News
The Tyndale Society featured in a news article that was published in the United Kingdom on the 'Christian Today' website on Christmas Day. It explains how much of the vocabulary of Christmas dates back five hundred years to Tyndale's Cologne Fragment of Matthew in 1525, Click on the button below to see the original post.
In 1525, William Tyndale was in Cologne in Germany and got caught trying to produce the New Testament in English. He managed to save the first part of the printed New Testament known as the Cologne Fragment, consisting of the first twenty-two chapters of Matthew's gospel, which were smuggled into England.
Therefore, Christmas 2025 marks the 500th anniversary of when ordinary people could read the Christmas narrative in plain English from a printed book. William Tyndale translated Matthew's gospel from Greek into straightforward English, which is still remarkably understandable today.
The Tyndale Society has provided the Christmas narrative from Matthew 1:18 to 2:23 from Tyndale's Cologne Fragment which included most of Matthew. It starts "The byrthe of Christ was on this wyse..." You can use this in your church or for personal devotions. One copy is printed with its original spelling and the other with modernised spelling. The verse numbers (which were not part of the original) have been added for convenience. It also includes Tyndale's original cross-references and marginal notes.
These resources are free to download and use. Please click on the appropriate button below to view or download these documents (in Portable Document Format).
Happy Christmas!
On Sunday 4th January, 2026, the BBC Radio 4 Sunday Service will be entitled "Tyndale's Testament". It starts at 8:10 a.m. and will be 38 minutes long.
The Venerable Miranda Threlfall-Holmes, Archdeacon of Liverpool, will present this feature for Sunday Worship, marking the 500th anniversary of William Tyndale's translation of the New Testament into English.
The webpage reads:
In 1526, outside St Paul's Cathedral, the Bishop of London lit a bonfire on which he burned as many copies of the New Testament in English as he could find. The translator, William Tyndale, had fled to Europe to complete his work, and later died a martyr there.
In this special feature for Sunday Worship the Venerable Miranda Threlfall-Holmes weaves together music, readings and reflections to mark this anniversary. She visits the library at St Paul's which now houses one of only three original editions of Tyndale's New Testament. She interviews Dr Paula Gooder and Professor Diarmaid Macculloch about why the work of translating Scripture was seen as so dangerous, and what makes Tyndale's translation such a literary and theological treasure. She also speaks to members of 'Churches Together in Lymm', who organised events and readings around this anniversary as part of the town's annual festival.
Listen to it live, or online afterwards via 'Radio 4 - Listen Live - BBC Sounds'.
Leicester in England, has an exhibition called "500 Years of the Bible in English" from Tyndale to today, which is being held in St George's Chapel at the Cathedral. The description says:
"2025–2026 is the quincentenary of the translation and printing of the New Testament from the earliest Greek manuscripts into everyday English. Up to the reign of Henry VIII, the Bible’s great message was locked away in a language few could understand, and even quoting a verse in English was illegal and punishable by death. While the Renaissance and Reformation raged in Europe, one Englishman, William Tyndale, gave his life’s work – and ultimately his life – to put into the hands of the ordinary person the book that would give them eternal hope, and would go on to transform the nation. Come and discover this exciting story."
For further details, click on the link below to see the "What's on?" booklet produced by the Cathedral.
The British and Irish Association of Practical Theology (BIAPT) partnered with the Tyndale Society to hold a Symposium at Launde Abbey in Leicestershire exploring five hundred years of Tyndale's work, and its impact on culture, language and theology, entitled: From “the salt of the earth” to “the powers that be” and looking at the impact of biblical language in contemporary culture.
About twenty-five people came from different backgrounds, from all around England and as far as the Netherlands and Canada, including some existing and new members of the Tyndale Society. Through presentations, discussions and conversations, people explored the influence and impact of Tyndale's translation work in Shakespeare, in later Bible translations, Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, and, generally, in language, music and theology. Readings were given from Tyndale's translation, especially the Cologne Fragment.
For more details about BIAPT, click on the button below.