From princes to ploughboys: 500 years of Tyndale’s New Testament
2026 marks the 500-year anniversary of William Tyndale’s New Testament. Published in February 1526, it was the first complete English translation from the original Greek.
The Christian Institute has released a publication celebrating William Tyndale’s remarkable legacy on the 500th anniversary of his complete translation of the New Testament.
The brief biographical guide, ‘From princes to ploughboys: 500 years of Tyndale’s New Testament’, charts the Bible translator’s early years, education, Protestant convictions, flight into exile, betrayal and death.
The six-page leaflet also explores the Gloucestershire clergyman’s influence on the English language, as he is credited with coining words and phrases such as ‘scapegoat’, ‘beautiful’ and ‘daily bread’.
‘Mighty legacy’
The translator was strangled to death and burned at the stake in 1536, but near contemporary biographer John Foxe said “it is past description what a door of light” Tyndale’s endeavours “opened to the eyes of England”.
Research Associate Dr Nathan Wallace, who co-authored the Institute’s publication, explained: “In February 1526, the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, all the Epistles, and the book of Revelation, were translated from the original Greek into a complete English language edition for the first time.
“With Tyndale’s translation, the living and active word of God broke forth in power in the English language.
“As a servant of Christ and Protestant martyr, he left a mighty legacy, worthy of commemoration by the Bride of Christ 500 years on – as the Scripture says, ‘he who honours me, I will honour.’”
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