1525-26
England
Although translations of the English Bible began to come out
as early as the 1380’s, it wasn’t fully translated and widely available until the
First Edition in 1525-26. John Wycliffe was an Oxford professor and well known
through Europe because of his opposition to some of the Church’s teaching. At
the time, the Bible wasn’t available to all people and was really only
available to the clergy who were trained to understand it in Latin and other complex
original languages like Greek and Hebrew. (S,D,H pg. 118) This left the common people
completely dependent on the clergy to interpret the Bible for them and lead
them in accordance with it’s principles. Wycliffe, in the 1380’s translated the
Bible into English and distributed multiple “English language manuscript copies
of the Bible.” (2. JJ) Wycliffe was tried and convicted for his efforts, after his
death then his body was later dug up and burned. Later on, however, a man by
the name of William Tyndale came along to finish what others had tried to
begin; the diffusion of a readable Bible among all social classes. William
Tyndale translated and printed the English Bible and its translation and
distribution is in large part the reason so many of us enjoy it even today. A
funny story is told of a Catholic Bishop who went to the Netherlands in hopes of
destroying any Bibles that Tyndale had printed. He offered to buy all the
Bibles that had been printed. The printer agreed, and explained to Tyndale that
this would be a great opportunity to sell the Bible’s to the Bishop and then
use that money to be able to print and distribute even more Bibles. The idea
worked and it was widely distributed but not for a cheap price. William Tyndale
was executed because of his work on translating the Bible and he stands as a
hero to millions of Christians today for his bravery. (S,D,H pg. 118) The reason I would
include the Bible is because of it’s symbol of the importance of having
opportunities to learn. For centuries, the common person was dependent on the
learning of those in higher social classes to dictate their spiritual path. The
English Bible, however, provided even the peasants with opportunities to
observe (read) and meditate on the inspired writings which are contained in the
Bible. Its distribution facilitates learning and spiritual growth for anyone
that engages in a study of it. This artifact would stand as a great reminder to
my people of the importance of equal opportunities for learning.