Letters to the Editor

Poor Tyndale

Thank you for the copy of the TSJ, 
Which fell on my doormat earlier today. 
I stared at the cover and then began thinking, 
“Is it my eyes, or is Tyndale shrinking?” 
“Perhaps he’s the same and the cover is bigger?” 
Suggested my dear wife, making me snigger. 
“For no, the cover is of uniform size, 
With the previous issues,” I dogmatized. 
“He’s certainly shrinking, his picture’s much smaller. 
I definitely recall he was somewhat taller.” 
So up to London I hastily raced, 
To see if his statue had begun to waste. 
Perhaps this shrinkage was rightly portrayed, 
In the picture that had been so recently made? 
Perhaps the pigeons that sat on his head, 
Had reduced him to the height of a slice of bread? 
Perhaps the foundations had eventually sunk, 
Causing his image to appear as though shrunk? 
But no, all is now as it was before, 
His head was still the same height from the floor. 
So why has his picture been made to shrink? 
Are we really compelled to save so on ink? 
Perhaps this reduction should be straightway banished, 
Before Tyndale’s image has totally vanished? 
Having made my protest, I now rest my quill. 
The rest of the Journal was excellent, 
love, 
Bill.

May 2002.

Editor’s Reply –

Smaller is Beautiful

Yes, dear Bill, you can trust your eyes, 
Tyndale’s picture has changed in size 
But as the Editor might gently mention 
Greatness is more than mere dimension.

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Dear Valerie,

I appreciated David Daniell’s article entitled “The Geneva English Bible: The Shocking Truth” published in the April edition of the Journal. I lived in Rolle, Canton of Vaud, Switzerland, from 1993-1997 and was a frequent visitor to Geneva.

As I walked around Geneva’s Old Town, I often thought about the lives of Whittingham, Sampson, Gilby, and Cole, who contributed so much to the publishing of the Geneva Bible in 1560. These scholars were worthy successors to William Tyndale and their work needs to be better understood and appreciated. Dr. Daniell’s article affirms that the Geneva Bible is one of the most eminent texts in the history of the English Bible.

Sincerely, 
Alistair Budd 
Elsah, Illinois, USA 
28 June, 2002. 

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Dear Valerie,

Thank you for your letter of a few weeks back…..I have now had TSJ No 21 and like the new cover. I enjoyed David Daniell’s piece and learned a lot from it, as I have written to tell him. But ..why did they backdate all those printings to 1599? One of my copies has this date, and I have known it was false but have never been able to discover why it was done.

I warmly agree with David Norton’s review of the McGrath book. A very poor job. Surprising.

Thanks for your encouragement to send you something. I thought I had shot my bolt with a couple of pieces a few years ago. But on thinking about it, I may be able to scrape something together. In the quincentenary year, on a summer afternoon, I set up a table and chairs outside our local public library, collared people as they came out and quizzed them about Tyndale. Would you believe it? Not one out of thirty had heard of him! Well, I am thinking of repeating the experiment next month, and will see if there is any difference.

But this time I will give each person a copy of Corinthians (1st epistle ch.13) with a very brief account of WT, and see whether I can make something out of their reactions.

Sincerely, 
Ronald 
Connecticut, USA. 

Editor’s note

Ronald Mansbridge’s article entitled William Tyndale and William Shakespeare appeared in volume 2 of the TSJ June 1995. As he is 96 years old we can only admire his dedication to the Tyndale cause and his energy in pursuing it.

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Dear Mrs Offord,

I enjoyed Mary Clow’s piece in issue number 20 about a Tyndale heritage walk in the City of London.

Next time anyone thinks of arranging such a walk, she might like to know that members of the Society are most welcome to visit St Sepulchre’s which is on your route – just round the corner, in fact, from St Bartholomew’s which was part of your itinerary last time.

My predecessor John Rogers assisted Tyndale in his translation work. Rogers was the first Protestant to be executed by Queen Mary at Smithfield in 1555. Rowland, your vice-chairman, is of course a near neighbour of mine and we have become good friends since he came to preach about Tyndale at my other church – St Michael’s, Cornhill.

With all good wishes, 
Yours sincerely, 
Peter Mullen, 
St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, London 
March 2002 

Editor’s note

A Tyndale walk round London incorporating a visit to St Sepulchre’s seems a good idea and perhaps some keen member would like to follow it up.