Finding Hope in History

Last year, I picked up a random book about the history of the English Bible at my favorite secondhand bookstore, mostly because you don’t leave a bookstore empty handed, but also because I’d said I wanted to read more history, and this seemed like a good, albeit random, place to start. Well naturally, I didn’t read that book, and it wasn’t until about a week and a half ago that I finally stumbled across it again and decided I might as well try to read it now - in the spirit of reading more this year.

I’m only two chapters in so far (though to be fair, the book only has five chapters, so I think that means I’m almost 20% done) but already I can’t believe how a book I happened to stumble upon could end up being one I’d love so much.

I plan to post a full review on it later once I finish, but for now, mostly so I don’t forget, I wanted to share a few things it’s already teaching me. It’s funny, but it goes in line with so much of what I learned at a missions class I took recently (Perspectives). In the history section of the class, we learned all about how God has been at work within history to reach all the peoples of this earth. And this book shows exactly how that was happening in England in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

The first chapter focused on a man by the name of John Wycliffe, who you’ve probably heard of before. He was one of the first people to advocate for an English Bible and to speak out against traditions in the Catholic Church (which basically controlled all religious life in Europe during that time) that did not line up with Scripture. Essentially, he began what would be a precursor movement to the Reformation, and this was so amazing for me to learn because 1) I had never read about this before and 2) it showed me how, in a period that I’ve always seen as so dark and awful, God was still at work, using ordinary men to bring the truth of the Gospel back into the light.

The second chapter, which I’m reading now, follows that story to a man named William Tyndale, who finished Wycliffe’s task by translating the Bible into English and spreading it across England (which was, by the way, illegal at the time). It was a time when ordinary people reading the Scriptures seemed like a terrible idea to Church and government officials alike, and yet, through all the persecution, the truth of God’s word managed to make it into the hands of lay people across Europe. What is most remarkable to me about this is how polluted the truth of the Gospel had become by the Church, how tainted by tradition, and yet somehow, the truth of God’s Word persevered through.

It’s such an incredible story, the way God’s Word has triumphed through time and empires and languages. Through persecution and heresy and confusion, it has survived to land all the way in our hands, which is truly remarkable.

The lesson of it all is that God can use anything, even the schemes of men who will do anything to stop it, to bring His Gospel to the farthest corners of the world. Even in history’s darkest moments, when it looks as if evil has won, He is at work, in ways we simply may not yet be able to comprehend. That's true for each of our lives as well, which is such a beautiful and hopeful thing to realize.

This book is teaching me all that and more. And I can’t wait to update you all on everything else I find.

#books #christian