English Bibles, Refuted Clericalism, and Reformation Anglicanism

Misrepresented for being born chiefly out of King Henry VIII’s divorce, Anglican reformed teaching was in actuality “a wave breaking on the shores of England that had been building for some time,” according to a prominent reformed clergyman in the Anglican Church in North America.

The Falls Church Anglican (TFCA) Rector Sam Ferguson spoke on doctrinal reforms and expounded upon the history and practice of the English Reformation at History and Hope: Reformed Theology in the Anglican Tradition. The February 4 Reformed Theological Seminary collaboration with TFCA focused on the reformational roots of Anglicanism and its doctrinal convictions.

Anglicanism is the third largest Christian tradition in the world after Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. The worldwide Anglican Communion counts more than 85 million members in more than 40 national churches (known as provinces in Anglican parlance) with diverse expressions of worship informed by the Book of Common Prayer.

English religious figures’ close adherence to Italian church officials decreased at the end of the late medieval period. Social and political momentum brought about change through invention of the printing press, the rise of Renaissance humanism, and eventual disquiet about theological error in the church. This was especially seen in the use of paid indulgences (a practice to reduce time spent in Purgatory after death) to finance construction of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Reformation figures like John Wycliffe and William Tyndale were condemned and, in the case of Tyndale, martyred for his effort to provide English-speaking people with Bibles in their vernacular, consequently making it illegal to own an English Bible in England from the late 1300s to 1538.

Reaction to clericalism not only sparked reformational change in England, but also in Germany with Martin Luther, and in France with John Calvin, who read the Scriptures in the original form and believed the system of salvation the late Medieval church taught was unbiblical.

The system of salvation in the Medieval church taught that Christians entered the Church through baptism in grace, but that sin after baptism jeopardized salvation. Christ covered the eternal consequences of sin, but acts of penance (such as fasting, saying prayers, charitable giving, or other good works) were necessary to repair the temporal consequences of sin. If a person died without addressing sin’s temporal consequences, a period of temporary suffering (purgatory) purified the soul.

These theological errors in the system of salvation, Ferguson maintained, developed “a spirit of fearfulness and performance instead of a biblical spirit of grace and peace.”

Both clericalism (through no vernacular Bible or liturgy), and reformational tension gave rise to the dispute between King Henry VIII and Pope Clement VII in 1509.

To maintain a political alliance, Henry was persuaded to marry Catherine of Aragon, his older brother’s widow. Although Leviticus 18:16 prevented a man from sleeping with his sister-in-law, Pope Julius II used his papal authority to grant a dispensation to permit the marriage. After Catherine was unable to produce a son, Henry was convinced it was because they violated God’s law by marrying. He pushed for annulment, but the pope rebuffed.

Henry found a young scholar, Thomas Cranmer, and made him Archbishop of Canterbury. Cranmer convened a court in England to issue a final ruling on the “King’s Great Matter” which annulled Henry’s marriage to Catherine. In 1534, the English parliament declared that Henry and his heirs were by “divine right the supreme head on earth of the church” which finalized the Church of England’s independence from Roman authority.

As Reformation scholar Ashley Null explained, “While Henry’s divorce was not the beginning of the English Reformation, it dramatically changed the circumstances for its advancement.”

Henry was neither a fan of Martin Luther nor of Reformation theology but in 1538 he lifted the ban on vernacular Bibles. Two-thirds of the English translation of the “Great Bible”- which was printed and put in every church – came from the work of William Tyndale, whom Henry had executed one year prior.

By Henry’s death in 1547, Cranmer expedited reforms in the Church of England, and by 1603, the reformed faith in England was established.

Even in this modern age, this Reformation Anglicanism is still the state religion. When King Charles III was crowned, he was asked by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, 

“Will you to the utmost of your power maintain in the United Kingdom the Protestant reformed religion established by law?”  

Reformation Anglicanism is that Protestant reformed religion still practiced today.

This is part one covering the history of Reformation Anglicanism. Part two on Anglican doctrine and practice, Scripture in Reformation Anglicanism, may be accessed here.