Miles Coverdale, who published the first complete English language Bible, died on this day in 1568 at the age of 81. His Bible, printed in 1535, was a remarkable achievement and formed the basis for every other English translation over the course of the next three hundred years.
Once an assistant to William Tyndale, Coverdale was not actually a particularly capable Greek or Hebrew scholar, but he had a fine literary style, an unshakable tenacity, and a singular vision to complete the work his brilliant mentor had begun. Working from Tyndale’s notes, he was able to hammer out a masterpiece--more than seventy percent of which ultimately found its way into the King James Version of 1611.
This may seem rather bizarre, but my iPod is named Miles Coverdale. I got him in my freshman year on the day after we had our first lecture about Coverdale and I was still feeling inspired by the lecture, so I named my iPod after him.
ReplyDeleteA true Christian hero!
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