A discussion about Tyndale involving broadcaster Melvin Bragg took place at St Paul’s Cathedral on 24 October.
The Reformation’s quincentenary has seen a resurgence of interest in Tyndale. Two new titles on the famous translator have been Introducing published: Banner of Truth’s Tyndale and Melvyn Bragg’s Very Brief History for SPCK. While the former is marketed as a devotional volume, Bragg’s is a secular book for interested readers. Bragg stresses his own unbelief, while describing himself as a candid friend of faith.
Bragg and Williams
The St Paul’s event, a discussion between Bragg and Jane Williams, wife of Rowan, begat much interest. The cathedral was packed out, although a uniformly white and ageing audience suggested that perhaps Bragg was a bigger draw than his subject. With believing and non-believing Europeans asking why the Reformation matters, the debate between broadcaster and theologian usefully illustrated two approaches to the shared Christian heritage.
For Bragg, Tyndale’s importance consisted in his wresting power from the hands of clerics and putting it back into the hands of individuals, helping to create modern liberalism. That, and his huge contribution to the English language. Against a life of such genius and grit, Bragg suggested, it is almost immaterial whether or not Tyndale was right about his God and his church.
Dr Williams contended that Tyndale’s importance is inseparable from the truth of his beliefs and their outworking in his life. The Bible is what prevents us from casting God in our own image. Tyndale recognised that it can only do so when it can be read and understood. Williams challenged the individualism of much recent Tyndale scholarship and dwelt on what was probably his most controversial word, ‘congregation’, which he used to translate the Greek word ekklesia, instead of ‘church’.
Strong witness
Tyndale cultivated the influential cadence of his phrases, his crispness of prose, so that his New Testament could be read aloud to illiterate people who needed to repent. The resonance of his words ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy’ surpassed that of a talented broadcaster’s and trained theologian’s. Williams challenged the mixed audience with the idea that the words resound not just because they are artful, but because they are true. As many nowadays seek to reduce the Reformation to an historical discussion, the cathedral’s event provided a stiff rejoinder that the reformers’ work had a relevance beyond its material impact. The result was a strong witness to the gospel at the heart of an influential man and his movement.
