The Descent of English Dissent

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Wycliffe's Dissent

In the fourteenth century John Wycliffe at Oxford began the first formal dissent from the English Catholicism. His disputes over the ignorance of the priestly classes and the hypocrasy of the wealthy yet 'mendicant' orders, broke the hegemony the Catholic church had in England. Other pracitices of church such as granting religious titles to foreigners, the church taxes which went to Rome, the enormity of the church lands which were not under the kings rule, and later the issue of transubstatiation caused quite a stir.

While Wycliffe was able to die in his bed without formal condemnation by the church, (which is a long story and told elsewhere) his followers were not so well blessed. Archbishop of Canterbury Arundel persecuted them to start with, bringing many of them to the stake for a death of burning. Foxe's "Book of Martyrs" is the place where they are documented and unfortunatley while it was written much closer to the time of these happenings it is not completely accurate in its information. Still it is worth the time to read if one wants to get a feel for that era.

The Lollards

Wycliffe's insistance on the authority of scripture for all things sacred drove many people to study his translation of the Bible. There arose hundreds of people who upon learning the scriptures in their own language began to preach, many of them laymen. They became known as Lollards. Their preaching not only included the churches but the market places and the crossroads also.

Needless to say those in authority were concerned because the message they preached invariably deviated from the acceptable doctrine of the Catholic church. In fact it took away from the church the loyalty that was expected and built up a class of people who rejected that authority.

Several of the leaders of this group came before parliament and asked for formal authority to preach innocently expecting a rousing acclaimation. However since Archbishop Arundel was so close to the king this venture failed and instead Arundel's 13 point constitution was substituted outlawing their practices on pain of execution by burning at the stake. This is the legal basis for those who were killed in such a manner

Ordinary people when faced with the fact of severe punishment of the believers and the popularity of the king could easily wonder why this Lollardism didn't just fade into the history books never to be seen again. It just seems so much easier to just go along with what their social superiors wanted and not disturb the religious boat. But that was not to be

While by modern standards these Lollards were not the most brilliant people, many of them could hardly read better than the average commoner, still their passion for scripture and a general uneasiness towards the social norms lit a fire under English society. Thus began a additional reason for the separateness between the commoners and their nobles. There were never more than a very few nobles who embraced the Lollard confessions, Lord Cobham was the first. He was martyred in 1417. Sir John Oldcastle being the second. It didn't take long before many of the Lollards began to leave the country and they frequently chose the low countries of Europe to settle. The low countries being far from Rome's power base and generally the population was not so much against them there. Those who chose to stay assumed dual lives, secretly plying their beliefs among their friends while occupying themselves with ordinariness during the light of day. All the time people were spending their efforts to provide new Bibles for those who wanted them, knowing that being caught with one would mean death. Eventually Arundel died

Formal Protestantism

Lollardry remained an underground movement during the reigns of Henry V through Henry VIII, hidden from view and only occsaionally seeing another martyr being burned at the stake. The Lollard movement split into two separate functions: one being to change the relationship between Rome and England and the other a reform of the church itself.

The political agenda of Wycliffe slowly became the cause of the majority of the nobles inspite of the churches efforts to maintain their grip on things. Piece by piece the privileges of the church were etched away. The first to go was Peter's pence, that tax sent to Rome from each and every parrish. Resentment grew against the vast estates the church held untaxed, some account them to amount to one third of all the lands of the kingdom, likewise the wandering mendicants who were uncontrolled by the King's laws.

Anglicanism comes into view

Henry VIII was not supposed to take the throne. His destiny was to be with the church like many noble 'second sons'. His early years were ones of study and intellectual pursuits. Unfortunately his elder brother Arthur died young and a forshortened religious study was replaced with preparation for statecraft. This early period of study was to be a very important part of his reign though since the favorites of his court frequently were scholars

Erasmus, a Dutch scholar who wrote the newly translated Bible from the Greek appeared on the scene, and Henry invited him to come to the English court. This was a time of great turmoil in Europe due to the arrival on the scene of Luther also. Even with all of this turmoil though the king was still fully within the Catholic church. He wrote a treatise against the work of Luther that was given to the Pope and for this the Pope gave Henry a new title of 'Defender of the Faith'. Unforeseen of course was the future problems Henry would face trying to birth a son. The one overriding need Henry's father had bestowed upon him was to have a son, and that proved disasterous.

