Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
Original Manuscript:
As students at St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD, we read the Great Books of Western Civilization, including the Bible. Having read through the Bible before, I wanted to try a new translation. The year we read the Bible at St. John’s is the same year we read works like The Canterbury Tales and Shakespeare, so Tyndale’s translation seemed very appropriate as we journeyed into the New Testament.
I loved Tyndale’s translation. Not only was it written with such great style, it was very accurate when it came to the Greek. The only mistake I can recall (I can’t remember where) was a translation that was literally accurate, but incorrect based on the context.
Tyndale translated the Bible in a dangerous time when the only accepted Bible in many places was the Latin Vulgate, ironically itself a translation. Yet Tyndale recognized the importance of the people being able to hear the Word of God. To do so, they needed to be able to read it in their own native tongue with the best of biblical scholarship.
We cannot forget the work Tyndale did. In fact, we must follow it. When it comes to our use of Scripture, and even our worship of God, we must be able to hear and speak it in words we can understand what it is truly saying. We must continue to provide Scripture as a resource so that all might hear the word of God.