Our odyssey through the 1611 King James translators presses on to the 1st Oxford Company, the intellectual vanguard ensconced in the dreaming spires, charged with Isaiah to Malachi—prophets thundering judgment and Messiah’s promise. These 10 men, a potent brew of Puritan visionaries and Anglican stalwarts, convened in Christ Church and Corpus Christi amid the scent of ancient vellum. Their debates crackled like Sinai lightning, every Messianic prophecy honed through 14 meticulous reviews, emerging as shafts of divine light piercing the gloom.

The Spire’s Scholars: Pedigrees Polished by Providence

**John Reynolds **, Puritan lion and President of Corpus Christi College , sparked the translation at Hampton Court 1604. A onetime Catholic, his Sex Bibiliorum dissected Origen’s Hexapla; contemporaries hailed him “chiefest of critics.”

**George Abbot **, future Archbishop of Canterbury , was no cloistered bookworm—Oxford’s bear-wrestling legend slew a savage beast barehanded at Paris Garden in 1601, roaring “Cave, Canem!” His Exposition of Jonah fueled prophetic fire.

**John Harding **, Regius Professor Hebrew , decoded rabbinic arcana for Isaiah’s seraphim.

**John Peryn **, Prebendary Gloucester , patristic devotee.

**Humphrey Hodson **, Fellow of All Souls , logic master.

**John Harmer **, Prebendary Winchester , NT cross-referencer.

**Thomas Sanderson **, triple-threat Prebendary Lincoln , polyglot prodigy.

**Thomas Rippington **, MA Oxford ; minor canon.

**Richard King ** and **Richard Fisher **, both BAs/MAs Oxford , rectors with Hebraic bent.

Anecdotes Amid the Dreaming Spires: From Bears to Burning Bushes

Envision Abbot, post-bear triumph, channeling that ferocity into Zechariah’s chariots. Reynolds, blind but unbowed, dictated Habakkuk from memory—his death mid-Isaiah a poignant pause. Harding sparred with Jewish scholars in Hebrew; the company huddled through 1605 plague scares, visions of end-times spurring them. One yarn: Abbot wrestled doctrine like his ursine foe, pinning Arminian errors. Their Puritan fire illuminated “Immanuel” , wedding Anglican majesty.

Legacy: Messianic Light from Oxford’s Forge

This band’s prophecies ignited Wesley’s revival and missionary surges—Isaiah 53 a scalpel for souls. Reviewed 14 times under overseer scrutiny, their words herald the King. Oxford’s spires still echo their genius.

Next: 2nd Oxford – The NT Navigators. Momentum builds. Soli Deo Gloria.