Ruth Magnusson Davis’s spiritual journey led her to Christianity. Exploring the Bible took Davis to the 16th century and the work of a burned martyr.
She has just completed more than seven years’ work modernizing the New Testament translation by William Tyndale in 1526 that, a few years later, became the first English translation ever printed. In the early days of Reformation Europe, it earned Tyndale an execution. He was strangled and burned at the stake for heresy.
Davis, 61, of James Bay, said she mostly kept to Tyndale’s original translations of the scriptures in her self-published work, The October Testament.
“My focus was to take all the scriptures and — just gently, gently — update them, only as much as necessary to understand them,” she said in an interview.
Davis is a lawyer who studied in Manitoba and practised in Vancouver and Victoria. She retired in 1995 to focus on updating the early English-language Bibles of Tyndale. For her, it has been a labour not just of love, but also of Christian faith and evangelical devotion to what she calls “the word of God.”
“I love doing it and I really love this version of God’s word,” Davis said.
“But there was another part of me that really longed for other people to read it and love it, and to find all the deep truths that I found.”
Davis is a parishioner at St. Mark’s Traditional Anglican Church in James Bay, one of the breakaways from the Anglican Church of Canada. She first encountered Christianity at the age of 44 after about 15 years of spiritual searching, mostly in New-Age philosophies.
Davis spent the first portion of her law career in Vancouver, living in the West End so that she could be close to Banyen Books, which is still going and still calling itself “Canada’s spiritual and healing resource.”
Davis’s introduction to Christianity was very gentle, she said. But it led to a profound revelation, what she described as a rebirth in the Holy Spirit.
Afterwards, she committed to reading the entire Bible.
Starting with the recommended New International Bible (1978), Davis found something missing. She moved to the New King James Bible (1982), but, again, something wasn’t quite right. The original King James Bible (1604) was just too difficult.
Davis then received a copy of the New Testament as translated by Tyndale.
“I read that and I just knew I had found my favourite version of the Bible,” she said.
It was first printed and made available in 1534, the first version to be reproduced on a printing press. Despite its proscription after Tyndale’s execution, the work formed much of what the royally-appointed committee of 16th-century scholars later completed and what is now known as the King James Bible.
Davis admitted she found Tyndale’s old English difficult, in some cases impossible, to understand. Certain words — “arede,” meaning to prophesy, or “syth,” for since — no longer exist. In some cases, words have changed meaning — the old-style nephew refers to what is now cousin.
But in conducting her research, Davis also encountered something magnetic in the life of Tyndale.
“I have to admire his courage and his dedication in the face of so much opposition and hate,” Davis said.
Tyndale, fluent in eight languages, first translated the New Testament and was about half-way through the Old Testament when he was arrested for heresy.
After his execution, a friend, John Rogers (also later executed), collected Tyndale’s works and combined them with the translations of Myles Coverdale to complete an English Bible.
It was said to be the work of “Thomas Matthew,” thought to be a pseudonym, since anything written by Tyndale was still likely to lead to an arrest. Davis likes to think it was a code, the “T” in Thomas standing for Tyndale and the “M” in Matthew standing for Myles Coverdale.
Davis had spent about two years reading and translating Tyndale’s Bible for herself when a friend suggested she publish her work.
“I have to say it was something I resisted for years because I just didn’t feel qualified,” Davis said. “I prayed about it, then thought I really had been called to do it.”
Davis approached the translation with all the discipline of a lawyer or legal scholar.
“I love delving into an issue, identifying issues and looking for the truth or the answer,” she said. “I do a lot of research. I weigh opinions and try to understand what the issues are.
“I set up word studies. I divide words into meanings that are obsolete, but were current when Tyndale wrote, meanings that came after and meanings that are still current.”
Davis didn’t go back to the beginning and start with the original Greek or Hebrew. But any changes made to Tyndale’s English were the result of careful consideration and comparison with other translations dating as far back as the 14th century. All changes or alterations were noted and explained for future reference.
And throughout, Davis worked hard to never lose touch with the “poetry” of Tyndale’s work.
“So I left a phrase like: ‘Be not afraid’ and didn’t write: ‘Don’t be afraid,’ ” she said. “I tried hard to be very aware of the poetry so it would be a pleasure to read out loud and listen.”
Tyndale’s original Bible was not divided by chapter and verse, so Davis and a friend completed that in accordance with more modern translations.
Tyndale’s original commentaries and discussions on the Bible are included in The October Testament, which makes Davis very proud.
Davis is continuing to work on completing an updated version of the Old Testament as it appeared in the original Matthew Bible.
She is also embarking on a history of the original Thomas Matthew Bible, which, as far as she can tell, is a story that has never been written. She is now looking for a publisher.
“I really want to put together a story of the Matthew Bible and the men who wrote it,” Davis said. “There’s lots of books on the King James, but nothing on the Matthew Bible.”
To read more about The October Testament, go online to octobertestament.com.