Eggs don’t bounce, we may say. If only they did! When William Tyndale presented to the English people in 1534 a New Testament in their own language, he was calling into being a bouncing egg. He had said that he wished a plough-boy to know the Gospels and it happened. The usual result of an egg smashing itself is a mess that has to be cleared up. Not so on this occasion. This egg did bounce. Two benefits came as a consequence. The Christian faith became accessible. The English language came into its own.
Events have consequences. This was true of Tyndale’s translation. His bouncing egg led to a long line of vernacular Bibles that have been instrumental in giving people an understanding of the Christian faith. It also was an important factor in shaping the English language – through the 1611 ‘Authorised’ or ‘King James’ version – becoming the most quoted book in English and giving phrases and sayings galore to English-speakers.
The changes that occurred as a result of Tyndale’s work were not confined to one of the two consequences mentioned above. The two happenings influenced each other. They also influenced the way we think.
This is an example we have to bear in mind when we are thinking of the mutual interaction between a vernacular Bible and a living language. It is also something we have to think of in our evangelism. We declare the Gospel and we are changed. To influence a mass readership is to expect to be changed oneself.
Tyndale’s translation (or perhaps more so its offspring the KJV) has now been replaced (though not surpassed). It has the same level of acceptance as Shakespeare’s works. No egg has proved to have more bounce.
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