Probably the one thing about Henry VIII everyone knows is that he created the Church of England. (Secondly, of course were the many wives he had). Well from his youth Henry had studied the scholastics, had argued and spoken with the many scholars he had at court, so there was no royal more qualified for this task than Henry VIII. Almost instantly there were thousands of monks, priests and other members of the religious hierarchy homeless. It was at this time that many of the previously hidden Lollards came out and offered their services. While little of their theology affected the creation of the Anglican church the freedom that was offered was a relief.

The true beginning of Dissent

When what remained of the Lollards discovered that this new
Anglican church was merely a warmed over and slightly different version of the old Catholic church they found themselves in a difficult place. There was a blooming of new Bibles translated and since Gutenburg had perfected the printing press these Bibles became the number one best seller in Britain. Each and every parrish was to have at least one Bible (the Great Bible) and anyone who had the money could buy one or another Bible for themselves. The King James vesion of course would have to wait for King James to take the throne. In the mean time a bloody war was brewing over this upstart Anglican religion.

Back on the continent, Calvin, Zwingli and John Knox were having their hayday. The 'Reform' movement was in full swing. England never did go completely back to the rule of the Pope even though there were over 300 martyrs burned at the stake during Mary's time on the throne. This is when James comes in and the now classic King James translation.

With the winds of 'Reform' blowing those who chose not to conform to this new Anglican order traveled around the countryside preaching. Although there was no real connection with Wycliffe's ideals or theology, they became known as Lollards. Out of this group came several relgious bodies including the Quakers, the Puritans and eventually the Methodist (much later of course). Each of these groups went through some sort of persecution from those in authority.

Of the three listed the Quakers were the most unique. Their rejection of all authority except scripture in the religious sphere was the ultimate anti-social group. George Fox while maybe the originator of this group hardly was its leader. It seemed everybody was its leader which provided much confusion. There was really no organized body of agreed upon doctrines and many of them spent a great deal of time in prisons suffering for their rebellion. Eventually these Quakers succeeded in finding a place that William Penn granted them in the new world, hence Pennsylvania.

On the other side of the aisle were the Puritans. They remained within the Anglican frame of hierarchy and nearly hijacked it. Their point of view was a more conservative agenda literally a purified living. Oliver Cromwell eventually took the throne away from Charles I and established a constitutional form of government or Commonwealth. However honorable his intention were, his reign as Lord Protector could hardly contain the rebellious and it devolved into little more than a military dictatorship. The most fervent of these Puritans left England for the New world in 1642.

Needless to say the English loved their religious controversy. Frequently this dissent spilled over into active rebellion against the King and since the King is the head of the church, the conection might be considered legitimate. Dissenters remained more or less within the Anglican body with suffering as traiters as thier typical punishment. Until the act of Toleration in 1689. There these dissenters were allowed their freedom of beliefs if they swore allegiance to the King.

The last group I will include in this are the Methodists. John and Charles Wesley, both of Oxford, in the mid 18th century felt that the Anglican church wasn't ministering to the masses, just the aristocracy. This was during the industrial revolution and there was a rising middle class and great social upheaval. John Wesley, ordained an Anglican priest, began his work preaching in the fields and towns just like the Lollards. While his theology was mostly 'Reformed', his organization included non-ordained or lay preachers. John maintained a tight grip on this organization. He never did acknowledge that he had left the Agnlican church inspite of the fact that he offered to organize a new religious body for the Americans and call it a church. He even ordained their first group of Bishops.

So from the 'Morningstar of the English reformation' Wycliffe, to the last sputter of dissent in the Wesley's took nearly 400 years. Now there is such a tradition of dissent that people hardly ever even notice when a new group raises their collective hands and says they have a special belief. This same tradition spured the American Revolution and our own separation of church and state.

References

The History of Protestantism, James Wylie 1878 www.doctrine.org/history.

Dr. Gene Scott's collection of Bibles. I recommend checking this out.r This collection is one of a kind. Nowhere in the world is there as good a collection of ancient and medeival Bibles, including the early English Bibles www.drgenescott.com/dgtour.htm


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