David Teems

Ugh!! I'm so glad I'm done with this book!

I read several Tudor history books this summer and figured this book on James I would be a great followup. I should have been more specific with myself. A book on James I would have been a great followup---this particular book was not.

The author relied far too much on secondary sources and quotes. Another reader said it felt like they were reading the Cliff's Notes version of James' life and reign---exactly. I still feel like I know very little about the man. Teems liked to say, "James was James." Or various versions of that; problem is, he didn't give us a clear and thorough portrait of James to begin with.

The thing I found consistently frustrating though was that Teems gives his reader very little credit for possessing a functioning brain. Anyone who has chosen to read this book is already going to know that "plough" is "plow", that "elasticity" means "a good deal of stretch", that a vicar is a pastor. He uses vocabulary and then defines it: "he learned to vacillate. To say one thing and do another." This is needlessly redundant (see what I did there?). It goes on, ad nauseum: a fortnight is two weeks, a physic is medication, a homonym is defined...

I concede there were a few interesting bits. I found this quote to be the most fascinating of all. The author is discussing the influence that Shakespeare may have had on the translation of the KJB: "Remember, the circles in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean London were quite small. And all of this somewhat amazingly took place within a few square miles of earth, and at the same moment in time." Amazing. Also, I thought James' rendering of Psalm 100 was quite clever and the KJB information was really interesting---if brief. Though I feel like I wasted a lot of time forcing myself to read this book, it has served to spark an interest in James I and the translating of the KJB, so I suppose all's not lost.… (lisätietoja)

In Tyndale: The Man Who Gave God an English Voice, author David Teems leads readers through a period in European history when translating the Bible into the vernacular was ultimately an offense punishable by death. He attempts to follow the life of William Tyndale, the father of the first English Bible while also doing a fair bit of exegesis along the way.

One of the drawbacks to this book is the fact that little is known about Tyndale’s life. Because of this Teems has forgone the traditional chronological format of most biographies and has inserted a fair bit of speculation and comparative biography in its place. While much of what he has here is interesting, it does lack a narrative flow causing the reader to work a bit harder than normal to work through the book.

It starts out quite strong presenting itself as one part adventure story - dealing with Tyndale’s clandestine travels through Europe as he tries to write and publish his book - and one part translation analysis. It also ends well with the details surrounding Tydale’s capture and eventual execution. Where the book lags is in the middle where, because so little is really know, Teems must instead rely on comparative analysis with other authors of the time.

One aspect of the book that was a surprise was finding out that Tyndale, just as much as Shakespeare or the King James Bible, was really one of the fathers of English as we know it. In this respect Tyndale gets far too little credit in most linguistic histories, and Teems is right to set the record straight.

Overall, I did like the book, though it ended up being less than what I was originally expecting.… (lisätietoja)

It is amazing that King James survived his childhood. While still in his mother's womb, a sharped knife was placed against Queen Mary of Scots. Carefully, she saved herself and son, but her musician, Rizzio, was brutally killed by a group put together by her husband, Lord Robert Darnley.

Darnley is a pretty man/boy, that's about all he has going for himself. The father of James, is a weakling with eyes toward the throne of Scotland. The life of Mary and her baby were saved. The incident of her husband's stupidity was repaid when months later, he was blown to bits.

Mary made tremendous stupid mistakes. As my college history professor noted over and over, Mary ruled with her heart while her brilliant cousin Elizabeth I of England ruled with her intelligence.

Mary's fate was to be imprisoned under Elizabeth's careful watch. After many failed attempts to overthrow Elizabeth, it was her final communications to Scotland with a plea to make a plan to kill Elizabeth so she could gain the throne. Way too smart, Elizabeth adeptly proved Mary a fool, and she was executed. It too was a bloody undertaking with three attempts to chop her head. Finally, when the nasty task was finished, her head was raised, her wig fell to reveal a balding, sad woman, whose only true companion was her dog who, hidden, found his way out of the bloody gown.

When Elizabeth grew older and more frail, she still had not named a successor. Mary Queen of Scots son, James, would fulfill that duty. He brought to the throne what Elizabeth did not--heirs to continue the legacy. With a foot that turned sideways and a spindly composure, James learned quickly and relied on what he witnessed as a child.

A better, smarter ruler than his mother, his was the reign of trips to the new colonies by Sir Walter Raleigh who brought back a crop of tobacco . He too would eventually lose his head.

