Tyndale

I just loved David Teem’s new book, “Tyndale: The Man Who Gave God an English Voice”. My pastor sparked my interest in Tyndale, and I’ve discovered that he really is an amazing yet neglected man in history. I’ve never read a book on William Tyndale before, but have heard lots about him and seen the film “God’s Outlaw”. I was pleasantly surprised how accurate that film is, assuming David Teem got his facts straight, which, based on his research and my pastor‘s lessons, I‘d say he did.

The book is well-written, surprisingly light-hearted, and easy to read. Something new I learned was that not only is Tyndale credited for translating our English Bible, but for many English words we still speak today. In the appendix is a list of words from the Oxford English Dictionary that were first used by Tyndale, including words like betrayer, busybody, dunce, fisherman, live, God-speed, servant, thanksgiving, and toy, just to name a few.

Tyndale’s life of writing, running, writing, hiding, is fascinating. At the same time, it was sad to read of the hard-hearted men who were so intent on having him and his work destroyed.

Teems acknowledges that much of the details of Tyndale’s life is left unrecorded, so some speculation is necessary to complete his story. Nevertheless, he does an excellent job distinguishing fact from rumor, and largely expounds on the accurate history. He also explores other prominent characters such as King Henry the 8th and Anne Boleyn, Thomas More, Oliver Cromwell, and others.

I received a copy of this book free through Booksneeze.com in exchange for an honest review.