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The Reformation and King Henry VIII
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The core beliefs of English Christianity during the sixteenth century were the central ideas taught by Jesus Christ. ‘Humankind is inherently sinful, signifying estrangement from God’ (Wolffe, 2008, pg.74). Christian belief indicates that in order to rectify the natural sins of man and gain salvation is through Baptism. ‘Concept of spiritual rebirth’ (Wolffe, 2008, pg.87). This symbolic action, one of the seven sacraments, recognises that Jesus died for our sins and cleanses us of our prior sins. This belief is the foundation of twenty centuries of Christianity.
Yet, during the times of Roger Martyn (born c.1527), true faith in God was maintained through religious practices and traditions and Christianity held no equal, politically or religiously and were firmly tied within society. Christian religion was ‘closely bound up with community life, parish worship or in the brotherhood of trade guilds, and the spiritual communities affirmed by the veneration of saints and by prayers of the dead’ (Wolffe, 2008, pg.77). These traditions were reinforced within all villages, towns and cities with churches, monuments, artefacts, holy days and stunning decorations. Christianity was fundamental to the life of all the people.
In 1533 however, Christianity gave rise to ‘numerous questions and differences of interpretation’ (Wolffe, 2008, pg.75). One such conflict was the Pope’s ‘refusal to annul’ (Wolffe, 2008, pg.78) King Henry VIII’s first marriage with Catherin of Aragon. This refusal led to both King and Parliament renouncing ‘the authority of the Pope’ (Wolffe, 2008, pg.78) (this matter was mostly a personal issue of King Henry VIII’s, rather than religious or political), which led to the beginning formation of the Church of England with Henry VIII as the head of the Church. This was a constitution that had strong ties to Christian doctrines and teachings. This marked the beginning of centuries of religious conflict and led to the seizure of church properties by the state in the late 1530’s.
Equally important, the central conducts of Christianity were harmonised by the way Catholic Churches were adorned. ‘Church buildings provided not only the location for collective observance, but also visual inspiration’ (Wolffe, 2008, pg.77). The visual relics such as gilded sculptures, high altars, painted boards, shews (what a shew is) and gilt tabernacles (what a tabernacle is), etc., were all used to help ‘visualise and understand Christian teachings’ (Wolffe, 2008, pg.76). Such symbolic understandings were what captivated the population and helped maintain belief in the core teachings of Christianity.
The thesis of this book is that George Whitefield (1714-1770) changed the nature of Christianity by promoting and conducting mass revivals that exploited the weaknesses of institutional Christianity.
After many failed attempts to obtain a divorce from his first wife Catherine of Aragon, King Henry VIII took momentous steps that led to "The Reformation," a significant occurrence in the history of religion. Prior to the reformation, all of England's inhabitants including King Henry VIII prescribed to Catholicism. In fact, King Henry VIII was such a strong supporter that he was given the title "Defender of the Faith" by the pope for his efforts in protecting Catholicism against the Protestants. However, all these changed upon the pope's denial of Henry's request for a divorce.
