Almighty God, who didst plant in the heart of thy servants William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale a consuming passion to bring the Scriptures to people in their native tongue, and didst endow them with the gift of powerful and graceful expression and with strength to persevere against all obstacles: Reveal to us, we pray thee, thy saving Word, as we read and study the Scriptures, and hear them calling us to repentance and life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
When I visited my son’s family recently, our eldest grandson (8) was learning about great leaders of the Reformation, and Tyndale was among them. Together we watched a 30 minute children’s video about William Tyndale’s dramatic life and death (done with cartoon characters). I was thereby reminded of his famous dying prayer, as he was burned at the stake for the “crime” of translating the Scriptures into English without official authorization: “[i]Lord, open the king of England’s eyes![/i]”
Sure enough, his prayer was answered. And just two years later, Henry VIII ordered that an English Bible be placed in every church in the realm. It is thought that at least 85-90% of the wording in the old RSV translation goes back to Tyndale’s early version.
There’s an excellent older movie about William Tyndale that I watched on Netflix several months ago. I can’t remember the name of the movie, but it opens with the desecration of Tyndale’s grave on orders of the RCC and a father telling Tyndale’s story to his young son as they watch Tyndale’s bones being dug up and scattered. Good movie.
They can say what they want about Netflix but if you enjoy historical, religious, and social documentaries and biographical movies, it’s a treasure trove. There are a LOT of movies and documentaries about heroic Christians.
Teatime2:
The Movie you are thinking about is most likely:
“God’s Outlaw: The Story of William Tyndale.”
It is a fantastic movie starring Roger Rees a noted British (From Wales actually) Actor.
Oh dear, this is embarrassing but I mixed up my Reformer movies, lol. I was actually thinking of the one about John Wycliffe! But the movie you mentioned, recchip, is available through Netflix DVD service, as well. I’ll put it on my list!
Yep,
John Wycliffe: The Morningstar!!
Both of these videos are available from Vision Video.
http://www.visionvideo.com
(Sorry Elves, I don’t know how to do the link thing)
The cartoon movie I was speaking of, OTOH, is called “[i]The William Tyndale Story.[/i]” I’d guess it’s probably aimed at upper elementary age children, and the depiction of Tyndale’s actual execution is carefully kid-friendly (i.e., quite short and restrained). My daughter-in-law got it from her local public library. I think it’s well done.
David Handy+