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Reformer, translator and martyr William Tyndale (c.1494-1536) was utterly convinced that everyone, great and small, should have access to the scriptures, and though it was dangerous to do so, he was not afraid of speaking his mind. On one occasion he reportedly said: “I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spare my life ere many years, I will cause the boy that drives the plough to know more of the scriptures than you!”
Tyndale’s controversial views led to growing opposition. In 1523 he moved to London where he continued to study, lecture and preach. He asked the Bishop of London for permission and funds to translate the Bible into English. This was refused. Tyndale soon realised this pet project would not be welcomed anywhere in England and so he travelled to Germany where Gutenberg had produced the first printed Bible, in Latin, in the 1450s. Tyndale went to Hamburg and Wittenberg, where it is thought he translated the New Testament of the Bible into English. This was printed, first in Cologne, and then at Worms in 1525. The Bibles were smuggled across the English Channel. The first copies arrived in England in 1526. There was a furious reaction from King Henry VIII and religious leaders such as Sir Thomas More and Cardinal Wolsey, who condemned Tyndale as a heretic. His New Testament was banned. Copies were burned in public. The authorities even bought more copies to take them out of circulation which ironically helped to fund Tyndale’s work. And his opponents made plans to silence him.Even though a lot of secondhand bookshops have been lost in the country in the last few years you can still make discoveries, but it’s harder because there are so few independent bookshops now.” As a student of the Bible, I am fascinated by the history of translation, in particular the translation of the Bible into English and the fact that such an endeavour was once considered heretical and punishable by death. In a world in which a variety of translations (and transliterations) are readily available, it is almost impossible to comprehend that for centuries the Bible itself was incomprehensible to anyone who was not proficient in Latin. Selly said of the current owner: “He loves the book and has treasured it for a long time. He only realised its true worth in the last few months. This put him into direct conflict with the Church, which emphasised the sinfulness of humanity and the need for confession (and purgatory) as a means to salvation. It was a theology that threatened the authority of the Church, which was why it was considered so dangerous. Peter Selly, the senior specialist in books and manuscripts at Sotheby’s, said: “It’s a remarkable thing to see the common tongue being deployed in this way.
Tyndale’s translations were considered to be such a threat to Church and state that even in Europe he was not safe. He was sought by representatives of both the English King and the Pope. For a time, Tyndale managed to evade the authorities and occupied himself not only with the work of translating and writing, but with pastoral work among his fellow countrymen and women who had also fled religious persecution in England: “on Saturdays he walked Antwerp’s streets seeking to minister to the poor ( Christianity Today).” Such was the anxiety about Tyndale’s translation that King Henry VIII bought 3,000 copies and had them burnt. However, this was to Tyndale’s advantage – for while the books were destroyed, he still received the proceeds of the sale! Having completed his translation of the New Testament, Tyndale began working on a translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew. It’s not just the religious aspect, it’s the contribution to the English language. A lot of people have said ‘no Tyndale, no Shakespeare’. He transformed and had a great gift for the English language.” He didn’t really realise until many years later. He thought it was more interesting than it appeared to be in the bookshop, but it was only recently that he realised it was worth far more than he thought. People have always had this idea of coming across a really valuable thing in a bookshop. This seems to have happened here.
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It opens the Bible up for the first time … and a lot of these phrases would become embedded in the English language.
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