More unites them than divides them: Thomas More and William Tyndale as translators of the Bible

The polemical controversy between Thomas More and William Tyndale over Tyndale's translation of the Bible is not only a key moment in English Reformation history but also in the incipient self-reflection of the English vernacular. As recent re-readings of the debate have demonstrated, and I have argued elsewhere, Tyndale's and More's linguistic arguments have in fact much more in common than they both admit, being equally grounded in the premises and methods of Erasmian philology. The present article complements these insights with an analysis from a more practical point of view, comparing More's own biblical translations interspersed throughout his English writings, and especially his Tower Works, with Tyndale's version, and exploring the common ground they share in their practical approach toward engrafting the most authoritative text in the Western tradition into the vernacular literary tradition of their time.