However, he would also stress the importance for a centralized religious authority. Henry VIII used the church and the idea of the church being all powerful in combination with the monarchy to solidify his position as a strong ruler. When Henry VIII had to repeatedly ask the church for permission to take action with his marriages and life, he realized that he was limited by the church. Henry VIII wanted to be all powerful, and having to answer to the church meant that he was not. In 1533 he passed the Act in Restraint of Appeals. This act, which stripped the papacy the right of taking judicial action, made Henry VIII the highest judicial authority in England. This was his first move to take some of the power away from the church, while still leaving it as a respected institution involved with the state. Shortly after though, in 1534, Henry VIII passed the Act of Supremacy. This created the Anglican Church of England, and named Henry VIII the head of it. This break with the Catholic church and merge of head of church with the head of state was not an action made to create a more holy and divine nation, it was political. He knew that the path to true power and control was through the church and he used it to his advantage. The relationship that Henry VIII forced between the church and his position as head of state made it essentially impossible for him and his rule to be
One of the consequences of the Act was that the first allegiance of the clergy was changed from the papacy to Henry VIII. As well as this, traditional privileges the Church was entitled such as the benefit of the Clergy and sanctuary were abolished .This implies that the Act of Supremacy 1534 played a greater role in changing the relationship between the Church and State because it undermined the authority of the church within England as the controlling of the church’s finances, administration and development was shifted Henry. All of these changes suggest that the previous close relationship between the Church and state had weakened as they contributed to the paving for the growth of Protestantism. In addition, despite the fact both the Acts of Supremacy reinforced royal control, Henry being confirmed as ‘Supreme Head of Church’ would have had a greater impact on the relationship between the Church and State in the 16th century than Elizabeth becoming ‘Supreme Governor’ because Elizabeth’s title still applied that the pope was supreme head whilst Henry’s highlighted the fact that Henry was the only head of church - further undermining the influence of the
These two opposing religions had their differences be known be the other side and would fight for their ideas to be the ones all to follow. Conrad Russel states in his book The Causes of the English Civil War, that England “was a society with several religions, while still remaining a society with a code of values and a political system which were only designed to be workable with one”. Inside the Church of England was essentially two churches, Protestant and Catholic. Both sides were determined that their religion was going to be the one in the church and not the one outside looking in. Both sides wanted to control the authoritative powerhouse of England and would do anything to have the Church of England become the church of their religion. However, religious differences did not just occur between the citizens, it also occurred between King Charles I and Parliament. First off let’s look at King Charles himself. Charles was a very religious monarch who liked his worship to be High Anglican. He also believed the hierarchy of priests and bishops was very important, which alarmed Parliament because they believed that King Charles was leaning towards the idea of Catholicism in England. King Charles’ form of worship was seen by the Puritan faith as a form of popery. This upset them because they wanted a pure worship without icons or bishops. To clarify, popery is the doctrines, practices, and ceremonies associated with the pope or the papal system; Roman Catholicism. Charles also wanted to support William Laud who was the leader of the High Church Anglican Party because they had recently became prominent. Parliament strongly disagreed with the King’s decision because they feared that Laud would promote Roman Catholicism ideas and
The Anglican Church and the English government were closely related to each other; the king not only ruled the country, but was the head of the church as well. Therefore, disobeying the church meant that people also acted against the king[i]. Like governmental organization, the Church of England was based on a hierarchal structure. It favored powerful bishops, ornate services and liturgies, and allowed people to personally observe the religion. During King Charles I’s reign, royal and elite citizens of England largely composed the Church of England[ii]. These close connections between the church and the state allowed for much corruption to take place[iii].
From the beginning of the Christian church, there have been multiple clashes over what powers go to the state and what powers go to the church. One of the most prominent disputes was in the late eleventh century over which side would be able to appoint bishops and other churchmen, otherwise know as investiture. The church and Pope Gregory VII believed they had the right to solely pick churchmen because they believed the church and pope were all-powerful. Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, however wanted this power to protect the state. When Henry IV became emperor he was young which gave Pope Gregory the opportunity to take advantage of Henry and change the church. As Henry grew up knowing this, he became weary of Gregory’s intention and always payed attention to Gregory’s actions. Regarding investiture, the state had the most compelling argument because they had valid evidence while the church opposed values on which they stood and eventually abandoned their claim.
In de-emphasizing the role of the Church, it’s rituals, and offices, and supplanting them with a more direct and personal approach to God and spirituality; the Protestant Reformation, through the works of Martin...
The English Civil war was partially a religious conflict, which brought Church and State against Parliament. Under the reign of James I, England saw the rise in Protestants dissenters. Groups like Barrowists, Puritans, Fifth Monarchists, Quakers, and many more demanded for more religious reform. They felt that the Church of England’s liturgy was too Catholic for a Protestant church. James VI and I accepted the more moderated Puritans and other dissenters, and he was able to keep his kingdom in peace. However, his son Charles I did not believe that kings were answerable to Parliament, but to God. In fact, he ruled without Parliament for many years. He trusted the running of the Church of England to William Laud, who believed that the Church had already gone through too many reforms. Laud went wrong when he tried to make church services more about doctrine and sacraments, and sought to make freewill the official doctrine of the Church. He did not stop there. He ordered that alters should be re-sited from the central places in churches to the east end of churches across the country. This essay will discuss Laud’s Arminian doctrines and his misjudgement of England’s religious mood, which led to his downfall and to the civil war.
