(Church Times) James Roberts celebrates 500 years of a publication that changed the world, William Tyndale’s New Testament

This project was motivated and shaped by Tyndale’s theology. At its heart is the belief that God reveals himself through scripture. God is not “man’s imagination” — something that we can create in our own minds — but “only which he saith of himself. . . God is but his word: as Christ saith.” Through scripture, God reveals himself to us.

In Tyndale’s time, scripture was read in Latin. For those who could not understand Latin, the meaning of the Bible needed to be mediated by a priest, according to the authorised teaching of the Church. But this presented a problem. If the Bible is in a language that ordinary people do not understand, how can ordinary people come to know God? Translating the Bible into English breaks down this barrier, giving all people the freedom to read about God for themselves and, crucially, to develop a personal faith.

Inspired by the reforming ideas that were sweeping across Europe, Tyndale deliberately chose, in his translation, words that reflected new ways of understanding personal faith and the Church. Rather than “penance”, he chose “repentance”; “church” became “congregation”; and “priest” became “elder”. He even wrote that “the blessing of a baker that knoweth the truth, is as good as the blessing of our most holy father the Pope” (William Tyndale, Selected Writings, edited by David Daniell; Fyfield Books, 2003).

So, Tyndale’s theology, reflected in his translation, challenged the traditions, structures, and authorised teaching of the Western Church.

James Roberts celebrates 500 years of a publication that changed the world https://t.co/Ivja0uIu3L pic.twitter.com/mV0LZr6Nle