Working for the Word - a Bible translation podcast Does Copyright Protect the Text of Scripture? - A Message Presented at Doreancon 2025
Oct 11, 2025
Explore the fascinating relationship between copyright and Scripture. Discover how historic monopolies failed to ensure textual purity and how copyright didn’t prevent cult translations. Dive into the original purpose of copyright as censorship and its implications for modern publishing. Learn why the decentralization of manuscripts played a crucial role in preserving Scripture. Ultimately, it challenges the idea of whether guarding God's word means restricting access or passionately sharing it with the world.
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Luther’s Trust In Scripture’s Power
- Martin Luther trusted Scripture to do its work without coercion and credited the Word for weakening the papacy.
- He preached, taught, and wrote, but emphasized letting faith come freely rather than forcing conformity.
Monopoly Printing Didn’t Prevent Major Errors
- Officially controlled printings like the KJV still produced major errors such as the 1631 'Wicked Bible' omission of 'not' in the seventh commandment.
- Centralized monopoly printing did not prevent scandalous typographical corruptions from reaching many readers.
Historical Backlash Against Bible Monopoly
- Nineteenth-century critics like Thomas Curtis documented numerous printing corruptions and denounced the crown's Bible monopoly as harmful.
- Public outcry then argued monopoly on scripture was impious and obstructive to salvation and fair access.