James was raised in violence and uncertainty. Scotland was a bloody land with blood and short lived reigns of those who tried to rule James, eventually they too were killed.

Intelligent, with the ability to smartly navigate, when James came to the English throne, he was aware of how religion tore apart both Scotland and England. He called for a middle ground, which was achieved by bringing together learned, intelligence men who worked to achieve what we now know as the King James bible.… (lisätietoja)

Teems writes weird. By 'weird', I don't mean bad, I just mean 'different'. I wouldn't call this book an account of Tyndale's life, rather, I would call it a 'conversation/discussion' of his life. Perhaps my choice of words seems strange as one can't really have a conversation or a discussion without a participant; but those are the words that come to mind. In a sense, I did feel as though I was participating. Mr. Teems gives you his own thoughts about different events, stating what he finds humorous, and giving his opinion of the various 'characters' in Tyndale's day. You may agree or disagree with what he thinks. He strikes me as a 'one-on-one' teacher, one who gives you, not only the people, time period, events, books and letters that were written, but gets you to think about them, to ponder certain questions. He gets your thoughts rolling. For instance, he'll give you Tyndale's translation of a certain passage in the Bible and also give you the KJV, NASB, NIV,SCB, translations and have you compare them and then he'll talk about the differences and similarities between them.

I learned a lot from this book. Oddly enough, one of the things I learned is that you can't learn a huge amount about Tyndale's biography. There really isn't much information on Tyndale's life available. To learn about the man, as is made clear in the book, we mainly have his books, letters and Bible translation to go off of. Teems makes good usage of these documents. I like that he'll mention Tyndale's publishing a book, and then take a chapter to 'look' at it. His 'looks' at Tyndale's Bible translation are throughout the book. In one of those 'looks' the author tells you about translation vs. paraphrase in his comparison of Tyndale's translation vs. today's The Message bible. "Representing a more modern appetite, The Message is a clear departure from Tyndale...The translation is upbeat. It is optimistic. It is sincere. And it is certainly readable. These are admirable qualities. But rhapsody has been exchanged for explanation (paraphraseis). .......Robert Alter referred to the phenomenon as the 'heresy of explanation.' (Quoting Alter)'The unacknowledged heresy underlying most modern English versions of the Bible is the use of translation as a vehicle for explaining the Bible instead of representing it in another language, and in the most egregious instances this amounts to explaining away the Bible.' Translation and interpretation are not the same thing, and that is Alter's point. "

Let me mention here a few things that I didn't like. For one, there are some things/topics I do not want to know the details of, in any society. There are some of these unnecessary things scattered throughout the book. Apparently, on rare occasions, Tyndale could be as crude as Luther in his comments about the hypocritical religious people of the day. Also, in my opinion, Teems stressed the 'music/sound/ feeling/rhythm' of Tyndale's writing too much. I would have been fine with a paragraph or two on it's musical quality, how well Tyndale wrote, how simply, I wouldn't even have minded a chapter on it, but it seemed to be one of the main emphases of the author. And, lastly: again, in my opinion, the chapter 'It was England to Him' was entirely unnecessary, even a bit boring. In it, Mr. Teems ponders what it would have been like for Tyndale to have been so far away from his native land (England) by looking at other people's experiences away from home. What was said in that chapter could have been said in one paragraph. But again, that's my opinion.

Now, back to a positive note. In this book, Teems explains that English was considered to be a crude, common language. Latin was the best language, the developed language of the day that was considered fit for the Bible. I liked that it is pointed out that the New Testament translated into the 'common' English language was, "the common Greek(Koine) materialized as common English". I had never thought about it in that way before. Koine Greek wasn't an 'elite' language, it was common, just as English was!

To sum up this look at the life of Tyndale: in reading the information compiled by Teems, It was evident from Tyndale's life that he had a 'working faith', a faith given to Him by God. He wasn't looking at his circumstances, his feelings, his desires, he wasn't focusing on the world around him, He was focused upon God and the tasks that God had given him to do. He knew that life was not about him, but about God.

I'll end with one of the many Tyndale quotes from the book:"Wicked deeds prove that a heart is unfaithful. Unless you are hitting the mark with your deeds, the aim of your soul must be crooked. Your faith should inform every activity of your being."

I received this book as a complimentary copy from BookSneeze® in exchange for my review(which does not have to be favorable).… (lisätietoja)