A 2016 English-speaker would indeed normally use "witness" in the more frequent day-to-day sense of "a person who witnessed something," rather than the older and now less common -- but still legitimate! -- sense of "testimony." :-)
But to make a religious or moral allusion?
To this day, religious and moral allusions in English are likely to echo the specific wording of the King James Version (the "KJV") of the Bible, which was translated between 1604 and 1611. As you may know, that particular translation deeply permeated English-language literature and culture. Its turns of phrase are embedded in English beyond our conscious, day-to-day realizations. Poets, essayists, novelists, politicians, preachers... all cited the specific KJV wording for centuries on end, long after other translations were also available. Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. -- so many great English-speaking orators used that language.
Speaking as a religious person in 2016, I'd never use the KJV for study or reflection! It's an unreliable translation by modern academic standards, with some famous bloopers.
But speaking as a lover of English language and literature? Oh, yes, please, give me the KJV language any day! It's beautiful. And it's what sounds -- like an accent -- religious and moral to an ear that grew up in an English-speaking culture.
Re: Episode title
But to make a religious or moral allusion?
To this day, religious and moral allusions in English are likely to echo the specific wording of the King James Version (the "KJV") of the Bible, which was translated between 1604 and 1611. As you may know, that particular translation deeply permeated English-language literature and culture. Its turns of phrase are embedded in English beyond our conscious, day-to-day realizations. Poets, essayists, novelists, politicians, preachers... all cited the specific KJV wording for centuries on end, long after other translations were also available. Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr. -- so many great English-speaking orators used that language.
Speaking as a religious person in 2016, I'd never use the KJV for study or reflection! It's an unreliable translation by modern academic standards, with some famous bloopers.
But speaking as a lover of English language and literature? Oh, yes, please, give me the KJV language any day! It's beautiful. And it's what sounds -- like an accent -- religious and moral to an ear that grew up in an English-speaking culture.