High on the edge of the Cotswold Escarpment at North Nibley stands an impressive tower, from which there are views of over twenty miles across the Severn Valley. It is known as the Tyndale Monument, and was built in honour of William Tyndale (1494 – 1536).
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| The Tyndale Monument |
So, who was he, and why was he deemed worthy of such a huge memorial? He only lived for 42 years and died in exile in Belgium by being strangled, then burnt. What terrible crime had he committed to warrant such a ghoulish punishment? It’s hard to believe today…….
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| William Tyndale |
Tyndale was born near Dursley in Gloucestershire and went on to study theology at Oxford. He was appalled to discover that the theology course did not include studying the bible, which was available in Latin and Greek but not in English. Language was no problem to him: he was skilful in Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, English and French. He became convinced that if Christianity was to be meaningful to ordinary people, rather than simply a cultural label, everyone should have access to the Bible in English.
Fortunately, the printing press had recently been invented, so it would be possible for a translation to be reproduced many times; and he made it his life’s work to translate the New Testament into English, an act that was strictly banned. It was a dangerous thing to do: the leaders of the church had been corrupted by political and religious power and believed that if people could read the bible for themselves the church authorities would lose their power over the population.
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| An early printing press |
Tyndale moved to London but found no support there, so he moved on to Germany. After his English New Testament was completed and printed, copies were smuggled into England and denounced by the Roman Catholic authorities. Secret agents were sent to trap him. Tyndale was accused of heresy and thereafter, he went into hiding for few years. Later, he moved to Belgium where he was betrayed and then arrested by the imperial authorities. He was convicted of heresy and sentenced to death by being strangled and burned at the stake.
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| Tyndale's New Testament |
Before he died, he cried out “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!” His hope and prayer was that Henry VIII would allow the Bible to be read in English by anyone who wished to read it. His prayer was answered: Within few years of Tyndale’s execution, King Henry VIII had published the English ‘Great Bible’ which drew heavily from Tyndale’s translation. Thousands of copies were printed, and one placed in every parish church where it could be read by any parishioner. Tyndale’s phenomenal work formed the basis of all subsequent English translations of the Bible and profoundly affected the development of the English language. Indeed, Tyndale’s translation was brilliant in its own right, and has had at least as much influence on our language as the writings of Shakespeare have had.
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| The Great Bible |
It was a tragedy that Christianity had been divided into two sorts of Christians – those who used religion as a power base, and those who genuinely sought a relationship with Jesus Christ. To this day there remains a division between ‘’cultural’ Christians and real believers. (I would define a real believer as someone who believes Jesus is alive, seeks a relationship with him, and seeks to put into practice his teachings.) When I was living in Uganda I discovered that if you asked someone “Are you a Christian?” they might well say “Yes”, but if you went on to ask “Are you saved?” they might say “No”. What they would have meant was that they had been educated in a Christian School and saw themselves as Christians rather than Muslims or animists. But they had not gone on to develop a commitment to Jesus as their Lord or the Bible as their guide.
The Bible is still hugely in demand, both in Britain and abroad. Organisations such as The Bible Society, Scripture Union, The Word for the World, and Wycliffe Bible Translators *(see below) promote the translation, distribution and reading of Bibles throughout the world.
When Queen Elizabeth II was crowned she was presented with a Bible by the archbishop of Canterbury, who described it as ‘this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords.’ And yet……. A recent poll suggest that only 6% of people in Britain read the Bible, and even 55% of Christians do not bother to read it regularly.
It’s a book that Tyndale gave his life for, to make it available to us.
It’s a book that has been described as ‘the most valuable thing that this world affords.’
It’s a book which tells us what our Maker wants us to know about Himself.
So why is it neglected by so many in Britain – a country where virtually everyone has been taught how to read? There’s the challenge!
*
• The Bible Society: https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/
• Scripture Union: https://content.scriptureunion.org.uk/bible-reading-guides
• The Word for the World: https://twftw.org.uk/
• Wycliffe Bible Translators: https://wycliffe.org.uk/
P.S. I wrote about my own introduction to the Bible and my thoughts about it in a blog entry in December 2019 entitled 'The best story-book in the world.' If you are reading this on a computer you can find it if you copy and paste the following:
https://mpriorblog.blogspot.com/2019/12/v-behaviorurldefaultvmlo.html
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