In his important evaluation of the theological leader of the English Reformation, G.W. Bromiley charts Cranmer's doctrinal views, scriptural interpretation and liturgical composition. His nuanced position on various controversial issues of the day, not least baptism, is articulated with clarity and care, and his ecumenical sensitivity is foregrounded. While arguably more adept as a scholar than as a creative theologian in his own right, Cranmer's writing nevertheless formed the cornerstone of future Anglican theology. Through his Articles of Religion (42, later reduced to 39) and the Book of Common Prayer, he set the parameters within which the Church of England was to operate. Perhaps most significantly, as Bromiley shows, his extensive citation of patristic sources established a precedent for his successors that continues today. Written by one of the great ecclesiastical historians of the twentieth century, Thomas Cranmer, Theologian is the essential starting point for understanding Cranmer's influence and legacy in the Anglican church.

Self-serving lacky, self-deceiving puppet, Swiss Protestant partisan, or sensible Erasmian humanist: which, if any, was Thomas Cranmer? For centuries historians have offered often bitterly contradictory answers. Although Cranmer was a key participant in the changes to English life brought about by the Reformation, his reticent nature and lack of extensive personal writings have left a vacuum that in the past has too often been filled by scholarly prejudice or presumption. For the first time, however, this book examines in-depth little used manuscript sources to reconstruct Cranmer's theological development on the crucial Protestant doctrine of justification. The author explores Cranmer's cultural heritage, why he would have been attracted to Luther's thought, and then provides convincing evidence for the Reformed Protestant Augustinianism which Cranmer enshrined in the formularies of the Church of England. For Cranmer the glory of God was his love for the unworthy; the heart of theology was proclaiming this truth through word and sacrament. Hence, the focus of both was on the life of on-going repentance, remembering God's gracious love inspired grateful human love.

Cranmer's career set within the intellectual and theological context of 16c England. Fascinating collection of essays - Cranmer's career is set within the context of European politics and religion and his contributions to English liturgy and theology. The scope of the various essays is wide, encompassing his intellectual relations with Erasmus and Luther, his period of ambassadorial service on the Continent, his remarkable command of the English language at one of the most important periods in its development as a vehicle for intellectualand religious debate, and his extensive redrafting of a new code of law in place of the old ecclesiastical canon law. NOTES AND QUERIES Dr PAUL AYRIS is Director of Library Services at University College London; Dr DAVID SELWYN is Reader in Ecclesiastical History, University of Wales, Lampeter.

First published in 1962, Jasper Ridley’s biography of Thomas Cranmer, leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I, examines the attitude of Cranmer’s biographies and critics from Morice and Harpsfield to Pollard and Belloc, but draws its facts exclusively from contemporary authorities, subjecting their statements to careful scrutiny, and presenting a considerable amount of material for the first time, ignored by all previous biographers. Ridley threw new light on many old controversies and put forward a new interpretation of Cranmer’s recantations and retraction, presenting a picture of Cranmer which surprised traditionalists of both the ‘pro-Cranmer’ and ‘anti-Cranmer’ schools.

A consistent, indigenous English doctrine of scriptural perspicuity correlates with a commitment to the availability of the vernacular scriptures in English and supports the English roots of the Early English Reformation (EER). Although political events and figures dominate the EER, its religious component springing from John Wyclif and streaming throughout the tradition must be recognized more widely. This book critically surveys the doctrine of scriptural perspicuity from the beginning of the Church in the first century (noted as early as John Chrysostom) through the seventeenth century, examining its impact on the current debates concerning competing hermeneutical systems, reader response hermeneutics, and the debates in conservative American Presbyterianism and Reformed theology on subscription to the Westminster Confession of Faith, the length of «creation days», and other issues.

'...essential reading for all students of the English Church.' Patrick Collinson Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) is arguably the most controversial figure of the English Reformation. The sixteenth century was a period of fierce theological controversy and no doctrine concerned contemporaries more than the vexed issue of the Eucharist. Scholars have always found it notoriously difficult to determine Cranmer's conviction on this central matter of the Christian faith. This and many other questions that have long troubled Cranmer scholars receive fair and full treatment in this absorbing study. This book re-establishes itself as the definitive exposition of Cranmer's doctrine of the Eucharist.

In his book, poised to become a standard historical theology textbook, Roger Olson takes us on a journey of events ranging from the apostolic fathers to the Reformation to the present.

Published as "Kerkhistorische Bijdragen," "Ecclesia Reformata," vol. 1

This specialist work in historical theology deals with the doctrine of salvation in the early theology of Richard Hooker (1554-1600) from the perspective of the concept of faith and with Hooker’s connections to the early English Reformers (W. Tyndale, J. Frith, R. Barnes, T. Cranmer, J. Bradford and J. Foxe) in crucial teachings such as justification, sanctification, glorification, election, reprobation, the sovereignty of God, and salvation of Catholics. The study proves that Hooker’s theology is firstly Protestant (to counter the views which picture it as Catholic) and secondly Calvinist.