"Tyndale: The Man Who Gave God an English Voice"

Author: David Teems
Genre: History/Biography
Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Growing up in a Christian home, I've heard about William Tyndale all my life, about how he translated the Bible into English even though it was against the law and how eventually he was burned at the stake for it. But I'd never done any in-depth study on his life or work until I read this book.
In Tyndale, David Teems has done a beautifully artistic job of not only recounting the events of William Tyndale's life and work as a translator, but also of bringing to light the impact Tyndale had on the English language itself.
This book is not written in the typical 'date-event, date-event' format of most biographies. Instead, he focuses more on one particular idea or aspect or implication of Tyndale's work or mindset at a time. As a result I occasionally found myself getting confused about what was happening when, where, and to whom, but the handy time line in the back of the book made it easy to clear up my confusion. Over all, I found the format of the book refreshing and engaging.
In addition to the time line, the book has several other appendices containing bibliographies, words and phrases that Tyndale contributed to English, and more. The appendices are well worth reading for extra information and insight.
My favorite part of this book was the way in which it didn't just focus solely on William Tyndale and what he was doing when; it did a beautiful job making the connections between people and events all over Europe during the Reformation. Even if something didn't necessarily apply directly to William Tyndale, if it applied to the Reformation Tyndale was a part of, or contributed to events that pertained to him, the author explained it and went into detail regarding its impact and effect. After reading this book I feel like I have ten times the understanding of the Reformation as I did before.
I had to take this book slowly (it took me several days to get through it) simply because of the enormous amounts of information presented and the time it took to process all of the historical connections and applications the author delivered. But it was absolutely worth the effort. Tyndale is a book that will be staying in my collection for a long, long time.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for my review. I was not required to write a favorable review, however. My opinions are entirely my own.