This Beautiful Book

As the world’s best-selling and most widely distributed book of all times,¹ it would be impossible for the Bible not to make a global impact in human society.

The Development of Language and Learning

Just 70 years before Shakespeare put pen to paper, there was no viable written English language. The educated communicated in Latin. English royalty used Norman French. Peasants spoke in a throw-away language—English.

Then, the reformer and scholar John Tyndale translated the Bible into English and unwittingly became the father of Modern English.² For his efforts he was strangled and burned at the stake. His dying wish was, “Lord! Open the King of England’s eyes.” Three years later, in 1539, Henry VIII allowed publication of “the Great Bible,” which included Tyndale’s translation. The most beloved and widely distributed version of the Bible, the King James Version of 1611 (KJV), retained 70 percent of Tyndale’s translation. Because