I’m into heroes these days.

My heroes are men and women who stick to their consciences, in spite of legal and social harassment. You’ve met a few of them here.

Today, we feature a few long-dead heroes. Harold Rawlings examines the lives of John Wycliffe, William Tyndale, Martin Luther and others in his book, Trial By Fire: The Struggle to Get the Bible into English.

Given that The Bible “is the Book upon which modern civilization is erected, which lies at the basis of our legislation, and which softens rude manners and transforms the most wretched condition,” Wycliffe and Tyndale believed it would benefit people best if it could be read in their own everyday language.

The Church was not pleased.

Rawlings account of how they forged on in the face of resistance, how their books spread through the population, and how people reacted to the new translations should illuminate whatever readers may already understand about the great Reformation period.

As for Luther himself, readers will learn that the man had a sense of humor. Didn’t expect that from a cranky monk? Me neither.

I’m not spoiling things when I mention that many of these reformers met a bad end. But once they die in Rawlings’ pages, the book bogs down with the names and dates of subsequent translators. This is what makes more than a few people hate history books and history classes.

He eventually revives his subject, swinging around to main point: language constantly changes. Bible translation should keep up. Purists who insist on the King James Version and nothing but (and he has nothing against the KJV) need to take a deep breath. And he doesn’t mean the Mormons. There are evidently some Seventh-Day Adventists out there who insist that the words in those pages are direct quotes from Jesus.

Rawlings can really illuminate the reader’s understanding of the translation process. Phrases we’ve been repeating since we were four years old turn out to be word choices made by the reformers. Getting at the meaning of what they extracted from original manuscripts was vigorous mental exercise, and the translators were sincere in their effort to get it right.

You may also enjoy Rawlings’ appendices, specifically Appendix Three, on archaic words.

You can tell that Trial by Fire is not a beach book, although I did read it on a beach. I simply never manage to have a beach book when I have a beach.

Photo on Visualhunt.com