The Obedience of a Christian Man (Penguin Classics)
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The Obedience of a Christian Man by William Tyndale, a principal translator of the King James Bible, was published in 1528, three years after the first publication of his English translation of the New Testament. Obedience defends the basic goal of his translation, and of the English Reformation that he helped incite: opening direct access for all believers, even the "boy that driveth the plough" to Scripture, the supreme authority of the Church. For reformers such as Tyndale, obedience to Scripture was a revolutionary act requiring complete commitment. Tyndale described this commitment with forcefulness that still reads fresh today:
To preach God's word is too much for half a man. And to minister a temporal kingdom is too much for half a man also. Either other requireth an whole man. One therefore cannot well do both.
The book is a landmark of political thought, expounding another fundamental principle of the English Reformation: that the king is the supreme authority of the state. (Tyndale's ideal of royal authority, however, is determined by Scripture's authority: "The most despised person in his realm is the king's brother and fellow member with him and equal with him in the kingdom of God and Christ.") The Obedience of Christian Man includes much rhetoric about obedience of woman to man that now appears archaic and offensive, but its tough-minded description of the uneasy relationship between power and love is timeless. --Michael Joseph Gross
Book Description
William Tyndale published The Obedience of a Christian Man two years after he presented his 1526 English translation of the Bible, a forbidden undertaking, which eventually led to his execution. His vigorous, direct translation of the New Testament was intended to make it accessible even to the "boy that driveth the plough." In The Obedience of a Christian Man, he articulates his religious principles in what became one of the most important publications of the first phase of the English Reformation. He boldly develops the argument that ordinary believers should live directly according to Scripture without the intervention of worldly and often corrupt popes and prelates. This fine example of English prose raises, even today, powerful questions about the challenge of living a Christian life.
The Obedience of a Christian Man (Penguin Classics)
The Obedience of a Christian Man (Penguin Classics),William Tyndale,David Scott Daniell,Penguin Classics,0140434771,Christianity,Christianity - Christian Life - Character & Values,Christianity - Theology - General,Inspirational - General,Literature: Classics,Obedience,Religion - Classic Works,Religious aspects,Christian theology,English,Fiction / Literary,Literary studies: 16th to 18th centuries
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