Tyndale House Publishers was founded in 1962 by Kenneth N. Taylor. Concerned that his
ten children were having a hard time understanding the family’s devotional reading of
the old English in the King James Version of the Bible, Taylor paraphrased the The Living
Bible so they could hear and understand the scriptures in everyday English.
In 1954, as he rode the commuter train to his job in Chicago, Taylor started
paraphrasing the New Testament into modern English. After seven years of writing and
rewriting, he submitted the manuscript to several publishing houses, but it was rejected
by all of them. Convinced that there was value in the work for more than just their
children, Taylor and his wife Margaret, decided to use their limited savings to publish
Living Letters.
In 1962, Taylor exhibited his self-published Living Letters at the Christian Booksellers
Association convention. The following spring Billy Graham saw a copy of Living Letters
and asked if he could print a special edition and offer it on the telecasts of his crusades.
Half a million copies were given away through the Graham crusades. Ken Taylor’s dream
had become a reality and more – a publishing entity had been born. Tyndale House
Publishers grew from a modest home into a major publishing entity that reaches every
continent in the world. |
