KJV on Radio 4

This from the Telegraph

Radio 4 to feature seven hours of King James Bible readings

BBC Radio 4 is to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible - by devoting an entire Sunday to readings from its scripture.

The event, which will take place in January next year, will last for a full seven hours, broken up into 28 readings of 15 minutes each.

Each reading is promised to be one of “the most powerful stories in the Bible”, and each will start with an introduction to explain its literary significance.  

While the readers have not yet been confirmed, Radio 4’s new controller Gwyneth Williams is hoping to attract venerable Shakespearean actors to some of the readings.

For listeners who flinch at the idea of seven hours of Sunday school, the BBC has confirmed that the biblical marathon will be interrupted to accommodate the popular regular elements of Radio 4’s Sunday schedule, including The Archers, Desert Island Discs, Gardeners’ Question Time and The World This Weekend.

The bible readings will be preceded the previous week by a three-part documentary series, The Story of the King James Bible, presented by James Naughtie.

Despite more modern versions of the Bible, such as the New Revised Standard Version and the Good News Bible, the King James Bible is still widely viewed as the most authoritative translation ever written - as well as one of the greatest works of literature in the English language.

It was created by about 50 scholars who were appointed by King James I in 1604 to write a new translation of the Bible, and the Radio 4 series will examine how they approached their work and what signficance the finished product still has.

The programmes will be welcomed by traditionalist Christians who objected to the BBC’s appointment last year of Aaqil Ahmed, a Muslim, as its commissioning editor of religious programmes.

Two years ago, the BBC’s director-general Mark Thompson also caused controversy by saying that the corporation should treat Islam differently from Christianity. “My view is that there is a difference between the position of Christianity, which I believe should be central to the BBC’s religion coverage and widely respected and followed,” said Mr Thompson, who is a practising Catholic. “What Christian identity feels like it is about to the broad population is a little bit different to people for whom their religion is also associated with an ethnic identity which has not been fully integrated. To be a minority I think puts a slightly different outlook on it.”