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CASE FILE: Battle for the Bible
THE SCENE: Europe, the 14th through the 17th centuries
LEAD DETECTIVE: Lori Anne Ferrell
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Today, Christians around the world are well versed in the language of the King James Bible. But few people know the fascinating story of how it came to be translated and democratized.
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In the United States, there are more than 150 million Protestants divided among some 630 denominations. They worship in vastly different ways but they all trace their roots to one book -- the English-language Bible. Today, that ubiquitous book is largely taken for granted, but for the original translators, producing and distributing the Bible in English was a dangerous pursuit involving subversion, obsession, intrigue, treachery, imprisonment, and death.
SECRETS OF THE DEAD: Battle of the Bible tells the compelling story of faith, flames and martyrdom behind the world's most famous book. The Biblical texts, translated from the original ancient Greek and Hebrew into equally obscure Latin, were staunchly guarded, making common interpretation impossible and ensuring that no one would question the authority of the Church.
Through the stories of John Wycliffe, William Tyndale and Thomas Cranmer -- the brave reformers who paid the ultimate price to bring the Bible to the people in a language they could understand -- Battle for the Bible reveals how a seed planted on English ground inspired a new, progressive way of thinking and living that crossed an ocean. Nurtured in terrible adversity by patient and persistent hands more than 600 years ago, it continues to bear the fruits of freedom and individualism.
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