Prologue to Tyndale's New Testament (Cologne, 1525) PDF

Prologue to Tyndale’s New Testament (Cologne, 1525) Cristina Jiménez Murillo This text is the Prologue of Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament. There would be a later translation by Myles Coverdale in 1535, based on Tyndale’s version. William T...

Prologue to Tyndale’s New Testament (Cologne, 1525) Cristina Jiménez Murillo This text is the Prologue of Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament. There would be a later translation by Myles Coverdale in 1535, based on Tyndale’s version. William Tyndale studied at Oxford and Cambridge. In 1520 he was still a Catholic priest. The first and incomplete version of his translation of the New Testament was published in Cologne in 1525. It was revised in 1534 and the complete version was published in 1536. He did more translations, for instance, the Pentacheuch and the book of Jonah. Others have not survived. His New Testament made use of Erasmus’ Greek and Latin New Testament, as well as Luther’s German version. Tyndale’s translation was attacked by Thomas More, who claimed it dangerous to the ordered structure of society. It changed certain doctrines of the Church and also the authority of priests over lay people. The Prologue addresses the concept of humanity’s innate sinful nature, even before birth: “we have our fellowship with the damned devils under the power of darkness and rule of Satan, while we are yet in our mother’s wombs […]” and traces this nature back to the Fall of Adam and Eve, when they were expelled from the Garden of Eden, the original sin: “By nature, through the fall of Adam, we are children of wrath, heirs to God’s vengeance by birth […]”. This was the argument of St. Augustine. He claimed that evil is naturally in all of us. The quote “And as the fruit maketh not the tree evil; but because it is an evil tree, therefore bringeth it forth evil fruit, when the season of fruit is” compares people to an evil tree that naturally bears bad fruit, meaning that sin is part of human nature, and our bad actions come from this. It shows that all people are born sinful, and only faith in Christ can save them. The English Reformation, led by Thomas Cromwell from 1531 until his execution in 1540, began partly because King Henry VIII broke from the Catholic Church. This split was largely motivated by the Church’s refusal to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, his first wife. The Pope, under pressure from Charles V and I (Catherine’s nephew, as he was the son of her sister Joanna the Mad), refused the annulment. Therefore, Henry broke with Rome. He desperately sought to be divorced because Catherine had not been able to give him a male heir, leading him to establish the Anglican Church, with the king as its head. The Act of Supremacy (1534) declared Henry VIII the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Initially, the Reformation in England was more politically motivated than religious, as Henry VIII continued to practice Catholicism; he even earned the title Fidei Defensor for opposing Lutheran doctrines. He wrote a refutation of the German Protestant reformer Martin Luther, who criticized the Church for corrupting the Bible for personal gain.  The statement, “In Christ, God loved us, his elect and chosen […] and reserved us unto the knowledge of his Son and his holy gospel,” highlights the difference between Catholics and Protestants. Both groups believed that the truth about Christianity could be found in the Bible, especially the New Testament, and that everyone should have access to this truth. However, for this to be possible, the Bible needed to be translated. In 1534, Martin Luther published his Bible translation from Latin into English. Since the Catholic Church forbade such translations, the Bible was sold clandestinely in England. The Church opposed translating the Bible because it allowed individuals to interpret it for themselves, reducing the Church’s control over people’s beliefs, which they often used to their advantage. According to Protestantism, salvation is a personal matter that cannot be obtained through the Sacraments, as Catholics believe. Good works do not contribute to salvation, which can only be achieved through faith and devotion to God. Redemption comes exclusively from praying to Christ, not to any other spiritual figure. In this regard, it is impossible to know for certain if one will be saved; the only thing a person can do is live as if they are, as humans are inherently sinful and condemned by God for their actions: “Even so, our evil deeds do not make us evil; but because we are evil by nature, we both think and do evil […] convicted to eternal damnation by the law […]”. Any good deeds we perform are a result of God’s influence, as He is part of every individual (“the blood of Christ hath obtained all things for us of God”). This God is portrayed as strict and demanding, someone to trust, but not to negotiate with. The only path to salvation is through penance, confession, and genuine regret. “In Christ God loved us, his elect and chosen, before the world began” alludes to predestination, as discussed by John Calvin, the belief that God has eternally chosen some people for salvation and others for damnation, independent of their actions or choices. Then Tyndale mentions the holy gospel, remarking the importance to hear the word of God; this is essentially a justification of the translation. The last sentence expresses the idea that while humans may desire to follow God’s law and feel sorrow for their inability to do so, God’s grace, through the sacrifice of Christ, is enough for salvation, compensating their flaws. As both the head of state and the Church, Henry VIII forced the English people to abandon their long-held religious practices and convert to the Anglican Church, threatening that anyone who continued to follow Protestantism would be punished. These actions were motivated by the king’s personal interests and led to the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536. The rebellion failed because its leaders believed the king’s promises to address the grievances, which he had no intention of fulfilling. Ultimately, the rebellion was suppressed. William Tyndale was a Protestant priest who also believed the Church was corrupt. As a result, he chose to exile himself to Germany, where he translated the New Testament and the Gospel into English. These translations were published and illegally smuggled into England. Tyndale was persecuted by the Catholic Church and was arrested and executed in Vilvoorde, Belgium, for heresy. His beliefs were seen as a threat to the Church’s control and even after Cuthbert Tunstall, the Bishop of London condemned and banned it, it brought significant changes.