Erasmus
I thought about the King James Only Debate while reading a book by David Bentley-Taylor entitled My Dear Erasmus: The Forgotten Reformer (2002). I have always found the logic (or lack of it) in King James proponents appalling. I have also thought that the issue is one of church tradition rather than the Bible itself. The Erasmus book is largely a book of quotes from letters to and from Erasmus (mostly from Erasmus). The letter in particular that caught my attention was probably in 1515. Maarten van Dorp wrote Erasmus the following words (taken from David Bentley-Taylor’s book):
I understand that you have also revised the New Testament and written notes on over a thousand passages. This raises another point on which I should like in the friendliest possible spirit to issue a warning. What sort of operation is this, to correct the Scriptures, and in particular to correct Latin copies by means of the Greek?…It will do a great deal of harm. Many people will have doubts about the integrity of the Scriptures if the presence of the least scrap of falsehood in them becomes known.