Ziggy Marley once said, “God is like the sun. When the sun shines, it shines for everyone. God is for everyone.” In the same way, Abbot Suger built the Basilica of St. Denis so that sunlight would flood throughout the building and symbolize the power of God inviting visitors into the cathedral. The Basilica of St. Denis was an artistic response to the rise of the Catholic Church’s power for it was modeled to be a physical representation of heaven, which the church heavily preached upon. (Thesis) As the basilica represented the shift from Romanesque architecture to Gothic, Abbot Suger introduced new techniques that transformed cathedrals to look more spacious and “heavenly”. (Map Statement #1-Art History) By allowing sunlight to come through the large windows, Abbot Suger instilled the Neo-Platonic idea that the sun was the physical representation of God. (Map Statement #2 –Philosophy) Also, at that time, the church was rising in power, so the new structural style of the basilica brought more converts and eventually more power to the church. (Map Statement #3 –Social Institutions) [Insert Literature Map Statement] The Basilica of St. Denis was built so that worshippers would be in awe of the “heaven-like” setting, which would cause more people to declare their faith to God and to the church.
King Henry VIII’s reign before he met Anne Boleyn must be assessed in order to understand why he severed his ties with the Roman Catholic Church, and subsequently instated the Act of
Through the eras of the Middle Ages, many Protestants demanded to have a personal relationship with God without the influence of the Catholic Church. The Protestants started to think for themselves as a religion, and Martin Luther first paved the way. Martin Luther first visited Wittenberg, Germany, and made a list of complaints that he had with the Catholic Church. A short while after, he published his list of complaints to the door of a German church, and they were called the Ninety-Five Theses. In response, Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther in 1521. The Catholic Church conflicted with the Protestant religion, because the Protestants sought an individual relationship with God.
Church History in Plain Language is written by Bruce L. Shelley. This work focuses on the history of Christianity from 6 B.C. to the current period. It covers some of Christianity’s greatest events, theologians, and the various subsection of Christianity. Other than the events leading up to the death of Jesus, I had very little knowledge of Christianity’s history. After reading through the book, I have gained understanding on the Christian Councils, scholasticism, Christendom, and modern trends of Christianity.
Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I may have been the English Reformation’s greatest benefactors, all because of self interest. Henry VIII was not originally Protestant, but after the pope denied him of his divorce, Henry VIII took things into his own hands. Due to the power kings had in the Middle Ages, Henry VIII was able to control Parliament and force it to do whatever he wanted. So in 1534, Henry VIII forced Parliament to pass a law he made known as the Act of Supremacy. The Act of Supremacy stated that the king ought to be the head of the Church of England. This law gave the king complete power over the Church of England, instead of the pope. However, the type of church and state relationship did not change. Rather all the Act of Supremacy did was take power from the pope and give it to the king. Surprisingly, the Catholics did not retaliate against this strong change. The pope had always been the head of the church, but now the king had taken his position. This serves as an example of nationalism. The Catholics did not think about how removing the pope could harm their religion in any way. However, instead the people blindly followed Henry VIII because he was the leader of the nation and they assumed he was right. Also, by imposing other laws that punished Protestants, Henry VIII did not give the people much of a choice. Fortunately, for Henry VII, nationalis...
The Story of Christianity is a very informative summation; a continuation of Volume 1 which covered the beginning of the church up to the Protestant Reformation, while Vol. 2 dealt with the Protestant Reformation up to more modern time period. This author delivers a more comprehensive and deeper look into the development of Christianity, which includes particular events which had transpired throughout the world; particularly how Christianity has expanded into Central and South America. Gonzalez opens up this book with the “Call for Reformation,” where he shares with his readers the need for reform; the papacy had started to decline and was corrupt, in addition to the Great Schism, which had further weakened the papacy (p.8). The author explains how the church was not the only issue but that the church’s teachings were off track as well, seeing that the people had deviated from...