Thursday, May 8, 2025

It is the 8th of May 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Sometimes we can overlook the most obvious of people and stories- and while William Tyndale has bee mentioned numerous times on this show (and Tyndale might be a familiar name to many Christians, he is the namesake of a Christian publishing house and, my favorite: the namesake of a brand of flame resistant clothing, ironic as he was burned at the stake in 1536.

Today, we remember the English reformer who met a tragic end on the anniversary of the publication of one of the more interesting Reformation era tracts and defenses of Justification by grace through faith alone.  

Tyndale was born sometime in the 1490s near Gloucestershire in Southern England. He would attend Oxford and teach at Cambridge. There he met Thomas Bilney, who was one of a few professors recently excited by the publication of Erasmus’ new Testament and the doctrines coming out of the German lands regarding papal authority and justification. They met, according to John Foxe, at the White Horse Inn, and it would become a center for the English Reformation. You may be familiar with the popular radio show and now podcast adjacent to 1517- “the White Horse Inn”- this is where they get their name.

Others like Miles Coverdale and Robert Barnes would also meet here to discuss, along with other things, the works of Luther. And there was one sermon of Luther’s in particular that struck Tyndale- Luther’s sermon on Luke 16:1-13, the so-called “parable of the unjust steward” or “the parable of the shrewd manager” or, as Tyndale called it, “the Parable of the Wicked Mammon”.

Tyndale had his New Testament published without his name- he knew he would be in trouble. But, being already abroad in Europe he was bold enough to publish his first tract with his name- and that on the curious passage about the parable of the shrewd manager- or as he called it “the Parable of the Wicked Mammon” and published it on this, the 8th of May in 1527 a year after his New Testament was published anonymously.

The original title of the text was “A Treatise of Justification by Faith only, otherwise called 'The Parable of the Wicked Mammon”. It’s a curious, curious text- a manager is going to be fired for mismanagement, reduces the debts owed to his master to secure goodwill towards himself, and is thus commended by Jesus for being shrewd. Tyndale uses this very curious text to take on it and other verses that seem to teach that we must do things to merit or earn our salvation, and pushes them beyond a simple reading of a kind of works righteousness to a faith that produces good works, but not as meritorious.

Tyndale likens the shocking admonition in 16:9 to “Make friends by unrighteous mammon” to this like “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” and “if you want to enter into heaven, keep the commandments”- that is, they seem like they are teaching some kind of works righteousness, but if that is the case- Tyndale argues, that the whole of the gospel falls apart and we are thrown back on our own works to be saved.

Rather, Tyndale argues that the shrewdness that the manager shows and Jesus’ praising him is akin to saying, “If thieves can stay awake all night to rob and steal, can you not stay awake to pray or study?”

Of all the texts that one might use to argue for Justification by Grace through faith alone, you might think others might be easier? If you’re going to finally put your name on a tract that will likely also sign your warrant, it might seem curious to us to use an obscure and difficult parable, but it’s what Tyndale did. His Bible is what he’s remembered for, but his arguments for justification by faith alone came most clearly in the first text printed with his name- this on the “parable of the Wicked Mammon” published on the 8th of May in 1526.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and one of the more striking scenes from the book of Revelation:

6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. 9 And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
    and with your blood you purchased for God
    persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.

10 

You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
    and they will reign on the earth.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 8th of May 2025, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who knows that Montgomery Burns lives at 1000 Mammon street and the corner of Croseus and Mammon- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who aspires to be richer than Croesus, tougher than leather… I’m Dan van Voorhis. 

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.