This is the amazingly heart-touching story of how the Christian Bible became translated from Greek to English. It's the story of the Catholic Church's corruption, power and control over the Bible and the unstoppable Reformation movement to correct these corruptions. Most of all, it is the incredibly beautiful story of one very very brave man's dedication to God and his determination to provide an English translation for the masses of lay people to freely read and understand. William Tyndale is a legend and this is his story. It must be read. This is the story of men who were willing to burn to put an end to the abuses of the Catholic Church and their priests.
Although the book starts off slowly with lots of history, backgrounds, introductions to various historical figures, midway, it lauches into the beautiful tale of one man's fight for God over the corrupt practices of men. William Tyndale is a figure to be admired and David Teems does a fantastic job painting a picture of exactly what mad Tyndale so incredible. "Tyndale could not be bought. He owned nothing and wanted nothing. Therefore, he could not be charmed or coerced by the usual means. He did not seek fame or elevation, title or possession. He was not given to compromise. He was not bound to the same conventions as [Thomas] More and others were. What can you do with a man like that? There was no bargaining in him. It was in William Tyndale that Thomas More saw not only the unquenchable, but worse, the inevitable [The Protestant Reformation taking over]. He saw the old world, his world, in decline, deflating."
The contrast Teems displays between the respectable William Tyndale and his head hunter Thomas More is moving. While Teems likes to focus on their similarities (clearly Teems is a great admirer of Thomas More), I much more enjoyed the complete contrast in human character. "Unlike More, Tyndale never rages, never loses control. Rant is not part of his arsenal. It is just not his way. He never wishes More dead. He never condemns More or anyone else to an eternity to hell..." "More not only recognized Tyndale's brilliance, he understood there was something unstoppable about the man, something determined, and by a knowledge that eluded even More, doubtless the finest mind in all of England" William Tyndale was unmatchably brilliant. CS Lewis wrote "More often attempts but [More] always fails. He loses himself in a wilderness of shameful, disgraceful adjectives [curse words, feces, threats of hell and burning on a stake]. He can only scold and grumble. He spend what might have been the best years of his literary life on work which demanded talents that he lacked..." Compared to William Tyndale, Thomas More was a "wanna be". In he outrage and intense hatred of William Tyndale, More wrote "a half-million words. That is more than two Moby Dicks or a single War and Peace. His text is reduced to repetition, name-calling..."
All together this book is beautiful, sad, tragic but masterful. Despite the heavy topic, there are some laughable moments. Like when we get a same of just how much Thomas More has lost all control in his writings:
"William Tyndale wrote, "Mark whether it be not true in the highest degree..." and More responded, "Tyndale is a great marker. There is nothing with him now but mark, mark, mark. It is a pit that the man were not made a marker..." I laughed at the silliness and childishness of More's name-calling. Another sample: "Tyndale wrote, "Judge whether it be possible that any good should come out of their silent ceremonies and sacraments." To which More wrote, "Judge good Christian reader whether it be possible that he be any better than a beast out of whose brutish beastly mouth comes a filthy foam." Can you believe a grown man wrote such things? Especially a highly esteemed figure with a title "Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas More", now a man who has been cannonized as a Catholic Saint.
This book is fantastic! It's a masterful piece of work! I highly recommend it to everyone! It's an easy to read historical piece that paints like a novel. It moves you to tears on one hand, then to complete admiration to a true man of God. These men burned for our Bible. It's more than most of us would do. Simple beautiful!!!
Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher for this unbiased review. I am giving my honest review, as positive reviews are not required.
