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Finally, in early August 1536, Tyndale was condemned as a heretic, degraded from the priesthood, and delivered to the secular authorities for punishment under the laws of the Inquisition.

On October 6, 1536, Tyndale was brought to the cross in the middle of the town square and given a chance to recant. Refusing, he was given a moment to pray. English historian John Foxe said Tyndale cried out, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes!"

He was bound to the beam, and both an iron chain and a rope were put around his neck. Gunpowder was added to the brush and logs. At a signal, the executioner tightened the noose around Tyndale's neck and strangled him. Then the wood was set ablaze.

Tyndale's dream did not die with him. His work was picked up by two men—Miles Coverdale and John Rogers. The first complete English Bible had been printed almost exactly a year earlier, by Coverdale, using Tyndale's New Testament and Coverdale's Old Testament translation from German and Latin. In 1537, Rogers completed Tyndale's Old Testament work and issued The Matthew's Bible.

In 1539, three years after Tyndale's death, it seems like the translator's last spoken prayer was answered: Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, hired Coverdale at the bequest of King Henry VIII to publish the "Great Bible," the first English Bible authorized for public use.

Nearly a century later, when translators of the Authorized or King James Version debated how to translate the original languages, eight of ten times they agreed that Tyndale had it best to begin with. The King James Bible, published in 1611, contains about 60 percent of Tyndale's original translated text.

* Adapted from 131 Christians You Should Know, published by Christian History magazine. Visit www.ChristianHistory.net for more true stories from Christian History magazine.

A Christian Reader original article.

Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today International/Today's Christian magazine (formerly Christian Reader).
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