Tyndale on TV...

Thanks to BBC Religion & Ethics insider Al Rodgers, for his tip-off about a new 'Tyndale' TV programme to be broadcast this coming weekend.

The show - Melvyn Bragg's 'The King James Bible: the Book that Changed the World' will air on Saturday March 12th on BBC2 at 8pm.

"Von Bismark said the defining feature of modern history was that the Americans spoke English. It was an English which largely stemmed from the Bible. In both cases, British and American, the King James Bible version swept round the globe in school assemblies, far flung churches, remotely stationed battalions... it was the Book of the community of English speaking peoples.

New words - we use them still: "scapegoat", "let there be light", "the powers that be", "my brother's keeper", "filthy lucre", "fight the good fight", "sick unto death", "flowing with milk and honey", "the apple of his eye", "a man after his own heart", "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak", "signs of the times", "ye of little faith", "eat drink and be merry", "broken hearted", "clear eyed". And hundreds more: "fishermen", "landlady", "sea-shore", "stumbling block", "taskmaster", "two-edged", "viper", "zealous" and even "Jehovah" and "Passover" come into English through Tyndale. "Beautiful", a word which has meant only human beauty, was greatly widened by Tyndale, as were many others..."

BBC researchers originally contacted The Tyndale Society last autumn to investigate and verify details of Tyndale's dramatic part in the KJV's story.