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Thursday, March 8, 2012
Tyndale: The Man Who Gave God an English Voice by David Teems is a loose biography of William Tyndale. Tyndale was an Englisher Reformer who created and published the first English translation of the New Testament; he also did parts of the Old Testament. Though he lived during the time of the split between England and the Catholic church, his insistence on the importance of having scripture available in the common tongue, and his belief in faith being the only means of salvation, were his downfall. He was strangled then burned at the stake on October 6, 1536, after an imprisonment of about eighteen months.Teems' Tyndale is a poorly written, unorganized biography. In fact, its difficult for me to categorize it as a biography, as there is so much conjecture and superfluous material, that the amount of actual information about Tyndale could be printed on just a few pages. The main thrust seems to be trying make the reader understand how important Tyndale was to the creation of the modern English language, as well as a great reformer and man of faith. This is a worthy task, as Tyndale does not receive his due in this area. When it comes to this aspect of studying Tyndale's life, Teems is successful. The appendix with the list of words Tyndale is, or should be, credited with creating is a handy reference. Teems successfully makes the point that Shakespeare is given a lot of the credit that actually belongs to Tyndale.
When it comes to an actual coherent description of Tyndale's life however, Teems fails. He switches from examining Tyndale as an artist/writer, to looking at his theology, to discussing the lives and motives of various other people that may or may not be directly related to Tyndale's story; this makes it difficult to follow any of it. I understand that information about Tyndale is somewhat hard to find, and what is available is often buried in myth; however, stating what is known and putting forth what is commonly accepted, and participating in pure speculation and conjecture about Tyndale's thoughts, feelings, and circumstances are two entirely different things. It is the latter that Teems often engages in, to the point of frustration for one interested in the facts.
Overall, Tyndale was a difficult book to finish. It is bloated, boring, written in a circular fashion, and not at all what I was expecting, since it is presented as a biography. Someone who is studying the beginning of modern English, and the impact Tyndale had on it, may find some parts helpful. Other than that, I wouldn't recommend anyone suffer through Teems' version of Tyndale's life.
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 
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