The New Testament of William Tyndale, published in 1525-6, was the first text of the Bible to be printed in English. It's publication is arguably the most important event in the history of the English Reformation—and so controversial at the time that Tyndale was tried for heresy, incarcerated, and burned at the stake.
This audio recording of Saint Matthew’s Gospel, the first recording of any part of Tyndale’s historic translation of the Bible, brings his groundbreaking work vividly to life. The text is read by English language historian David Crystal, who has contributed an authoritative introductory essay on the genesis and language of Tyndale’s translation. This two-disc set provides a unique opportunity to hear and appreciate one of the most historic texts in the history of the English language.
William Tyndale gave us our English Bible. Forbidden to work in England, Tyndale translated and printed in English the New Testament and half the Old Testament between 1525 and 1535 in Germany and the Low Countries. He worked from the Greek and Hebrew original texts when knowledge of those languages in England was rare. His pocket-sized Bible translations were smuggled into England, and then ruthlessly sought out by the Church, confiscated and destroyed. Condemned as a heretic, Tyndale was strangled and burned outside Brussels in 1536. His work has survived.
Much of Tyndale's work eventually found its way to the King James Version (or Authorised Version) of the Bible, published in 1611, which, though the work of 54 independent scholars, is based primarily on Tyndale's translations.
... Show more