World of the Bible Podcast, a Tyndale House Production

In this episode, we speak with Anwar Tjen, a Bible translation consultant from Indonesia whose work has helped shape Bible translation used by millions of Christians. From his academic research on the Septuagint (the Ancient Greek Old Testament) to his role revising the Indonesian Standard Bible, Anwar shares fascinating insights into the challenge and opportunities of modern Bible translation.

With more than 700 languages spoken across Indonesia, Bible translation remains one of the Church’s most significant and ongoing tasks. Anwar discusses why Scripture in a person’s heart language can be transformative, how technology is helping translators today, and some of the surprising problems translation team's encounter.

In this episode we discuss:
How studying the Septuagint led Anwar into Bible translation
What it takes to revise a Bible translation used by millions
Why language updates and new textual insights matter
The challenges of translating Scripture across Indonesia's many languages
The importance of reading the Bible in your heart language
How technology is changing Bible translation
Examples of real translation problems and solutions
As we mark 500 years since William Tyndale’s English New Testament, Anwar’s story reminds us that the mission to God’s Word understandable and accessible is still transforming lives around the world.
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What does William Tyndale’s legacy look like 500 years later?

Historian Harry Spillane joins us to trace Tyndale’s remarkable influence on the English Bible, from Coverdale and the Matthew Bible through to the Geneva, Bishops’ and King James Bibles. But Tyndale’s legacy is about more than the words and phrases that survived him. At the heart of his work was the conviction that the Bible deserved the very best scholarship, rooted in its original language, and this scholarship should serve ordinary people. 

Tyndale learnt Hebrew, returned to the original texts, and took enormous personal risks to make Scripture accessible to the everyday reader. His name may have disappeared from view for centuries, but his approach endured. 

That combination of rigorous scholarship and a desire to serve people who take the Bible seriously continues today, and lies at the heart of the mission of Tyndale House.
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Why was William Tyndale’s English Bible so controversial, and how radical was Tyndale within the English Reformation? Historian Karl Gunther explores Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament, the influence of Martin Luther, his disputes with Thomas More and George Joye, and the controversial translation choices that challenged traditional understandings of the Church and its authority.

Translating the Bible into the vernacular was not unusual across Europe. In England, however, the legacy of Wycliffe and Lollardy created a very different context for biblical translation.

We follow Tyndale from England to the Continent. After seeking support for his translation project from Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London, Tyndale travelled to Europe. His attempt to print the New Testament at Cologne in 1525 was interrupted, before the complete New Testament was printed at Worms in 1526. Copies subsequently made their way into England.

But opposition to Tyndale was about more than translating Scripture into English.

His choice of English words became part of a much bigger theological debate. Thomas More objected to translations including“congregation” rather than “church” and “love” rather than “charity”, among other choices. Behind vocabulary lay deeper questions about the nature and authority of the Church, priests and bishops, and how Scripture should be interpreted.

We also explore Tyndale’s relationships with fellow reformers including William Roye, John Frith, Robert Barnes and George Joye.

Joye produced a revised edition of Tyndale’s New Testament in 1534, leading to a particularly bitter disagreement involving the translation of “resurrection” and ideas about what happens after death. What does the controversy tell us about Tyndale, especially given his apparent dislike of public disagreements between fellow evangelicals?

And just how much of a leader was Tyndale within the early English Reformation?

Finally, we consider William Tyndale’s legacy for Bible translation today, including his emphasis on allowing individual readers to encounter and interpret Scripture, illuminated by the Holy Spirit.

In this episode:

Why translating the Bible into English was controversial
William Tyndale and Martin Luther
Tyndale’s 1525 Cologne and 1526 Worms New Testaments
How Tyndale’s New Testament reached England
Thomas More’s objections to Tyndale’s translation
“Church” versus “congregation” and “charity” versus “love”
Tyndale, William Roye, John Frith and Robert Barnes
George Joye and the 1534 New Testament controversy
Was William Tyndale a radical reformer?
Tyndale’s lasting influence on English Bible translation

📖 Explore the Bible translation family tree mentioned in this episode:  https://tyndalehouse.com/resources/tyndale-500/
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William Tyndale looms so large over the early English Reformation that it's easy to mistake him for a typical figure of the movement. In fact, he was one of its most distinctive and uncompromising voices.
In this episode, Dr Tony Watkins, our Fellow for Public Engagement, speaks with Alec Ryrie, Professor of the History of Christianity at Durham University. They explore the world that shaped Tyndale, the risks he ran to put the New Testament into English, and why his refusal to bow to Henry VIII's ambitions left him more exposed than any of his fellow reformers.
Alec Ryrie discusses:
why the Reformation shows so clearly that theology matters, and why its debates are still alive today
the long medieval tradition of reform that Erasmus and his followers inherited
how growing up on the Anglo-Welsh borderlands, and near Gloucestershire's Lollards, might have shaped Tyndale's passion for translation
Tyndale's request to Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall for permission to translate: mischievous or naive?
how Tyndale stood "a step and a half ahead" of Cambridge reformers such as Robert Barnes, Thomas Bilney and Hugh Latimer
the interrupted printing in Cologne in 1525, the first complete New Testament from Worms in 1526, and why Antwerp became Tyndale's base
the growing danger Tyndale faced from Thomas More, Bishop Stokesley and the Low Countries authorities
why Tyndale, unlike Cranmer and Barnes, refused to go along with the king's marital adventures, and how that sealed his fate
Tyndale's threefold legacy: theological, political and above all as a translator whose vivid, immediate English still echoes in modern Bibles
About our guest:
Alec Ryrie is Professor of the History of Christianity at Durham University and a Fellow of the British Academy. He was Gresham Professor of Divinity from 2018 to 2022. His books include The Gospel and Henry VIII: Evangelicals in the Early English Reformation, Protestants: The Faith That Made the Modern World, Unbelievers: An Emotional History of Doubt, The English Reformation: A Very Brief History and The Age of Hitler and How We Will Survive It.
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We remember William Tyndale as the man who translated the New Testament from the original Greek into English, but his story is part of a much larger movement beginning decades before his translation work began. 
 
In this episode, we are joined by Dr Simon Burton, John Laing Senior Lecturer in Reformation History at the University of Edinburgh. Hear his interview with Dr Tony Watkins, as they explore the idea of the Long Reformation, examining whether the Reformation was truly a sharp break from the Middle Ages or the culmination of developments that had been unfolding centuries before. 
 
The episode traces the roots of reform from before Martin Luther, looking at vernacular reform movements such as the Lollards, and asking how these movements may have influenced Tyndale’s desire to translate Scripture into the language of ordinary people. 
 
Tony and Simon also explore the rise of Renaissance humanism, the influence of Erasmus, and why Tyndale is often thought of as a Christian Humanist. They discuss the obvious, and less obvious, connections between Tyndale and Luther, and why Tyndale ultimately left England to pursue his work on the continent. 
 
This episode leaves no room for doubt about the indelible mark William Tyndale left on the English language, Christian faith, and the history of the Reformation.
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