Tyndale is one of the most influential writers of English after the man who was Shakespeare and among the most creative, counted among Chaucer and Joyce. The book, Tyndale: the Man Who Gave God an English Voice by David Teems (Thomas Nelson, 2012), is at its best discussing the contributions and innovations of Tyndale the translator, but is marred by dischronous and ill-fitted metaphors that set the stage. Comparing the church at the time to radical Islam, its actions to Jihad, and referring to the orange and red “threat level” do a great disservice to the period; as is calling it a “humorless age”. So while the bulk of the book does not trade on such currency, it makes for an unfortunate first impression.
The glories of the book pay tribute to Tyndale’s style and panache for turning a phrase: Be not weary in well doing, Seek and ye shall find, Fight the good fight. The price of the book is well worth it for the list of words the English language owes to William Tyndale: atonement, churlishness, brotherliness, particolourd, fatling and on and on. His economy put us in such debt that it can never be paid, but in honoring the man who coined them.
Carne Levare 