”Every afternoon, as we sew, one of the priests attached to the King’s chapel, or a preacher from London, comes to my rooms and reads the Bible to us in English, and delivers a sermon explaining the passage. To my surprise, the task that I have undertaken as a duty becomes my favorite part of the day. I realize that I am a natural scholar. I have always loved to read, and do the first time in my life I have time to do so and I am able to study with the greatest thinkers in the kingdom. I have an almost sensual delight in their work. They take a text from the Bible -the Great Bible that the king commanded should be translated into English so that everyone can study it- and hey examine it word by word. It is like reading poetry, like studying the philosophers. The shades of meaning that arise and dissolve with translation, with the juxtaposition of one word against another, fascinate me, and then the way that the truth of God shines through, layer after layer like a sun through strips of cloud, as one wrestles with the words.” ✒️: Philippa Gregory 📷: The Taming of the Queen 🧠: Historical Fiction will always have a sweet spot with me. And reading about royalty is always interesting, particularly this time period in Christianity because the translation of the Bible from Latin is a very big deal. It's a fascinating story historically. And these conversations were happening in the English Court, the countryside, parlors, everywhere across King Henry’s domain, since he had chosen to split the Church of England from the Catholic Church and the Roman Pope... These conversations bring the Bible one step closer to landing in the hands of revolutionary freedom fighters from Harriett Tubman, to Fredrick Duglass, and Denmark Vessey. It was these conversations that began to make English the international language that it is today. And it is these conversations that motivated countless rural and peasant families in Europe and North America to teach their children to read English. Its a big deal. Lol. This book is a fictionalized account of King Henry’s fourth wife, Kateryn Parr. And she is witnessing the birth of Protestantism. #phillipagregory #herstunreads (at England) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-VZCFKgZNr/?igshid=1s9uml1hnko3s
