Chris’ Considerations

I’ve already changed the order of things since the my recent post explaining where I was going! I thought it might make sense that having considered why the Church has confessions, here and here, to first think about the historical context from which the Church of England’s confession, the Thirty-Nine Articles (1563) originated, before thinking about their relevance for today. Indeed, you might already be wondering at this point where these Articles came from. We turn to history to find the answers. I do hope I’m being loving and not deliberately provocative here!

Of course, the history of the Church of England did not start in the 16th Century, but since our focus here is the origin of the Articles it is here we will begin. I’ve included some photos I took at Oxford, Cambridge and Canterbury in England where some of these events took place. (Above: the Martyr’s Memorial, Oxford, bearing sculptures of the Protestant Anglican Reformers Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer, all burnt at the stake during the reign of Mary I, 1553-1558).

The symbolic start of the Protestant Reformation has been traditionally regarded as the 31st October 1517. On this day Luther reputedly pinned his famous Ninety-Five Theses criticising the Roman Catholic Church to the door of the chapel at Wittenberg Castle in modern Germany. Little did he know this simple act, meant only to draw attention to his theses for academic debate, would be the first in a chain of events that would turn the world upside-down.

It was during the 16th Century that the Reformers sought to proclaim good news of the Biblical gospel afresh. Folk such as the German Martin Luther, the Frenchman John Calvin, the Scotsman John Knox, the Swiss Ulrich Zwingli and of course the Englishman Thomas Cranmer rediscovered the ‘gospel of the grace of God’ (Acts 20:24, ESV). To the Reformers it was a time of rediscovery of some of the historic orthodox biblical truths of the Christian faith, a recovery of the gospel. Of course, it is important to bear in mind that the Reformers and Reformation were certainly not perfect.

Notice these men were Reformers, and as I understand it, they did not set out initially to leave the Roman Catholic Church. They wanted to reform it. However, as things progressed, their departure became unavoidable. Luther’s pivotal appearance at the Imperial Diet of Worms in 1521 illustrates this point. He was asked to recant his writings, to which he famously replied in what has come to be known as his “Here I stand” speech:

…my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot an will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me! Amen.¹

The Reformers went Ad Fontes, ‘back to the sources,’ to the original Greek and Hebrew copies of the Bible. They asserted that the Word of God taught great truths; that the Holy God can be reconciled to sinful people, and that sinful people could be forgiven by the Holy God by His grace alone, through faith alone in the Lord Jesus alone. These bold Reformers protested against what they saw as unbiblical errors of the Roman Catholic Church that they thought had distorted and hidden the light of the gospel. Thus the Latin phrase Post Tenebras Lux, ‘after darkness, light’ has been applied to the times. Such was the strength of conviction many, including Bishop Latimer (right), gave their lives for this Protestant cause.

This news spread quickly around Europe and eventually reached England. Protestant theology was first brought to the English-speaking world as it was discussed at the White Horse Inn, at the University of Cambridge, (Left: the plaque at the original site of the tavern). Reformation gradually took place in England after Henry VIII’s break with the Church of Rome in 1533 over his “Great Matter,” his divorce with Catherine of Aragon. The king however, was not a keen Protestant, for example the early Reformer and Bible translator William Tyndale was executed in 1536 for heresy and treason. Nevertheless, many in England were embracing Protestant theology for example Bishops Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley and John Hooper. These godly men provide but a few examples of those who sought to reform the Church in England.

Upon Henry’s death in 1547, the young Edward VI became king. For a few short, but significant, years the Church of England was reformed a pace. It was during this time that Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1533 to 1556, drew up the Forty-Two Articles (1552), and Prayer Books (1549, 1552). These later became the foundation of the current Thirty-Nine Articles (1571) and Book of Common Prayer (1662). They encapsulated the Protestant and Reformed theology of the day.

However this time of reform did not last. The committed Protestant Edward VI died when he was still very young and his staunchly Roman Catholic sister, Mary I, came to the throne of England in 1553. During her reign hundreds of Protestants were burned for their beliefs including all four Bishops mentioned above. (Left: the cross in Broad Street, Oxford marking where Latimer, Ridley and Cranmer were burned). Famously in 1555, one of these brave martyrs, Hugh Latimer encouraged Nicholas Ridley as they were being burned together at the stake with these words:

‘Be of good comfort, master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.’²

By God’s grace it wasn’t, and three years later in 1558 the Protestant Elizabeth I became Queen. Under Archbishop Parker and Bishop Jewel, the Forty-Two Articles were slightly revised and reworked to form the Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563. They were passed into law by Parliament in 1571. The Subscription Act of the same year explained that the Articles were drawn up ‘for the avoiding of the diversities of opinions, and for the establishing of consent touching true religion.’³ The Thirty-Nine Articles made clear some of the Biblical truths of the Reformation and remain the doctrinal standard of the Church of England today. That leaves us with the question, are the Articles still relevant today?

Previous Post in Series | Next Post in Series

¹Quoted in Christopher Catherwood, Five Leading Reformers, Lives at a Watershed of History, (Christian Focus, 2000), p. 42
¹Recorded in John Foxe, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, (1563)
²Quoted in J.I. Packer and R.T. Beckwith, The Thirty-Nine Articles, Their Place and Use Today, (Latimer Trust, 2nd Edition, 2006), p. 43, full text available here, (Accessed 23/02/07)

Thanks to ReformationArt.com for the pictures of Thomas Cranmer and Hugh Latimer.