William Tyndale

William Tyndale, famous for his translation of the New Testament into English, has close associations with St. Adeline’s Church in Little Sodbury.
In 1522 William came to live and work at Little Sodbury Manor as tutor to the children of Sir John Walsh and Anne Poyntz. Sir John was a leading citizen of the County, having been at Henry VIII’s court and acted as the King’s champion at his coronation.
During his time there William preached all over the area and particularly in St Adeline’s church which at that time was located next to the manor house. (It was later rebuilt in its current location in 1859 using parts of the original building).
During this time at the manor he dined at Sir John’s table and had many theological disputes with the local dignitaries, most of which he was able to win because of his thorough knowledge of the Bible. It was these disputes which eventually led to his leaving the area. They also led him to realise the wide gulf between the religion of the day and that of the New Testament due to the ignorance of the laity and the clergy of the contents of the Bible, and he began to see a need for an English translation of the Bible.
The lack of biblical knowledge of the clergy of the day was shown by a visitation by Bishop Hooper of the Gloucester diocese where an examination of 311 clerics found that 10 could not say the Lord’s Prayer, 30 could not name its author or say when it was written, 170 could not repeat the Ten Commandments and although most could say the creed, two thirds of them could not support its statements from scripture.

St Adeline’s

Note: William Tyndale, born 1494 died by execution 1536.

Read about William Tyndale in the new booklet just published (Nov 2015).  https://svbcofe.org.uk/ls/william-tyndale-booklet/

(See Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tyndale )