THIS WEEKS BIBLE FACTS/TRIVIA/HUMOR

The Bible is the most famous and widely distributed book in history, but even people who grew up reading it are often surprised by how bizarre, dramatic, and culturally powerful its story really is. Over the centuries, the Bible has inspired wars, revolutions, masterpieces of art, blockbuster movies, and countless songs. It has also been censored, mistranslated, smuggled, stolen, and even printed with one of the most infamous typos ever made. From the legendary “Sinners’ Bible” that accidentally commanded people to commit adultery to the fact that no original biblical manuscripts still exist, these surprising Bible facts show why the world’s most influential book is also one of its strangest.

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• John Wycliffe’s English Bible was so controversial that church authorities had his body dug up and burned.

John Wycliffe produced the first translation of the entire Bible from Latin Vulgate into English. However, after he died, the Catholic Church exhumed and burned his corpse as punishment for his translation work. The church opposed the translation because it bypassed priests, allowing laypeople and women to read the scriptures directly. Wycliffe promoted Scripture as the ultimate authority, earning him the title "Morning Star of the Reformation."

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• William Tyndale was executed for translating the Bible into English.

• He was executed by strangulation and burning at the stake in Vilvoorde, Belgium. His work was viewed as a threat to established ecclesiastical authority. Despite his execution, his translations became the foundation for the Great Bible (1539) and the King James Version (1611).

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• The Gutenberg Bible helped change the history of the printed world.

The Gutenberg Bible is widely considered the first major European book printed using movable metal type, helping launch the printing revolution. To print the Bibles, Gutenberg borrowed large sums of money from Johann Fust, a wealthy goldsmith and business partner. Fust later sued Gutenberg for repayment, a case Gutenberg lost. He died in relative poverty.

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• The Great Bible was the first authorized Bible printed in English.

The first authorized Bible printed in English is the Great Bible of 1539. King Henry VIII of England declared that it should be read aloud during the church services in the Church of England.

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• The Geneva Bible was associated with both Shakespeare and the Pilgrims.

The Geneva Bible is often identified as the Bible used by William Shakespeare and the one carried by the Pilgrims to America in 1620.

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• The first English Bible printed in America appeared before the United States existed.

Robert Aitken’s Bible (The King James Version without the Apocrypha) was the first English Bible printed in America, appearing during the Revolutionary era.