Controversial Translation

The authors of The King James Bible After 400 years, Hamlin and Jones, provide us with an introduction to how the King James Bible was created and received. Everything that the authors revealed is very useful when learning about the development of translations in history. The one point that stood out to me the most was the banning and illegalization of translating the Bible to English.

It was not until the 14^th century that the translation of the whole Bible began. Translator, William Tyndale, took the task of translating the Bible to English. Unfortunately, Tyndale was not able to complete his task because he was “strangled as a heretic in 1536 and his body was burned (as Wyclif’s had been in 1428, his body was exhumed for that purpose forty four years after his death)” (Hamlin & Jones 3). It is so strange to think that Tyndale had a very accurate translation and kept the quality in the “accuracy to the Hebrew and Greek originals and in the strength of their prose style…” –but was still executed because he was translating the bible to make it more accessible for ordinary Christians who did not know the vernacular  (Hamlin & Jones 3). Why was the translation to the English language frowned upon and blatantly illegal? This knowledge is concerning because it could mean that the Bible was only being shared with the elites that knew and could read the tongue. As the authors say, “Bible translation has clearly always been controversial”, but we are leaving wondering why people were executed or exiled because of their genuine attempts to make the Bible more accessible.