Church members take part in KJV lecture event

COGS involvement came about as a result of a week of events the church held in the autumn of 2011 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the King James’ version of the Bible - which included the ambitious compilation of a community handwritten set of the Gospels. Six venues in Monkstown participated in the handwritten Gospel exercise, and the results are currently being bound into permanent books thanks to a Heritage grant from Newtownabbey Borough Council. The work will go on display in coming months.

Mr Alan Taylor, Ms Berni McAvoy, Mrs Liz Feely and Rev Arlene Moore of COGS learnt much about the Bible through the ages at the Linenhall event. They also heard about the authorisation of the King James translation work and the dedicated scholarship which went on to make it the seminal translation of the ‘good book’ - indeed one that has lasted through the centuries, influencing all aspects of contemporary society.

Professor Lawrence Kirkpatrick, Chair of Church History at Queen’s University, gave the lecture, while the readings from the King James Bible were interspersed with comments and anecdotes by the Belfast Telegraph’s Religious Correspondent, Alf McCreary.

Others who gave readings included Anne Hailes, journalist and one-time TV presenter, Richard Ryan, Manager of the Good Bookshop at St Anne’s Cathedral and John Doherty, Chairman of the Bible Society of Northern Ireland.

More coverage in this week’s Times...