Lesson 4 - Tyndale and His Wonderful Book

• Tyndale's "Call to Service"
• Tyndale the Traveler
• Start the Presses
• Program - Can't tell the 1530's without a program!
• Tyndale the Martyr

His "Call to Service"

In some religious circles the "wheels" expect church leaders to have a definite "call to the ministry." Usually they mean some sort of "crisis" experience in which the person realizes that God has a special "calling" for him. Although he didn't use that term, William Tyndale knew exactly what he wanted to do from an early age.

He had a remarkable gift for languages. At Oxford he studied Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. One of his favorite books was the Greek New Testament published by Erasmus of Rotterdam in 1516.

He found that the Church did not measure up to what he found. Even though he argued for reformation and was sympathetic to the Lollard teachings he found at Oxford, he was ordained a priest in 1521. In debates with local church leaders he usually bested them by citing Scripture, something they simply did not know.

In one such argument a priest, exasperated by Tyndale's constant reference to the Bible, exclaimed "We were better without God's law than the Pope's." Tyndale's rash reply -

I defy the Pope and all his laws, and if God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the Scriptures than thou doest. (Bobrick, p. 90)

Ooops - not the politically correct thing to say! His vicar-general gave him a harsh tongue-lashing, and Tyndale saw his life's work - to lay before the lay people the Scriptures in their mother tongue.

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Tyndale the Traveler

In 1408 The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Arundel, had issued the "Constitutions of Oxford proclaiming, among other things, that no unauthorized person could possess a Wycliffe Bible, i.e., an English translation. "Am I authorized?" "If you have to ask, you aint!"

So, if William Tyndale was to translate the Bible into English he needed the Church's stamp of approval, or whatever they did back then. Bill had been living and studying outside of London, so he really had no contacts in the Church's power structure. He had read some reform-oriented books by Erasmus and Sir Thomas More that commended Cutherbert Tunstall - remember that name - it'll be on the test!

Tunstall was the Bishop of London and "Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal," and we all know how important privies are! OK - bad joke, and bad decision on Tyndale's part. Tunstall was deeply committed to the church and the king, Henry VIII.

This was 1523 and the Lutheran Reformation was in full force among the German states. Luther had published some vicious writings against the Church as well as his German New Testament. Unrest was the norm "over there" and the Peasant's War was about to break out. Henry VIII hated Luther with a passion and had written several major works against the German monk and his cause.

Think of it! Luther is causing all sorts of trouble for the "Powers-that-Be, " even giving the ignorant, savage peasants the New Testament in their own language. The Pope and Henry are livid with rage against him - and Cuthbert is behind them all the way.

Now here comes this priest from the country, asking Tunstall to authorize him to translate the Bible into English! Fortunately Tunstall just showed Tyndale the door to the outside rather than the Tower of London. I wonder how many times he wished he had arrested Bill on the spot when he first showed up!

Well - if not London, then where? Europe - probably Germany. Alister McGrath shows that there is no direct evidence that Tyndale ever met with Luther, but it's clear that Tyndale had read Luther's books, especially his New Testament.

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Start the Presses!

Tyndale ended up in Cologne where he finished his translation of the New Testament and started printing his work. The city, unfortunately, was not a "safe" Lutheran city, and the Catholic authorities tried to stop his work.

OK - on to the city of Worms - that's not a comment on its citizens - that's its name! Luther defended his views at a large meeting in this city. In those days such gatherings were called "Diets." Yes, this is known today as the Diet of Worms, but don't expect middle school students to think of a theological debate when you use the phrase!

From there, in 1526, the first of several thousand copies of Tyndale's New Testament entered England, hidden in bales of dry goods, casks of fish, and hundreds of other places known only to smugglers. Smuggled? You bet - there was no way Henry or Tunstall would permit this book to enter their country. Remember - Luther and his New Testament were blamed for the Peasant's War that had just ended with over 50,000 dead.

"Not here, not ever!' they cried.

Yeah, right! Tyndale ended up in Antwerp, a fairly "safe" place for people hated by King and Pope, and a wonderful place for getting books published! The English wool industry was the biggest supplier of wool to Europe, and Antwerp was one of the biggest shipping ports on the coast. Over 60 printers worked in Antwerp as well, most of them producing books for the English market. Moving books into the country, especially banned books, was an Antwerp speciality!

Between 1526 and 1528 at least 18,000 copies of Tyndale's New Testament headed across the Channel to feed the insatiable hunger for God's Word in English. Many were burned, but an increasing number made it into the hands and hearts of the English people.

