Selected Writings: William Tyndale

On October 6 in the year 1536, a pitiful figure was led from a dungeon in Vilvorde Castle near Brussels, Belgium. For nearly a year and a half, the man had suffered isolation in a dark, damp cell. In a heated exchange with a cleric who argued against putting scripture in the hands of the common man, the man vowed if God spares my life, I will cause the boy that drives the plow to know more of the scriptures than the Pope himself. Now outside the castle wall, the prisoner was fastened to a post. He had time to utter aloud his final prayer. Lord, open the King of England's eyes. And then he was strangled. Immediately, his body was burned at the stake. Who was this man and what was the offense? His name was William Tyndale, and his crime was to have translated and published the Bible in English. In Tyndale's day, scriptural ignorance abounded because people lacked access to the Bible. Toda