William Tyndale believed English Bibles would enable people to come to faith in God. His prayers were answered as the first English Bible was published in 1535.
Erasmus expressed the hope that the New Testament would be translated into all languages and made accessible to everyone, including women.
The printing press made books more readily available so Tyndale took advantage of this new technology to produce English Bibles.
Tyndale was born in Gloucestershire circa 1490. He entered Magdalen College, Oxford, as a child where he read in the liberal arts and mastered seven languages. He then attended Cambridge before he became a tutor in Sir John Walsh’s household in Gloucestershire. He spent his spare time preaching on the virtues of the Reformation.
Tyndale was convinced most of the clergy had very little knowledge of the Bible, except what was contained in their Missals (Mass Book).
However, such an undertaking needed money and Church approval. He applied to Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London, for permission in 1523 but he was met with a frosty disapproval. The bishop was suspicious of Tyndale’s theology and he was uncomfortable with the Bible printed in the vernacular.
He resolved to translate the Bible so people could see the truth for themselves when the Church authorities tried to silence him.
So Tyndale turned to a wealthy London merchant, Humphrey Monmouth, who belonged to a group of Protestant propagandists and book smugglers known as the Augmentation of Christian Brethren, or as the Christian Brethren. Tyndale worked on translating most of the New Testament within six months.
Exile
He travelled to Hamburg in Germany in May 1524 where vast funds were sent to print the New Testament. Tyndale also met Luther at Wittenberg and a quarto edition of the New Testament was eventually published and smuggled in cotton bales into England during the Spring of 1526.
Tyndale chose English words based instead of Latinised Catholic dogma. He used “favour” instead of “grace”; “love” instead of “charity”; “acknowledge” rather than “confess”; “repentance” replaced “penance”; and “health” in lieu of “salvation” His New Testament was based upon on the perfected Greek text established by Erasmus’ critical edition in 1516.
Numerous copies were discovered by the Church so they destroyed them in book burning, including a bonfire outside St Paul’s on 11 February. However, many copies were circulated and it became one of the English Reformation’s first instruments.
Tyndale remained abroad as he continued writing religious treatises and preparing to translate the Old Testament into English. He moved to Antwerp in 1534 where he lived and worked in a house owned by English merchants.
Attempts were made to lure Tyndale back to England. He told a government agent that if the King (Henry VIII) would only grant his people what many other people already had—their own Bible—he would never publish another word. He would cease to exist.
No part of the Bible was published in English before Tyndale published his complete New Testament in 1526—as an exile using a foreign press at Worms. The Bible was translated by self-appointed volunteers.
Thomas More – Critic
Thomas More launched an attack against Protestants in 1529, especially aimed at Luther and Tyndale, with his book, A Dialogue Concerning Heresies. He criticised Tyndale’s choice of words and bent on proving he was a fraud and a hypocrite.
A war of words began between Tyndale and More. Tyndale responded to More in An Answer To Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue in 1531 where he appeals to the Scriptures as the ultimate authority to evaluate church doctrine and practice, and even attacked church hierarchy. He accused More of trading his early humanist convictions for wealth and power.
More strikes back with The Confutation of Tyndale by repeating and intensifying his previous attacks, advocated burning his works and prophesying he would burn in hell for his sins. More supported burning heretics such as Tyndale.
Heading For Martyrdom
He was betrayed to local authorities in May 1535, so he was confined to a dungeon in Vilvoorden for more than a year without candles, books or writing materials.
In August 1536, Henry VIII issued royal injunctions for requiring an English Bible to be placed at the disposal of parishioners in every parish. A translation by Tyndale and Miles Coverdale—Matthew’s Bible, was already prepared although printed copies were not available for another three years.
He was strangled and burnt as a heretic on 6 October 1536. His last prayer was, according to martyrologist John Foxe, “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.” His prayers were eventually answered.
His prayer was answered as Tyndale’s work was absorbed into the many English Bibles produced in even greater numbers over the next one hundred years.
Tyndale’s story was included in John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs—eventually published in 1563—retelling English Reformation’s story from its martyrs’ points of view.
Sources
Collinson, Patrick, The Reformation, Phoenix [Orion Books], London, 2005
Houghton, S M, Sketches From Church History, Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh, 1980
Rodwell, Warwick, Our Christian Heritage, Guild Publishing, London, 1984
Smith, Carol and Roddy, Quicknotes Christian History Guidebook, Barbour Publishing, Uhrichville, OH, 2001
Thompson, Bard, Humanists & Reformers, A History of the Renaissance and Reformation, Wm B Erdmans Publishing Co, Grand Rapids Michigan, 1996
© 2010 Carolyn Cash
This article was originally published by Suite 101 on 13 March 2010.
