Tyndale: The Man Who Gave God an English Voice by David Teems

Tyndale: The Man Who Gave God an English Voice is a compelling biography of Tyndale’s time translating the Bible into English.

Teems’ sense of humor and authentic tone swiftly propel this biography. Teems creates a hero out of the martyr. He writes, “Tyndale’s target audience has long been under a different influence . . . To the general believer, the Scripture is still remote, inaccessible. The Church alone is the higher perception. Tyndale challenged that perception” (56). Teems’ clever prose never disappoints: “Tyndale was not so fortunate. We will cover the details of Tyndale’s imprisonment in a final chapter, but he was confined to a dungeon, and with all the adjectives your darker imagination can supply” (196). While retelling Tyndale’s purposes, Teems, through his own prose, also opens the readers’ to new scriptural insights: “The image was a huge fish, but Jonah was swallowed up by the monster of his own resistance” (212).

By showcasing some of Tyndale’s translation, “I am the light of the world,” “Blessed are the poor in spirit, “God is love,” etc. Teems makes his audiences esteem and thank Tyndale for the language and truths he has revealed even to the modern age (60).

In the margins of many pages, Teems strengthens his argument with other voices of authority: “Tyndale did not simply translate the Bible. In the sense of restoring its sweep and drama, he recreated it” (66).

Tyndale’s life was not glorious. Although the two never met, Sir Thomas More took it upon himself to persecute Tyndale. Because Tyndale was introducing truth to a state whose authority wanted to deceive its people, Tyndale was a heretic, described as “the hairball they were desperately hoping to cough up” (79). Despite opposition, however, Tyndale continued to pursue truth. “He had all the rare advantages of a man who was certain, both of his place in the world and his function within it” (165).  The reader is left with no option but to admire Tyndale: “Hate was simply not a way Tyndale chose to regulate his passion. He lived by a higher rule. It was one of the many things he did not have in common with the age” (199).

This book educates its audiences of the challenges and rewards of Tyndale’s work. His impact is lasting. I recommend this book with highest praise.

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