Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me:
Marty Peretz on the benefits of knowing your English-language Jacobean Christian Bible:
The Spine: Up through the mid-twentieth century, most of our public personages had the stern eloquence of the Saint James version [of the English Bible] in their heads. Now almost no one does. They had grown up with it. (Both Wynton Marsalis and Skip Gates had separately observed to me that this was the difference between the great black poets and novelists and rap.)... They were literate. One has only to read the gorgeous prose of Lincoln, of Macaulay, of Disraeli, even of William Jennings Bryan to understand that inspiring facility with words comes from reading gorgeous prose. How could Bill Clinton be in the second volume of this anthology?...
I guess he never had the "stern eloquence" of the King James Version in his head. Hell, he never even had the title of the King James Version in his head.
