Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

What a beautiful and lively journal you produce - full of meat and easy to hold - as was Tyndale's New Testament.

Everyone that I tell about the 'Let There Be Light' exhibition here in DC is ready to rush over to see it. A dear friend's gentleman admirer presented my friend with Old and New Tyndale Testaments and the 'Biography'.

Was able to order the video 'God's Outlaw' from Christian Book Distributors and enjoyed it immensely.

My poem may not be ploughing any new scholarship, but it comes from the 'ground and low bottom of [my] heart'. (Tyndale's translation of Luther's Prologue to Romans).

Such a pleasure to meet Professor Daniell! Hope to meet you some day soon.

Cordially
    Grace H. Carter

P.S. What attracts me to Tyndale's word is its clearness, freshness and inspired poetical spirituality.




Moving Land

Our friend, Tyndale, swelled the swale. 
From tongues beyond comprehension's pale 
he drove clear cold-cleaving sentences,
still not stale.
Ploughman, now-man, he of humble station 
can understand the Bible's wondrous tale,
feel  familiar rhythms working 
in God's trail.
That he might 'fight a good fight,'
'swim ... in love,' bathe in 'let'-ins of light.
This is not sod plodding translation. 
This is blissful, selfless trans-elation! 

Grace Hough Carter




From Japan

... You ask how I became interested in Tyndale. When I was a university student, I studied Milton for my graduate thesis. Reading his prose, I became interested in Church History and I studied it at graduate school. The Name of Tyndale appeared several times in the course of my study after then. When I took the class of Early Modem Europe at The University of Michigan, I wrote a paper on 'Liberty and Intolerance in the Reformation Era', in which I discussed why the assertion of liberty coexisted with that of intolerance in Luther, Calvin and Sir Thomas More. In connexion with More's intolerance, the name of 'Tyndale came out. When I wrote a paper on Conditionalism in Milton, Tyndale's stand as conditionalist was picked up as one of the predecessors of Milton's thought. Then being asked to write something about martyrdom by one of my colleagues at the Society of Church History in Japan, I read Tyndale's story in Foxe's Book of Martyrs, though I did not write anything on him at the time because sources I could handle were so few. Then reading the Renaissance Society Quarterly, I found the notice about the International Tyndale Conference, and attended the conference. That is the story of how I got to know about Tyndale.

Teaching Western Spirituality at Tokai University now, I want to make the students understand the importance of biblical impact in Western mentality as well as spirituality. Strangely enough More's life and achievement is well known to Japanese students because they learn his name in history class at High School. But they do not know about Tyndale. The film 'God's Outlaw' is nice material to use after the lecture. But Japanese students are not so good at spoken English unfortunately. So it would be a great help for them to read at least a portion of the story in English before they see the film.

Motoko Noda

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