The Origin and Growth of the Bible in English

This graph shows the many versions through which the English Bible has developed, and the varying degrees to which the successive versions were based upon earlier versions, all the way back to the original manuscripts. Of course the original manuscripts have long since disintegrated, but more hand-written copies of those original autographs exist than for any other ancient writing of note. The graph also makes obvious how discoveries of more ancient manuscripts than those available to Tyndale have further sharpened the reliability of the newest English versions.

By the Editors

[Christian History originally published this article in Christian History Issue #16 in 1987]

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