William Tyndale: A Biography (Yale Nota Bene)

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William Tyndale (1494-1536) was the first person to translate the Bible into English from its original Greek & Hebrew & the first to print the Bible in English which he did in exile Giving the laity access to the word of God outraged the clerical establishment in England he was condemned hunted & eventually murdered However his masterly translation formed the basis of all English bibles--including the " King James Bible" many of whose finest passages were taken unchanged though unacknowledged from Tyndale&s work This important book published in the quincentenary year of his birth is the first major biography of Tyndale in sixty years It sets the story of his life in the intellectual & literary contexts of his immense achievement & explores his influence on the theology literature & humanism of Renaissance & Reformation Europe David Daniell editor of Tyndale&s New Testament & Tyndale&s Old Testament eloquently describes the dramatic turns in Tyndale&s life Born in England & educated at Oxford Tyndale was ordained as a priest When he decided to translate the Bible into English he realized that it was impossible to do that work in England & moved to Germany living in exile there & in the Low Countries while he translated & printed first the New Testament & then half of the Old Testament These were widely circulated-and denounced-in England Yet Tyndale continued to write from abroad publishing polemics in defense of the principles of the English reformation He was seized in Antwerp imprisoned in Vilvoorde Castle near Brussels & burnt at the stake for heresy in 1536 Daniell discusses Tyndale&s achievement as biblical translator & expositor analyzes his writing examines his stylistic influence on writers from Shakespeare to those of the twentieth century & explores the reasons why he has not been more highly regarded His book brings to life one of the great geniuses of the age