"Who Wrote the King James Version?"
[posted prior to 10/12/02]
http://ichthys.com   
Question:  
Do you know how many books in the King James bible were written by women? If so, would you also name the women for me? Thank you.
Response:  
The Old Testament of the Bible was originally written in Hebrew, the New Testament in Greek (with smatterings of Aramaic in each). The King James is one of  the (if not the) most famous English translations of the Bible. The King James version was accomplished by teams of scholars and churchmen working by committee (at Oxford, Cambridge, and Westminster).  It was done in the seventeenth century (long after the Bible was written: 16 centuries or so after the NT, many more for the OT).  The translations were done by committee so that it is not clear precisely who is responsible for any given piece of the work (a convention that has been continued by many more modern versions with even more anonymity, in particular the RSV, NASB, and NIV).  No women are to be found among the translators whose names are known (a fact which, given the male dominated composition of church bureaucracies and college faculties at that time, is not at all surprising).
The Bible itself was written exclusively by Jewish men who had been commissioned by God and led by His Spirit to write the Holy scriptures (cf. 1Pet.1:20), starting with Moses (the first five books, or Pentateuch) and ending with the apostle John (the book of Revelation). There is more information on the exclusivity of Jewish authorship in the study "The Satanic Rebellion part 5" under "the Uniqueness of Israel" (see the link).
This is not to say that women have made no verbal contribution to the scriptures.  For example, Luke records Mary's stirring words (Lk.1:46-55), and Samuel gives us the beautiful song of Hannah (1Sam.2:1-10). But both these books themselves, along with all the other canonical books, were written by Jewish men with the gift of prophecy who were commissioned and directed by God for this special task.  Here are some other links to related issues of canonicity:
Issues of Canonicity: Apocrypha, Enoch, and Inspiration.
Canonicity of the Book of Revelation
The Canonicity of the book of Hebrews.
The Gospel of Judas and Issues of Canonicity
Did Matthew Write his Gospel in Hebrew?
Hope this helps,
Yours in Christ,
Bob Luginbill
http://ichthys.com