Only three copies of Tyndale's first edition exist today. Yet his translation lives on in literally millions of copies of the English Bible, for most of the venerated King James Version is, in fact, Tyndale's own translation!

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Program - Can't tell the 1530's without a program!

Let's set the scene around 1530. As faithful listeners will no doubt recall, our hero, William Tyndale is in Antwerp publishing English New Testaments and shipping them to England as fast as he can get them bound and boxed. He's also finishing up his translation of the Pentateuch - sorry - that's a technical term for the first five books of the Old Testament, Genesis through Deuteronomy.

Cuthbert Tunstall, the Bishop of London, is nursing a deep personal grudge against Tyndale and is determined to "get him" any way possible. He holds Bill personally responsible for the ever increasing flood of English New Testaments, the willingness of common people to question the Church, and Southhampton Garbage Collectors strike!

Thomas More, one of Henry VIII's key advisors and a dedicated defender of the Church, also hates Tyndale and anything he writes. Tom and Bill have a running feud, each firing published criticisms at the other. More, one of the most highly educated men of his day, attacks Tyndale on a personal level, lowering himself to language I won't repeat here. Curious? Check out McGrath, p. 82,

Meanwhile Henry VIII was trying to untie the marriage knot that bound him to Catherine of Aragon. They had six children, only one of whom survived infancy - Mary would, in fact, become Queen. Henry's eyes were on Anne Boleyn. Surely someone as beautiful as she could produce the desired male heir.

OK - keep things in their historical context. Back then kings led their troops into battle, thus the need for an heir back home. Why a male? Tradition played a large role, but back in the 12th century Queen Maude was on the English throne and it was a disaster! The nation ended up in civil war.

Speaking of war, Henry's father had won the throne through victory in another civil war - the War of the Roses (1455-1485). Henry thought, and probably correctly, he needed an heir to his throne to avoid returning to civil war. Yep - Henry wanted and needed a male heir to his throne!

Only sons need apply.

Henry had to move away from the Catholic Church to obtain his divorce, and this meant moving in the direction of the Reformation. Thomas More, for one, refused to follow him and resigned his office. He also refused to attend the wedding of Henry and Anne - courageous but unwise decision. Henry turned against him and, in 1535, while Tyndale was under arrest in Antwerp, had him executed.

Thomas Cranmer became the Archbishop of Canterbury and Thomas Cromwell became Henry's new Vice Regent. Henry must have had a "thing" for the name Thomas! Both men supported the general principles of the Reformation and Henry's move in that direction. They even encouraged the King to permit the publication and distribution of an English Bible!

In December of 1534 the English bishops in Convocation, the two Toms, and Anne all asked Henry to authorize a new English translation. By the fall of1535 Henry gave the project his approval!

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Tyndale the Martyr

Wait a minute! Tyndale is executed in October of 1536 - almost a year after the King gives his approval to an English translation. What's the story?

It's another ironic twist, this time against Tyndale.

He lived in Antwerp because two of England's most powerful men hated him - Cuthbert Tunstall and Thomas More. Yes, I think that if Tyndale had been able to present his case directly to Henry in 1535 the king would have allowed him to continue his work. But Tunstall and More would never allow him to speak to Henry - they'd have killed him first!

Living abroad he's relatively safe from Tunstall and More's legal reach. But he's also out of Cranmer and Cromwell's reach! The first two can't kill him, the second two can't protect him.

Direct evidence is missing, but it seems that Cuthbert, the same one Tyndale first approached for support in his translation project, figured out where Tyndale was living. He sent agents to Antwerp to capture and take him south to the Vilvorde Castle in Brussels, Catholic controlled territory.

They held him here from May of 1535 to the fall of 1536. During this time he completed the translation of Joshua through 2 Chronicles.

In spite of the efforts of English merchants and Thomas Cromwell - and what Catholic court would listen to Henry's man - Tyndale stood trial for heresy. The charges were not hard to prove, for in his writings Tyndale clearly rejected transsubstantiation and held to justification by faith, both capital crimes in the eyes of the Church.

In October, 1536, he was found guilty and sentenced to die. The executioner first strangled him, then burned his body. Tyndale's last words were "God, open the King of England's eyes!"

In a sense God never answered his final prayer, for Henry remained committed to the Catholic faith all his life. Yet in another sense it was already being answered, for Henry had formally authorized one of Tyndale's former partners, Miles Coverdale, to produce a complete English Bible for publication and distribution.

That's where we go next - following the adventures of the English Bible in merry olde England!

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