June 19 1995

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The life and legacy of a great translator.

Let not your hearts be troubled.

-Tyndale

Do not be worried or upset.

-Today's English Version

William Tyndale: A Biography, by David Daniell (Yale, 429 pp.; $30, hardcover). Reviewed by Mark Galli, managing editor of Christian History magazine.

When James I committed his administration to a new translation of the Bible, he gathered England's brightest and best-50 of the leading linguists of the age. These scholars put their collective learning together and assembled a translation now known as the Authorized Version (as it is called in Great Britain) or the King James Version (KJV). Their phrasing and cadence and their apt choice of words have been celebrated for centuries; the impact of their work is incalculable.

For the most part, however, they plagiarized. I am not saying they didn't pore over their grammars and scrutinize the ancient manuscripts word by tedious word, straining to determine the exact meaning and the best way to put it. But when push came to shove-how exactly should we translate this phrase?-90 percent of the time, they decided William Tyndale, 75 years before, had gotten it right in the first place.

Herein lies the overlooked genius of William Tyndale. In this biography, the first full-scale life of Tyndale to appear in 60 years, David Daniell wants to set the record straight.

TRANSLATION AS REFORMATION

Daniell, professor emeritus at the University of London, appreciates the glories of the English language.

He has given his life to studying Shakespeare and other literary lights of that age. Daniell knows a wordsmith when he sees one, and he sees another in William Tyndale. His is a literary biography: he is less interested in Tyndale the courageous martyr than in Tyndale ...