"Praise of Tyndale does not require a denigration of earlier translators." I invited Professor Hudson to help us, in this season of Tyndalian euphoria, keep matters in some sort of perspective, and I am myself most grateful for her beautifully clear and informative sketch of the Wycliffite era. A parallel development of revisionist committees is covered by Hilary Day in her examination of the NEB and its pro-geny.
A major feature in this issue, in good time for the tourist season, is some account of the Tyndale-related sites in the Low Countries, hemmed-in as they are between the European battlegrounds of Waterloo and Maastricht. Our readers will know by now of the PlantinMoretus Museum, but the Erasmus House in Anderlecht may be a surprise to others besides myself. In our last issue we published a letter from Grace E Trott asking why the Tyndale Quincentenary Committee hadn't raised a new monument to supersede the one Paul Jackson describes, and which our cover features, front and back now. Of course, the Daniell editions of Tyndale's two Testaments is one monument, albeit not so public as a statue, and the biography is another. A third is the Society itself, which is a living monument. But the letter should prompt our imaginations to conceive some appropriate way of reminding the nation of its debt, especially as the millennium is almost on us, and it may well be true that there's still some mileage in monuments to Tyndale.'
One of the things I have found delightful about the contributions I've received is that they are anything but, focused solely on the past. Tyndale is more than a historical figure, he is historic, he transforms the past into a mythic present. The address by the Archbishop of Canterbury gets hold of this well in noting Tyndale's 'living faith which is worth dying for' and asking us to face the present in the light of Tyndale's sacrificial gift. I have been asking people what they have learnt, in the in-ward sense, from the commemoration; and in so many cases I have heard of renewal, of new enterprise, of new conviction. I am grateful to Donald Davie and Patrick Collinson for their new insights into old things, and I hope to receive more good news from readers to bear out my own conviction that the Tyndale thing was a spiritual event with great national as well as personal implications.
I include a short paragraph from an essay by Ronald Sim that I hope to give at length in a future issue. His work with the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology and concern with the problems of ongoing translation and gospel-mongering reminds us that the effective work and will of Tyndale is still alive, and the difficulties mountain-sized. He has kindly sent me his New Testament translation into Haddiya, an Ethiopian language I had never even heard of.
In response to my request, he also gave me some sketches in a letter of how things are proceeding on his Bible Translation Degree Programme in Nairobi, and I quote the following passage because I know you will be interested as well:
Our projects do have backing and support from Christian agencies, but we do need further funds for various aspects. We wish to increase our library holdings in the theological colleges in Nairobi, to subscribe to the major technical journals in the field, to start up a small Bookstore for students, and we attempt to provide scholarship help for students. We currently have 26/7 men in training, not all of whom have adequate funding. Mr Fidele dieeli Ntamayukiro is a case in point. He is a Burundian, and was employed by Bible Society of Burundi. The BSB General Secretary was killed over a year ago in general unrest surrounding the Rwanda conflagration, although it was too restricted to be of news value! Translation work (on revising the Kirundi Bible) was suspended, and the translators scattered, and one or more lost his life, we believe. Fidele was in contact with us for training, and his Pastor (a student in one of the schools where we have our translation programmes) pled with me to help him get out. I gulped, agreed, got him into the BA level school, and had him come out of Burundi in September. He started studying there and is doing well. His village was burned down the week after he left, and many slaughtered. He attributes his life to being helped to Nairobi. His parents are living in the bush; he has no news of a younger brother. I have underwritten his costs with the College, and a few Christian students in Scotland are now providing some further funds (£50 sterling per month); we are still seeking a more secure scholarship. I met him for the first time on Monday this week - a nice lad. I also met Mr Mekonnen Ashagre, an Ethiopian and former conscript in Mengitsu Haile Mariam's military in the Eritrean campaign. Mekonnen fled the army, heard about William Carey's work on cassette (in Amharic) and applied for a place in the translation studies programme.
He has just begun the BA, and has expressed a desire to serve in translating scripture for other peoples. Our translation programme is full of such tales and personalities - truly the children of Tyndale!
The Archbishop of Canterbury writes:
William Tyndale has long been an inspiration to me both for his work as a biblical scholar and as someone who was prepared to stand up for what he believed. Sadly his reputation has often suffered through neglect both here in Britain and overseas and I was delighted when the Quincentenary Celebrations honoured him in ways he so richly deserves.
More recently I too have been honoured to be invited to become Patron of the newlyformed Tyndale Society - a position I have been delighted to accept.
George Cantuar