The good news is that Gonzales has resigned, plus America has again won the Little League World Series. The bad news is that we are still mired in Iraq, the dollar presses still run night and day, bring on eventual hyper-inflation and economic chaos. Now for something completely different! I can write what I please, because unlike Gold Eagle, this is MY column, and not subject to editorial subversion or editing by the web site’s owner. Remember my column on earthworms a couple of years ago?
One of history’s greatest heroes, and for the most part un-heralded, was William Tyndale (1494-1536). Oxford educated, linguist, translator and theologian, Tyndale, is in large part responsible for the English Language as we know it today. It is said by one wag that Shakespeare (1564-1616) has over 3,000 Biblical references in his works. Shakespeare couldn’t have written without Tyndale’s efforts of a hundred years earlier. Tyndale had as his life’s work, the English translation of the Bible. The well known King James or Authorized version (1611) wouldn’t have been possible without Tyndale, and it is a virtual 90% mock-up of Tyndale’s translation. Tyndale was the first to translate the Bible into English from the Hebrew and Greek scriptures, in my opinion incorrectly called the “Old and “New” Testaments. Tyndale is literally the father of modern English. His grammatical and spelling constructs have become integral to modern English.
Tyndale crafted the word “Jehovah” from old Hebrew construction, and words like “scapegoat,” “birth-right,” and “passover,” came from Tyndale. Biblical phrases such as, “Let there be light,” (Genesis 1), “The salt of the earth,” (Matthew 5), “My brother’s keeper,” (Genesis 4), “A man after his own heart,” (1 Samuel 13, Acts 13), “Ye of little faith,” (Matthew 8, 14, 16, Luke 12), “The signs of the times,” (Matthew 16), “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,” (Matthew 26), “Eat, drink, and be merry,” (Luke 12), “A law unto themselves,” (Romans 2), “Filthy lucre,” (1 Timothy 3), “Fight the good fight,” ( 1 Timothy 6), and scores more.
Tyndale was forced to flee England to do his translation in defiance of the Catholic Church and Crown. Eventually, at age 42, he was betrayed by a Judas-like ’friend,’ condemned as a heretic, and strangled and burned near Brussels. His dying prayer was “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.” Tyndale smuggled pocket-sized Bibles into England which were widely read and circulated. England learned to read with Tyndale’s Bibles. It is impossible to visualize Anglo-American literature, philosophy, art, politics, and even society, without knowledge, either recognized or un-recognized, of Tyndale’s Bibles and translation.
Do you, like me, get garbage supposedly from E-Bay, which isn’t? These guys are trying to bait you so you will give them your address, credit card number or whatever. When you get these, simply forward them to “spoof@ebay” and if enough do it, there characters will be made extinct.