Introduction
In the turbulent times of the 1500’s, William Tyndale was the most dangerous man alive. His theological predecessor in England a hundred years prior was John Wycliffe, of whom it was said “…since the birth of Christ no more dangerous heretic has arisen, save Wycliffe.” Had the Catholic Church in Tyndale’s day know the monumental impact that Tyndale’s life and work would have on Western political history, church reform, and the English language itself, they may have modified their statement with Tyndale’s name in the place of Wycliffe’s.
William Tyndale was the most dangerous man alive in his day for two main reasons. First, the world had changed dramatically since the days of Wycliffe. The Protestant Reformation was ready to explode upon the European landscape. Advances in technology had produced the first mass media production device: the printing press. For the first time in history, ideas were becoming available to the masses apart from church or governmental controls. The printing press led to a rise in literacy rates among the middle classes which, in turn, led to a higher demand of books for people to read. The growth in scholarship also produced a strategic link in book publishing: Erasmus’ publication of the New Testament in Greek. Secondly, William Tyndale was a man fit for the season. He was an incredibly capable linguist who had mastered seven different languages- later he would add Hebrew to his linguistic arsenal- so proficiently that it was said he could pass as a native speaker in each of their countries of origin. This was important because he was able to handle the original languages of the Bible in such a skillful manner that his translations and phrases have endured down to this day- more than 500 years.
The life of Tyndale reads like a Shakespearian tragedy. A simple intellectual man, committed to a life of service and poverty; hunted by the major political and religious leaders of the day; exiled from his beloved homeland; living and working in secrecy for fear of his life; publishing his life’s work and then watching while it is banned, burned and then pirated for profit by others; betrayed by a close friend to the religious authorities; condemned to die for his faith and works; lastly, publicly strangled and burned at the stake like a common criminal. Ironically, within a year of his execution, a translation of the Bible into English was authorized by the same authorities that executed Tyndale as a heretic. That Bible, known as the Coverdale Bible, was primarily built upon Tyndale’s life work.
Tyndale was first and foremost a theologian. It was his theology that determined his course of action in life as a Reformer. His is mainly known to history as both a theologian and a Reformer. However, there were many men in the early years of the sixteenth century who could also be labeled as both. Tyndale was unique among them because of his entrepreneurial skills. In this sense, Tyndale utilized the technology and resources of his day, his business savvy, and his own capital to finance the writing, printing, and distributing- smuggling- of his New Testament into England. Tyndale’s success in translation was built upon his skill as a linguist, but his legacy endured because of his shrewd business dealings and courageous decisions in the face of religious and political persecution.
Tyndale as Theologian and Reformer
Tyndale found his inspiration from the men who preceded him. Wycliffe and his Lollards, a hundred years before Tyndale, were staunch believers in piety, Biblical authority versus the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, and the spiritual equality of the layman with the priest to preach and serve. Wycliffe believed that the Bible was the sole authority for the Christian, so naturally he wanted to make the Bible available to all people in their native language. Wycliffe’s work predated the movable type printing press by about fifty years, so the print run and distribution of his “Lollard’s Bibles” were very limited. Wycliffe instead utilized the Lollards- a group of lay preachers- to spread his message or reform.
Tyndale’s theology is the key to understanding his life and work. He derived his criticism of the Catholic Church’s flaws, his personal piety to Christ, his zeal for the scriptures, and his evangelistic passion that every person should read them, all from Wycliffe and the Lollards. His connection to his predecessors is noted by one author:
This English New Testament gave readers and hearers at every social level full access to the whole of New Testament theology, without restriction or intermediary. That access, building on the Lollard movement which had been continuously active during the hundred and fifty years before Tyndale,was the first significant popular “Protestant’ development in the British Isles.
Tyndale’s central belief, as he wrote in his final days in prison, was an exact echo of Reformed theology’s sola fide- faith alone. During his prison stay, as he was being examined by the Catholic authorities, Tyndale wrote a defense of his core belief which he said was “sola fides justificat apud Deum,” or faith alone justifies before God. Tyndale’s declaration of this Protestant tenet was a summary of all his theology and of his theology’s source- Scripture. He believed that faith alone made a man right with God, and that faith came through the power of God’s truth in the Bible. Because of these things, the Catholic Church charged Tyndale with the following “crimes,”
1) He maintains that faith alone justifies
2) He maintains that to believe in the forgiveness of sins and to embrace the mercy offered in the Gospel is enough for salvation
3) He avers that human traditions cannot bind the conscience, except where their neglect might occasion scandal
4) He denies the freedom of the will
5) He denies that there is any purgatory
6) He affirms that neither the Virgin nor the Saints pray for us in their own person
7) He asserts that neither the Virgin nor the Saints should be invoked by us
It may seem strange to the modern Protestant that these were considered crimes or that they were even controversial to begin with. Yet Tyndale and the Reformers were the first generation in hundreds of years to develop their theology from the Bible itself, instead of church traditions.
Tyndale’s Bible-derived theology developed him into a Reformer. As a Reformer, he was intentional and courageous in his goals. His famous rebuke of two Catholic religious leaders who asserted to Tyndale that it would be “better to be without God’s law than the Pope’s” was, “I defy the Pope and all his laws. If God spare my life ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than thou dost.”
