ABSTRACT
In the late fourteenth century, John Wyclif's associates created the first complete English translation of the Bible. They aimed to make scripture directly accessible to English-speaking Christians who did not know Latin. By the fifteenth century, translating the Bible into English had become a risky undertaking because it could be seen as undermining the authority of the Church. Wyclif died in 1384, and less than thirty years later, translating the Bible into English was outlawed. In Christian traditions, God's immanence is manifest especially in Jesus. The Bible's emphasis on concrete rather than abstract language took on a particularly modern cast in the twentieth century, a relevance that remains undiminished for many authors. For some, the Bible is a living text: traditionally minded Jews and Christians generally believe that reading and studying Holy Scripture in community enacts the presence of the living God.
