188 Thought for the Day – Trinity XVIII
By Didymus
Evensong:
Prov. ch.2, vv1-11
1 John ch.2, vv1-17
Gospel: Mark ch.10, vv2-16.
Well, we have some interesting and thought provoking readings this week. My old friend the Book of Proverbs starts magnificently with a lecture of wisdom, the love of God and the respect for his wishes. Proverbs has wisdom running through its very spine. John’s letter dwells on the sanctity of marriage, which will not go down well among those with problems of a sexual nature. Mark speaks of the same topic.
God made us as we are, and loves us as his own. Yet the emerging problems with gender and matrimony lead us away from the Biblical teaching. Quite how the churches can deal with this problem is difficult to say. I do not feel that Jesus would have withheld his love from a same-sex union. I hope that however the church varies the procedures to accommodate the needs of faithful people, God in his loving mercy will forgive what might be seen as sinful by some.
On Friday we remember a man who, if the CofE had recognised sainthood, would surely have been canonised. William Tyndale, priest, translator and martyr. Tyndale was one of the people who realised that there was something completely wrong with the church. His objective and that of his friends (paraphrased) was to place in each church a translation of Holy Scripture which would enable the man (or woman) in the pew to hear and read the words of God. He once rebuked a senior priest – “I defy the Pope and all his laws; and if God spares my life, ere many years, I will cause the boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scriptures than thou dost!”
In the 16th century, England was a member of the RC church. The services were in Latin, and only the priests were, I believe, communicated. Thus one might say, the tradition of taking the congregation for granted became an integral part of church life. Worse still the church charged for indulgences, such as absolution, baptism, and so on. The church used a derivative of the Vulgate, the Latin version of the Codex Vaticanus Bible, dating back to the 4th century produced mainly by Jerome. The copies in use were imperfect, and even RC theologians were worried about the errors, and still more about the degree of understanding by the parish priests.
The first to study the earliest documents was a philosopher, John Wycliffe, in the late 14th century. He produced English translations for his students. Others followed his work both here and on the Continent. The discovery of people translating Latin into English caused a furious reaction in the RC church, and those who were caught were denounced as heretics and executed. This struck at the power of the church to continue soaking congregations for indulgencies, and had to be stamped out.
A number of prominent scholars were at work, but it was Tyndale, an exceptionally learned and faithful man from Gloucestershire, who led the translation of much of the Bible into English. He excelled at Oxford and was made a priest, moving to Cambridge as an instructor. The fury of the RC church was such that in 1524 he fled to Belgium to continue his work. Curiously, his predecessor at Cambridge was a Dutchman, Erasmus, a brilliant RC priest, who was concerned at the errors and poor understanding by the RC church priesthood.
The invention of the printing press in 1436 by Johannes Gutenberg had flourished, and by the 1520s, Tyndale and others could have their translations printed by Merten de Keyser and circulated in England. A desperate church bought up copies for burning, which simply financed further copies. People in Europe of the same mind used the same methods to spread their words. Copies had actually reached King Henry VIII.
In 1536, two years after the CofE was formed, agents of the RC church located Tyndale, arrested him and executed him by strangling and burning at the stake. His dying words were “Lord! Open the King of England’s eyes.” Within three years Henry had ordered that each church would have a Bible in English and someone to read it.
Tyndale’s work had precipitated an avalanche, and it was taken up by Myles Coverdale, Bishop of Exeter, and Thomas Rogers, who produced the first English Bible in 1535. During the reign of Queen Mary, work continued abroad. The Geneva Bible, comprising 90% of Tyndale’s work, was produced in 1560, now with numbered verses. By 1582 the RC church accepted that the day had been lost, and commissioned an English translation. The Geneva Bible went to America with the Pilgrim Fathers, and was accepted by the Puritans later on.
In 1611 the Authorised Version was approved by King James, and became known as the King James Version. It is a translation dearly loved by so many, who were brought to Christian faith by its rolling Shakespearean passages, many of which have passed into our language. Approximately 80% comes from Tyndale’s hand
I am sorry for those who regard the KJV with anathema, for they lose so much. The English language is beautiful and capable of expressing emotion, wonder, visions and even spirituality as well as much else in the day. Read it, several times if necessary, and think about it, rather like a glass of whisky, port or wine. (Teetotallers? – Ed). Think what the original writers were trying to say.
I am tempted to say that if it doesn’t strike any chords in you, give up and go back to the Mail or the Sun. (Naughty – Ed)
I remember being taken to task by a very dear friend because there was no KJV in church. OK, I’ll get one was my reply. I spoke to the Rural Dean, there being an interregnum (You’ll get burnt as well my lad! Interregnum – we only have transitions now. People are too dense to understand Latin – Ed).
The RD said “What on earth do you want that for? Nobody uses that now. I’ve no idea where you would get one.”
I gave up, disgusted.
I should add that the deeds of the RC church centuries ago, referred to above, bear no relationship to our sister church today. In the past it was our church as well, and since 1534 our record as the CofE has not been perfect.
The illustrations are of Tyndale, Wycliffe and Coverdale. In our prayers let us remember those who gave everything, so that we may read of the life-giving words of God.
AMEN