500 years of Protestant reform
To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, Return to the Gospel will present weekly articles and biographies of several reformers: Girolamo Zachi (January), Theodore Beza (February), Thomas Cranmer (March), Guilherme Farrel (April), William Tyndale (May), Martin Bucer (June), John Knox (July), Ulrico Zuonglio (there), Joo Calvino (set)
(Read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3)
How much did Tyndale cost to translate the Bible?
How much did it cost William Tyndale to remain true to his vocation as a biblical translator and writer of the reformed faith in these hostile circumstances?
He fled his native country in 1524 and was assassinated in 1536. It gives us an overview of those twelve years as a fugitive in Germany and the Netherlands in one of the few personal descriptions we have of Stephen Vaughan’s letter in 1531.
My pain, my exile from my homeland, and the bitter absence of my friends?my hunger, my thirst, my cold, the great danger of being everywhere, and finally?countless other arduous and painful struggles I endure. [53]
All this suffering peaked on May 21, 1535, amid Tyndale’s great work of translating the Old Testament. We can feel a little ugliness about what happened through the words of David Daniell: “Malice, self-pity, wickedness, and deception was about to destroy everything. These evils came to English House [in Antwerp], totally uninvited, in the form of a cheeky Englishman, Henry Philips?[54] Philips earned Tyndale’s trust for a few months and then betrayed him. John Foxe tells how it happened:
At noon, Master Tyndale left with Philips. Outside Pointz’s house was a long corridor, so narrow that two people could not walk side by side. Master Tyndale wanted Philips to take the lead, but he didn’t want to take precedence in any way. He made Tyndale walk in front of him, pretending to be very kind. Master Tyndale, who was not tall, led the way, followed by Philips, tall and elegant. The latter had stationed guards sitting on benches on either side of the door to guard the entrance. Did Philips point the finger at Master Tyndale’s head, instructing the guards that he was the person to arrest?He was taken to the emperor’s lawyer, where he dined. The Attorney General then arrived in Pointz and confessed everything that belonged to Mr. Tyndale, books and other articles. Tyndale was taken to Filford Castle eighteen English miles from Antwerp [and remained there until he was killed]. [55]
Vilvorde Castle is located six kilometres north of Brussels and about the same distance from Leuven. Tyndale stayed here for 18 months. ” Was the accusation of heresy a disagreement with the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire?In short, was the accusation that he was Lutheran?[56] A four-man commission from the Catholic center of Leuven was authorized to prove that Tyndale was a heretic. One named Latomus filled three books with his interactions with Tyndale and said Tyndale himself wrote a?Book? In prison to defend your main doctrinal standard: Sola fides justificat apud Deum?Faith justifies before God, that was the key question in the end. The wickedness of the translation of the Bible comes down to this: Are we justified only by faith?
These months in prison weren’t easy. It was a long death that led to death. We see the prison to see Tyndale’s state and passion. He wrote a letter for September 1535, when the interrogation seemed interrupted. It was addressed to an anonymous castle official. Here is a condensed version of Mozley’s Latin translation:
I ask Your Honor, and the Lord Jesus, that if I am going to stay here during the winter, ask the Commissioner to kindly send me a warmer hat from my possessions; because I suffer a lot from the cold in my head, and I am afflicted with perpetual phlegm, which is much worse in this cell; a warmer coat too, because the one I have is very thin; a piece of cloth also to repair my tights. My coat is worn; my shirts are also worn. He has a wool shirt, to which he is kind enough to send it. I also have thicker fabric leggings to wear; also has very warm blankets. And I ask that you be allowed to have a lamp at night; it’s really tiring to be alone in the dark. But most of all, I beg and beg you to hurry to the Commissioner, kindly allow me to have the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew grammar, and Hebrew dictionary, so that I can spend time on this study. . In return, you can get what you want most, if only for the salvation of your soul. But, if another decision has been made about me, before winter, I will be patient, doing the will of God, for the glory of the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ, that his Spirit (I pray) always rule. your heart. Amen. W. Tindalus [57]
We do not know if his orders have been carried out. He remained in prison for the winter. His verdict was sealed in August 1536, he was formally condemned as a heretic and deposed from the priesthood, then in early October (traditionally October 6) he was tied to the pyre and then strangled by the executioner, then consumed in fire. . . Foxe reports that his last words were: “Sir! Open the eyes of the King of England!?. [58] He was forty-two years old, never married and never buried. “
53 Ibid. , 213
54 Ibid. , P. 361
55 Ibid. , P. 364.
56 Ibid. , P. 365
57 Ibid. , P. 379.
58 Ibid. , Pp. 382-383. ” The contemporaries did not observe these words, only that the strangulation was poorly executed and that he suffered terribly. “Moynahan, Bestseller of God, p. 377.