Against the Current of Change

The Tyndale Bible

What kind of stamina and character would it require to take the most revered, authoritative and regulated book in all of Europe and modify it so that it was in a lower, common everyday language, the same one used by commoners, everyday untaught peasants and servants. This was William Tyndale's work as one of the pioneers to the translation of the Latin Bible into English. What struck me as amazing as I was shuffling slowly through the large display cases filled with different Bible translations was the effort, undying patience and pure boldness required to defy all authority in pursuit of what you believe to be a higher cause. The Exhibit of the King James Bible in the library was quite the collection which showed the history and progression of each Bible into English, usually accompanied by a martyr.

Joseph Smith reading the family Bible

As a brief history, William Tyndale was a very well educated individual, known for his ability to speak languages such as Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Spanish, Italian, and German. He studied at Oxford and during his time he would sputter off his wild opinions in the realms of religion. At one famous encounter John Foxe wrote in Foxe's Book of Martyrs that a man told William, "We had better be without God's laws than the Pope's", to which came the vehement response, "I defy the Pope, and all his law's; and if God spares my life, ere many years, I will cause the boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost!"

William's Martyr does not slow his work

Tyndale began his work of translating the Bible, not from the Latin predecessor but from the original Greek and Hebrew in which he was so learned. First he tried to do so with the blessing of the monastery, asking Cuthbert Tunstall, a well educated Bishop, for aid. When he refused, Tyndale went to Germany and began translating what would be against the Holy Roman Church and eventually against the Church of England and king. His shear determination through the mud won him a New Testament translation in 1526 and publication began. Some of the Tyndale Bible's were smuggled into England and Scotland as well. He was soon a wanted man, and by the time that Thomas More condemned him in his six volume letter Confutation of Tyndale's Answer, after Tyndale had spoken out against the King of England writing that the grounds of his divorce were not justified by scripture, he had Heresy stamped all over him and the King asking for his extradition from France. He was finally given over and died at the stake for his efforts.

Title Page of the KJV Bible

So was was Tydale such an important figure to the King James Bible? As it turns out, Tyndale's drastic and heroic efforts laid the strongest foundation for the King James version, so that when King James ordered the creation of a new Bible, the scores of scholars would base many of their translating efforts on Tyndale's work. In fact, Naomi Tadmor in The Social Universe of the English Bible said the translators would go so far to quote his Bible verbatim, claims that 83% of the New Testament and 76% of the old was based on Tyndale's Bible.

But Tyndale wasn't the only one to put sweat in blood into his work. Martin Luther was his predecessor, the one who showed that there was cause and desire to defy the church and call it back into harmony with the gospels teachings. These ideas eventually caught fire and little by little, public thought shifted in Luther and Tyndale's favor. The Geneva Bible is a good example, one on display in the Southeast corner of the room and it was known as extremely controversial because one of the notes in the margins said that it is lawful to disobey the king (From Exodus 1:18-19). When looking at this bible I couldn't help but be grateful for marginal comments to add insight. Many of the other Bibles in Latin were without comments and only contained the rectangular box of text in each page, though in very large font type.

As you looked from one Bible to another, going forward in time you could see that the trend was from Big to Small, Large font to smaller, elaborate golden decoration to mostly normal text with a fancy cover picture or drop cap. The Bible was becoming more economical which meant that it was affordable and disposable to a wider audience. One of Europe's most important books for a millenium would once again be in a language everyone could read and at a price that more could afford.

The other thought I had while looking through the exhibit was just how well some books can last over time. Even though it may not be chiseled into a rock or painted, a book holds authority simply because it can stand the test of time. I also noticed this in the library last week when I was browsing through all the shelves. It was fun just to pull books off and see how old they were! It has me wondering just how long some of our important texts will last into the ages. Will digital media outlast the books and newspapers of today?