Gamechanger

Today we remember the life and death of a man whose gifts, passion and dedication to his work helped to change people’s lives and shape our culture. His gift was to harness a developing technology and to use it to make life changing communication available to the masses.

William Tyndale (1494-1536) committed his life to translating and publishing the Bible. Drawing from the Hebrew and Greek texts, he used the development of the printing press to make the Bible available for wide distribution in the common tongue. During this year when we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible it is important to remember that the scholars who laboured on that work drew heavily on Tyndale’s translation. Tyndale was strangled at the stake and his body burnt in Brussels after being found guilty of heresy. His dying words are recorded as being ‘Lord, open the King of England’s eyes’. Within four years of his death four English translations of the Bible were published in England.

Worth remembering this great scholar, translator and Christian martyr, whose work was so significant, on the day we also remember the death of another game changer, Steve Jobs CEO of Apple.