who was John Rogers – and why did they kill him?
Rogers was born in 1500. He was educated at Cambridge and later at Oxford. For about two years he was the pastor of Trinity the Less in the city of London. In 1534 Rogers went to Antwerp, where William Tyndale was working on the translation of the Bible into English that led to his arrest. Tyndale was tried and condemned to death. He was strangled and burned at the stake in 1536. John Rogers completed Tyndales translation and added notes to it. It is known as the Matthew Bible because Rogers published it under the pen name of Thomas Matthew to protect himself from the execution Tyndale experienced. This Bible translation, by Royal proclamation, was made the official translation for all the churches of England. It became the basis of the King James Bible we read today. By this time John Rogers had left the Catholic priesthood and married Adriana Pratt de Weyden. Under the influence of Luthers position of salvation by faith alone, Rogers went to Germany and became pastor to the Wittenber
