William Tyndale, Bible Translater

Over 100 years after Wyclif worked on an English translation of the Scriptures, William Tyndale attempted the same feat.  He gave his life for his conviction that the Bible should be in the language of the common "plow boy."  The good news is that most of his work found its way eventually into our own King James version. You can see a little of his Bible to the left.

One might wonder how on earth the Catholic church would have had a problem with the Bible being translated into common languages.  On the surface, the argument went that only Latin scholars were able to understand the Bible well enough to study it and that they had a special "grace" from God to understand it.  The article at the above link goes deeper, though.

"...(T)he church realized that their power and control over the people, and even over the state, would be lost if certain doctrines were exposed as unbiblical—especially the priesthood and purgatory and penance....(which) boils down mainly to the way Tyndale translated five words. He translated presbuteros as elder instead of priest. He translated ekklesia as congregation instead of church. He translated metanoeo as repent instead of do penance. He translated exomologeo as acknowledge or admit instead of confess. And he translated agape as love rather than charity....(T)hose words in particular undercut the entire sacramental structure of the thousand year church throughout Europe, Asia and North Africa....”

I don't know about you, but I am thankful for the strong stand William Tyndale took.  Because of him and others like him, we can now read our own Bibles in our own languages. 

(from  http://home.comcast.net/~pegbowman/BritishSaints/TyndaleWilliam.htm)