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Theological polemics-that is, public debates in print about religious topics-were big in Europe in the 1520s and ’30s. And without question, Tyndale was among the leading polemicists.

Derived from the Greek polemos, which means “war,” the term aptly describes the conflicts that went on between the reformers and the anti-reformers, especially between William Tyndale and Sir Thomas More. But whereas More’s polemics had the sanction of King Henry and the official church and could be fired with great frequency and publicity, like heavy artillery, the polemics of the exiled Tyndale had to be launched surreptitiously, like catch-as-catch-can guerilla attacks against a much larger and more-impressively arrayed army. Yet it was these “guerilla attacks” which effectively won the day, firmly paving the way for the English Reformation.

Hiding in exile from heresy-hunters, constantly employing different printers using false addresses, Tyndale turned out a succession of pamphlets arguing the claims of reformed theology. The plain little volumes were then smuggled into England in the holds of merchant ships. Probably few at the time recognized them as the first shots of a revolution, much less as landmarks of English prose.

In four works published between 1528 and 1531, Tyndale basically took the offensive, propagandizing for reformed doctrines and attacking the established ecclesiastical system. In The Parable of the Wicked Mammon, published in May of 1528, he translated and expanded upon a sermon first preached by Martin Luther.

The biblical text he expounds is Luke 16:1–9, usually known as “The Parable of the Unjust Steward.” Throughout this and his other polemical writings, Tyndale consistently explains New Testament passages from what we might call a Pauline-Lutheran perspective: faith alone justifies, but good works done with a willing spirit serve as evidence of living faith. In Tyndale’s words, “This longing and consent of the heart unto the law of God is the working of the Spirit which God hath poured into thine heart, in earnest that thou mightest be sure that God will fulfill all his promise that He hath made thee.” Because the pope and the papal hierarchy had corrupted this key doctrine, Tyndale equates them with the Pharisees and the Antichrist: “ … for Antichrist is a spiritual thing, and is as much to say as against Christ; that is, one that preacheth false doctrine contrary to Christ.”

The Obedience of a Christian Man, published in October of 1528, is Tyndale’s longest and most original polemic work. In it he argues the need for a widely available English translation of Scripture as the basis for both knowledgeable faith and civil order. He refutes the charge that the reformers preach disobedience to governments by attacking the papacy in the same terms. He alleges that the clergy “have with subtle wiles turned the obedience that should be given to God’s ordinance unto themselves.” They are engaged in an international conspiracy, he says, to repress scriptural truth, to undermine established governments, and to gain wealth and political power.

He repeats the same charges in even more angry terms in The Practice of Prelates, which was published in 1530. Looking for evidence of such clerical plots, he surveys both the history of the papacy and the chronicle histories of England to point out what he asserts are indications of such. In this he reveals either a lack of political awareness, an intentionally simplistic view, or perhaps the partially clouded thinking of a harassed and persecuted exile. He insists that the church’s hesitation in regard to King Henry’s divorce was simply a papal plot, orchestrated by Cardinal Wolsey, to discredit the English crown. He ends the work with this interesting call to repentance: “And unto all subjects I say that they repent. For the cause of evil rulers is the sin of the subjects, testifieth the Scripture.”

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