William Tyndale, in three volumes

The selection for book group in October was Fire in the Bones by S. Michael Wilcox. It is an introductory look in William Tyndale's life, from a Mormon perspective.

My basic impressions:
1. It was an introduction for an audience that had never heard of Tyndale. (As it turns out, I am pretty much in that group.) But, it felt really simple. Like a lot of things were glossed over.
2. I didn't think Wilcox was a great storyteller. The story is compelling, but it didn't flow very well. He intersperses bits about the translation logistics and things of interest to a Mormon audience with the story. All interesting, but it didn't hold together super well.
3. Tyndale's shortcomings (whatever they are) were glossed over. It was very much a rah rah rah hero look at this man. I also felt like his part in the reformation and his ulterior motives of reform were lightly touched upon. He motives for translation were portrayed as purely to bring the light of the Bible to the fieldboy and servant woman. Nothing of the venom he felt for the Catholic church was described.
4. The language: ugh. Over the top flowery. Especially at the beginning.

All of the above are negative points. It was a decent introduction. As a stand alone book, I wasn't thrilled with it, but the topic was interesting enough (and his treatment skimpy enough) that I wanted to read other things.

Wide as the Waters covers all personalities and events that eventuated in the English translation of the Bible. Thus, the scope is much broader than Fire. It was also much more of an academic book which had some depth that Fire lacked. I liked getting the history from Wycliffe to the King James, with lots of interesting information about the reformation. (that is another of my critiques of Fire. The historical context was lacking.) The whole bit about King Henry VIII was fascinating. I was intrigued by the idea that the King's lust for a new wife (and a male heir), which led to his desire for a desire, caused a schism with the Catholic church and helped the reform movement in England. I haven't yet finished this book, but am going to get back to it soon. It is somewhat dense and takes and bit of time to get through.

The last book was God's Bestseller and I read the least amount of this one. Probably 150 pages or so. It was all about Tyndale, but it went into more depth on what paper was like back then, stuff like that. It didn't really add much to the story.

All in all, I enjoyed reading about Tyndale, the translation of the Bible into English, and the reformation and I learned a lot.