One of the books I really, really want to read is a new biography of Tyndale. Thanks to Challies for pointing out the beauty of his language and the love which he showered upon his translation:
He did not write his own epitaph as was the custom at the time. But as Moynahan points out, a passage he left from 1 Corinthians seems to serve well: “‘And though I gave my body even that I burned, and yet had no love, it profiteth me nothing.’ That used love and not charity was technical evidence of his heresy, of course, and the prime reason why More wanted him brunt. But Tyndale did not die for charity; he died for love, for the love of God’s words and of their readers, and the most familiar work in the English language is thereby given the added grace of being a labour of love.”
Some of you may know I am a budding historian, and I have to admit that since college I have loved Elizabethan England. Well, to be clear, really I just love English history in general, from the battle of Hastings in 1066, Matilda and William (hilarious), the Wars of the Roses, the battle of Bosworth, etc, but I have a special affinity for the reign of the Virgin Queen. Of course, since this is the case, her father’s life is of great importance to me as well.
It was in the turbulent times of Henry VIII that you see Tyndale step onto the pages of history. Seeing that the common people of Europe *needed* to be able to read the Bible in their own language, and not continue to merely *hear* it explained to them as though they had no brains, Tyndale set out to translate it. And, if you place this in the context that his translations were being done in the early 1520s, only a few short years after Luther’s 1517 95 Theses took Europe by storm, you can see that his work fanned the flames of Reformation as mightily as any others’.
Even Anne Boleyn spoke on Tyndale’s behalf, holding a Tyndale Bible as she did so, but Henry VIII knew that to allow a full English translation would severely curtail his own political plans (remember he took on the position of Supreme Head of the Church of England and did away with Catholicism, which was certainly flawed, to marry Boleyn). Of course, it would have been all too clear to English men and women what was really happening in England had they had the Word there before them.
We see this love evident in his reply to Henry VIII when offered safe passage to his native England. Were Henry to grant even a bare text of Scripture to the common people, Tyndale promised, “I shall immediately make faithful promise never to write more, nor abide two days in these parts after the same: but immediately to repair unto his realm, and there most humbly submit myself at the feet of his royal majesty, offering my body to suffer what pain or torture, yea, what death his grace will, so this be obtained. And till that time, I will abide the asperity of all chances, whatsoever shall come, and endure my life in as many pains as it is able to bear and suffer.” The king would never submit to so audacious a demand and soon decreed that Tyndale be hunted down and killed.
When he was caught, Cromwell actually tried to step in, but he was strangled and his body burned at the stake in 1535. His last words are often considered to be prophetic, “Oh Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”
It was only a few years later that Henry authorized an English New Testament, based largely upon Tyndale’s translations from the original Greek and Hebrew sources. His work within the Reformation is often undervalued and his stamp on history should be as large as that of Luther. However, those of us who know Tyndale’s sweet story are brightened with each reading of it.
If you have a few hours to be inspired, I recommend you get this book and we can read it together. Tyndale’s story is one you should know and your children should know as well (I told my children of his sweet martyrdom in early grade school).
He’s one fellow I’m really looking forward to meeting one day, in addition to Luther, Boleyn, Erasmus, Fryth and Elizabeth I.
