"Banned Bible Week"

Tyndale Bible Whole Page. (1549). . Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Retrieved from ArtStor http://library.artstor.org/library/secure/ViewImages?id=8zxLfDwqIjsiQi85eTx9RXkqWHg%3D 

The American Library Association promotes an event known as "Banned Books Week". September 25 - October 2. Founded on democratic ideals, banned books week is meant to promote intellectual freedom and reassert that american libraries are against censorship. There are some very good works written by Aldous Huxley, John Steinbeck, Harper Lee and Ernest Hemingway, just to name a few, on the ALA's list of banned books. But not one of these works promotes a Christian Worldview and their is not one of them for which the author or translator was martyred. That being said, during banned books week we thought it was important to highlight that The Bible has been banned in many ways and in many forms throughout the history of the world. As a matter of fact William Tyndale's  early English translation of the Bible was not legally allowed to be circulated in England and  William Tyndale was martyred. We have made a display highlighting some resources of Wiliam Tyndale and discussing the banishment of the bible and this first English translation for Banned Books Week. We have included this quote in the display and this blog post, courtesy of Dr. Ray Van Neste:


“Have you ever heard of anyone in history being imprisoned or executed for distributing copies of Grimm’s fairy tales?  What would you say if you’d heard that copies of The Iliad and The Odyssey had been banned in Saudi Arabia and North Korea?  Imagine people trying to smuggle copies of Hans Christian Andersen’s works into China?  Such ideas are comical, but the Bible, which has been called a mere collection of myths and fairy tales, has suffered all of these fates.  Throughout history and even today, copies of the Bible are banned and burned, and those possessing it are persecuted and imprisoned.  There’s something about this ancient book that threatens and frightens those in power, especially those who use power to oppress people weaker than themselves.  And they have every reason to be frightened.” Eric Metaxas, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about God