It may seem odd to the present-day Christian that in medieval times the Church prohibited the translation of the Bible into the vernacular. The Bible was read in church, but in Latin, which only the most educated of people could understand.

The pressure for scripture to be available ordinary language people had been building up since the time of Wycliffe’s translation into English in the fourteenth century. It was given added fuel by the various reform movements on the Continent in the following century.
William Tyndale was born in Gloucestershire towards the end of the 15th century. He studied at both Oxford and Cambridge and had become a strong supporter of the movement for reform in the Church, particularly over Bible translation.

His opinions drew criticism from the Church authorities and he was summoned before the Chancellor of Worcester Diocese on a heresy charge.
He left for London, hoping for support from Bishop Tunstall, but failed to get it. Fearing for his freedom he fled to the Continent, settling in Hamburg, where he worked on a translation of the New Testament into English. His first attempt was halted by the civil authorities, and he fled to Worms to complete the printing.
Copies were circulated in England, but evoked a hostile response from the Church. Part of the problem was that Tyndale included controversial comment as well as scriptural text. He went into hiding in Germany, where he revised his New Testament and then began work on the Old Testament, completing it in about 1531.
Betrayed by an English spy in the Netherlands, he was tried for heresy and condemned to the stake, in spite of Thomas Cromwell’s pleas on his behalf. Mercifully he was strangled before the pyre was lit.

In the year of his death, his New Testament was published in England, where the situation had changed and Henry VIII encouraged its publication. Tyndale’s translation, based on Greek and Hebrew sources, was written in sharp and lucid English and set the style for the many versions that followed.
Tyndale once said that the ‘boy that driveth the plough’ should know as much scripture as a bishop. In the century after Tyndale’s death the King James Bible was published - it celebrates its 400th anniversary next year. It has shaped both the language and the faith of English speaking people. We might say that history vindicated Tyndale’s actions, but it’s probably more true to say that it has fulfilled his vision. I don’t know about plough-boys, but it is indisputable that today most people who can read have access to the Scriptures in their own language, with all that that means for faith and discipleship.
 

Canon David Winter is a former Diocesan Adviser on Evangelism, former BBC head of religious affairs, a broadcaster and author of many books.