The Great King James I

Edited by Bp. Joseph Boyd (Ancient Church of the West)

King James I was born on this date, June 18, in 1566. Already king of Scotland, he became king of England upon the death of Queen Elizabeth I. James was a brilliant and scholarly man: a legal thinker, a poet, patron of the arts, and accomplished author of seven books on different topics. He was called "The Wisest Fool in England", because he was constantly learning and did not hold his own opinion highly, but used his royal wealth and position to amass scholars and philosophers in his court. Despite his upbringing under harsh Calvinist control, he developed a strong love of the Apostolic Episcopacy, Carolinian Theology and continued to try to sustain peace between the High-Church Anglicans and the radical Puritan enemies of the church. This peace would ultimately break down, leading to the martyrdom of his son, St. Charles I, and the beheading of the holy bishops that King James had sponsored and supported. 

James’ greatest contribution was to commission a new translation of the Bible to resolve discrepancies among the different translations then being used. The work was entrusted to 47 scholars, under the general direction of the Blessed Lancelot Andrewes (1555–1626), dean of Westminster and master of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Work began in 1604, and the project was completed seven years later. The new translation drew liberally on the earlier Coverdale and Bishops’ Bibles, and it effectively translated the Apostolic Faith into the English language to support the Anglican Patrimony. The “Authorized Version,” or “King James Bible,” soon became the standard text for biblical scholarship in the English-speaking world, and is loved and embraced by many who do not know or understand its origins and philosophical approach. It is still considered a masterpiece of biblical scholarship, and a masterpiece of High English literature.

In the wake of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, parliament passed a law requiring citizens to take an Oath of Allegiance denying the Pope's authority over the king. James supported the measure but took a conciliatory attitude towards Roman Catholics. Believing that he might need their support, he let it be known that he would not persecute "any that will be quiet and give but an outward obedience to the law.” King James' approach became the foundation of the toleration of conscience that would later typify English theology. 

With the strong support of the Blessed William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, James attempted to bring the Scottish kirk "so neir as can be" to the English church, to re-establish a Scottish episcopacy, and to implement Anglican high-church ritual in the Church of Scotland. In this, King James helped to re-establish the episcopal lineage that would become the "Non-Jurors", which would become known for their Orthodoxy and for their missionary fervor. These policies were fiercely resisted by the Scottish Presbyterians. Ecclesiastical tensions between England and Scotland continued through the reign of James’ son, Charles I, and eventually helped precipitate the English Civil War—and the martyrdom of both St. Charles and Blessed William Laud.