bible Babel (1964) is nearly identical to Ray's 1955 book. Some supporters of the KJVO movement reject Ruckman's position that the King James Version Bible is superior to existing Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, and they also criticize Ruckman because "his writings are so acerbic, so offensive and mean-spirited that the entire movement has become identified with his kind of confrontational attitude."

Edward F. Hills (1912–1981), who wrote Believing Bible Study (1967) and King James Version Defended (1956, 1973) and wrote a chapter on Dean John William Burgon in Fuller's Which Bible?, did not advocate the inerrancy of the King James Version nor the Origenian origin of the Septuagint. However, Hills’ works are commonly cited to give support to the KJVO's position, even though Hills never supported such KJVO positions. Hills’ writings have been taken to task in slanting the public opinion toward the KJVO stance proffered by the movement, as well as against other Bible versions.

The KJVO movement as it stands today is inspired by Wilkinson, Ray, Fuller and Ruckman. As the movement progressed from one generation to the next, it became more radicalized and extreme.