The Obedience of a Christian Man »

William Tyndale (sometimes spelled Tindall or Tyndall; pronounced /ˈtɪndəl/) (c. 1494 – 1536) was a 16th-century Protestant reformer and scholar who, influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther,[1] translated considerable parts of the Bible into the Early Modern English of his day. While a number of partial and complete Old English translations had been made from the seventh century onward, and Middle English translations particularly during the 14th century, Tyndale's was the first English translation to draw directly from Hebrew and Greek texts, and the first to take advantage of the new medium of print, which allowed for its wide distribution. In 1535, Tyndale was arrested, jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde outside Brussels for over a year, tried for heresy and burned at the stake. He was strangled before his body was burnt by some people who associated themselves with the Roman Catholic Church.

William Tyndale's first translation of the New Testament (1526) was printed in Germany, suppressed in England and eventually led to his execution." "Tyndale's direct English was substantially incorporated into the Authorized Version of 1611, and it made the New Testament available for the first time - in Tyndale's famous determination - even to the 'boy that driveth the plough'. The Obedience of a Christian Man (1528) develops the argument that ordinary believers should take their spiritual sustenance direct from Scripture, without the intervention of Popes and prelates. Its discussion of sacraments and false signs, the duties of rulers and ruled, and valid and invalid readings of the Bible, makes the book a landmark in both political and religious thinking. This example of English prose also raises, even today, some questions about the true challenge of living a Christian life.