Tyndale as Entrepreneur
As noted above, the world was changing rapidly in the early part of the sixteenth century. The development of the movable type printing press, as well as a higher literacy rate, led to an increase in the demand for the printed book. Tyndale’s educational and vocational background was as a priest, a trained linguist, and a tutor. What is striking about Tyndale’s life work is not merely his scholarship, but also his skill and shrewdness as an entrepreneur. If an entrepreneur is defined as, “…a person who operates a new enterprise or venture and assumes some accountability for the inherent risk,” then Tyndale’s efforts to print and distribute his English translation of the New Testament would certainly qualify, even if he did predate the term.
Tyndale acted as the author and translator; he brokered deals with the printing shops; he acted as a supervisor and editor over the work of the printers; he selected a strategic size for a book he knew would eventually be banned; he negotiated contracts with merchants to smuggle his Bibles into English ports; and when he ran out of capital for his venture, he then made a shrewd and courageous decision to discover a surprising new “source” for funding his illegal Bibles.
Tyndale financed the operation with his own money and with funds from sympathetic merchants in London. Tyndale made a bold and expensive move with an initial print run of between 3,000 and 6,000 copies of his New Testament and arranged for them to be smuggled into England. Book smuggling was a dangerous, but lucrative business. The Bibles were hidden in barrels, bales of cloth, or cases of other cargo. In addition, correspondence and currency flowed through the same smuggling route between Tyndale’s supporters in England and Tyndale in Antwerp. Tyndale had decided to print the book in the Octavo sized edition in order to save time and money, and to make it easily concealable in a pocket.
One notable decision, which reflects that Tyndale was both a shrewd business man and a courageous man of faith, was an incident from August of 1529 when Tyndale was very short on funds. Cuthbert Tunstall, the Bishop of London, a notorious enemy of Tyndale and the Reformation, was in the city of Antwerp and decided to buy up as many copies of Tyndale’s New Testament as possible at a very high price. This was to serve a dual purpose of keeping them out of the hands of the people and to have a large display of Tyndale’s Bibles to burn publicly at St. Paul’s church in London. Tunstall contacted a London merchant named Packington to buy as many copies as possible from the print shops at Antwerp. In actuality, Packington was a friend of Tyndale. Tyndale and Packington conspired to sell of the entire remainder of Tyndale’s personal stock of New Testaments to Bishop Tunstall at the high price. Although Tyndale knew the Bibles he sold to Tunstall would be burned, in that occasion he saw what all true entrepreneurs see- a great opportunity:
He will burn them. I am the gladder, for I shall get money of him from those books, to bring myself out of debt, and the whole world will cry out upon the burning of God’s word. And the overplus of the money that shall remain to me, shall make me more studious, to make corrections to the Testament, and to newly print it once again.
These funds from Tunstall proved to be exactly what Tyndale needed for a full revision on his New Testament as well as enough to triple the size of the next print run. London was soon flooded with Tyndale’s Bibles, all the while being funded by the unsuspecting authorities who were furiously attempting to stamp out this “heresy.”
The noble distinction between Tyndale and most examples of modern entrepreneurship is that Tyndale’s entire enterprise was primarily for the benefit of others. He recognized that during his time in history a strategic opportunity presented itself in technology, in the transportation of goods, in the political sphere, and in the religious climate. Tyndale’s business efforts did not bring him material success nor did it bring him social accolades. Rather, he died a criminal’s death by being burned alive at the stake. Two statements from Tyndale as he was near death reflect well his aim and resolve:
I call God to record that I have never altered, against the voice of my conscience, one syllable of his Word. Nor would I do this day, if all the pleasures, honors, and riches of the earth might be given me.
Certainly Tyndale was not interested in earthly gain, but rather to free the people of England from the lies of the medieval Roman Catholic Church.
Whether true or apocryphal, his last words were reported to be “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes!” He was then strangled by a rope around his neck- a supposed act of mercy before the flames- and then burned alive.
Tyndale’s Legacy
Tyndale’s world was one of rapid change. Religious, political, and social changes were sweeping the European continent. Tyndale was not a catalyst for the Protestant Reformation, as Wycliffe was, but rather someone that capitalized upon the opportunities that the changing world presented. Tyndale’s cause- which he willingly gave his life for- was the translation of the Christian scriptures into the common English language for all to read freely. His religious and political opponents sought to thwart his efforts, hunted him internationally, imprisoned him, and had him publicly executed. However, it is proverbially said that “The pen is mightier than the sword,” and in Tyndale’s case it is clearly true. It can be claimed of Tyndale that he is the father of English literature. One author states that Tyndale had reached more English speakers than Shakespeare. In this sense, Tyndale conquered his enemies. The very Bible that his political opponents went on to legalize, endorse, and promote is estimated to be 83% to 90% comprised of Tyndale’s exact work. Every time the Holy Bible has been read in England since 1537- or in any other English speaking land- it has been a victory cry of a martyr over the opposing world.
Some men change the world through hostility and military victory; others through politics and influence; still others through commerce and trade; Tyndale’s incredible legacy, however, was a peaceful revolution of the most powerful kind- Truth.
_______________________________________________________________________
Bibliography
Print Sources
Cairns, Earle. Christianity Through the Centuries: A History of the Christian Church. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996.
Daniell, David (editor) and Tyndale, William. The Obedience of a Christian Man. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2000.
Moynahan, Brian. God’s Bestseller: William Tyndale, Thomas More, and the writing of the English Bible. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2002.
Electronic Resources
Desiring God Ministries. http://www.desiringgod.org/
Fire for the Ploughman. http://www.williamtyndale.com/
Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org
May 27, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
