500th Anniversary of the Reformation Sample

The Reformers: William Tyndale 

William Tyndale’s passion was to produce an English version of the Bible. A passion he would pay for with his life. Tyndale said: “It hath pleased God to send unto our Englishmen, even to as many as genuinely desire it, the Scripture in their mother tongue.” His first English translation of the New Testament was smuggled into England. It was hotly debated among church officials, who called it “perilous and made for an evil purpose.” In the preface to Tyndale’s 1530 translation of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), he wrote about his belief in the importance of accurate translation of the Bible. He quoted from Matthew 5 and Psalm 119 to bolster his argument. By 1536, Tyndale was condemned as a heretic and given an opportunity to recant. When he refused, he was strangled and set on fire.