This episode describes the confrontation between Puritans and King James just prior to the new monarch's ascension to power in 1603. A Puritan delegation headed by John Reynolds petitioned the king to share ecclesiastical power with lay elders and install presbyterian church government throughout England. This radical change in church polity would undermine the authority of bishops, and James adamantly responded, "No bishop, no king!" James reaction underscores the church-state fusion that predominated in Europe in which bishops were, in effect, delegates of the king. Presbyterian church government threatened to undermine royal authority. The confrontation nevertheless bore positive fruit when King James agreed to Reynold's suggestion that a new English translation of the Bible be sanctioned by the king.
The Empire Strikes Back: the Bishop’s Bible
This episode further explains objections to the Geneva Bible by both bishops and monarchs, and analyzes the Bishop's Bible, the "establishment's" response. The commentary throughout the Geneva Bible advocated a presbyterian form of church government where a group of elders presided over the church. Bishops in England naturally opposed this arrangement, for it undermined the singular authority of the bishop. Monarchs also found presbyterian government objectionable, as the close fusion of church and state potentially undercut the monarch's role in governing the Anglican Church. In response, the "establishment" produced the Bishop's Bible in 1668 (revised in 1672). While it was a direct translation from Hebrew/Greek to English, the final work lacked cohesiveness since individual bishops translated passages of the Bible (instead of committee), and no uniform translation methodology governed the process. The Bishop's Bible was consequently not as popular as the Geneva Bible.