THE BIBLE INTO ENGLISH: JOHN WYCLIFFE

As I mentioned in my previous post, the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and the New Testament was originally written in Greek. In Bethlehem, in 410 A.D., St. Jerome completed his translation of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament into Latin. It was called the Latin Vulgate, meaning translated into the “vulgar” or “common” Latin. The Vulgate became the official Bible of the Western or Roman Catholic Church for centuries.

But as time passed, Latin was not read or understood except by scholars and some of the clergy. So in the 1380’s A.D., John Wycliffe and his associate began translating the Latin Vulgate into English. He felt the common people should be able to read and know God’s Law (i.e., The Bible).

Who was John Wycliffe? He was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church and a professor and scholar at Oxford University. One scholar observes he was “second to none in philosophy, unrivaled in the schools, and the flower of 0xford. Many divines esteemed him little less than God.” Wycliffe published more than 40 works in scholastic Latin and a lesser number in English. He may have taught Chaucer. Wycliffe died in 1384 A.D.

Was the Church Hierarchy happy that Wycliffe started translating the Bible into English? Absolutely not! The Archbishop of Canterbury (head of the English Church), Thomas Arundel, wrote to Pope John XXIII: “This pestilent and wretched John Wycliffe, of cursed memory, that son of the old serpent…” is dispersing malice by translating the Scripture into the mother tongue (English).

In 1401 A.D. an English Statute was enacted declaring it a heresy to translate Scripture into English or even to own or read any Scripture not in Latin. Archbishop Arundel petitioned the King and Parliament that heretics should be burned at the stake. In 1414 Arundel ordered Wycliffe’s English Bibles burned.

And at the Council of Constance (1414 -1418 A.D.) Wycliffe was declared a heretic. He died in 1384 A.D., so Wycliffe’s remains were exhumed, burned on a bridge over the River Swift, a tributary of the Avon.

From thence a prophecy arose:

“The Avon to the Severn runs,

The Severn to the sea,

And Wycliffe’s dust shall spread abroad,

Wide as the waters be.”

And that is what happened. Wycliffe’s influence on the English Bible spread over the wide waters. But more on this dramatic story next time!!!