Royal Priesthood in the English Reformation (Oxford Theology and Religion Monographs)

Royal Priesthood in the English Reformation assesses the understandings of the Christian doctrine of royal priesthood, long considered one of the three major Reformation teachings, as held by an array of royal, clerical, and popular theologians during the English Reformation. Historians and theologians often present the doctrine according to more recent debates rather than the contextual understandings manifested by the historical figures under consideration. Beginning with a radical reevaluation of John Wyclif and an incisive survey of late medieval accounts, the book challenges the predominant presentation of the doctrine of royal priesthood as primarily individualistic and anticlerical, in the process clarifying these other concepts. It also demonstrates that the late medieval period located more religious authority within the monarchy than is typically appreciated. After the revolutionary use of the doctrine by Martin Luther in early modern Germany, it was wielded variously between and within diverse English royal, clerical, and lay factions under Henry VIII and Edward VI, yet the Old and New Testament passages behind the doctrine were definitely construed in a monarchical direction. With Thomas Cranmer, the English evangelical presentation of the universal priesthood largely received its enduring official shape, but challenges came from within the English magisterium as well as from both radical and conservative religious thinkers. Under the sacred Tudor queens, who subtly and successfully maintained their own sacred authority, the various doctrinal positions hardened into a range of early modern forms with surprising permutations. Cover 1 Royal Priesthood in the English Reformation 4 Copyright 5 Preface 6 Contents 8 Abbreviations 9 List of Plates 12 Introduction 22 RELATED THEMES 25 Individualism 26 Anticlericalism 30 Sacred Kingship 33 ALL BELIEVERS AS PRIESTS AND KINGS 34 1: John Wyclif’s Universalist Approach to Universal Priesthood 38 WYCLIF’S PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATION 40 DOMINION AND GRACE 44 THE COMMUNITY OF THE PREDESTINED 47 THE EUCHARIST 50 SCRIPTURE AND PROCLAMATION 51 WYCLIF’S DOCTRINE OF UNIVERSAL PRIESTHOOD 53 CONCLUSIONS 60 2: Royal Priesthood in Late Medieval England 62 PRIESTLY KINGS (AND LAWYERS) 63 Kings 63 Lawyers 71 KINGLY PRIESTS 75 Power 75 Office 79 Anticlericalism 84 John Colet 87 A ROYAL AND PRIESTLY PEOPLE? 89 Universal Kingship 89 Universal Priesthood 93 Lay Empowerment 100 3: Common Priesthood in the Early English Reformation 106 ERASMUS 107 THE HERETICAL SUCCESSION 110 FIDEI DEFENSOR 117 THREE ENGLISH CONSERVATIVES 122 ENGLISH EVANGELICALS 131 ANTICLERICALISM 139 4: Royal Priests: Henry VIII and Edward VI 144 TRADITIONAL DIVINE KINGSHIP 146 HENRY’S CONSCIENCE 149 VICAR OF GOD 153 THE KING’S CURE OF SOULS 154 THE REFORMATION PARLIAMEN 159 ROYAL ORDINATION 162 THE ROYAL JUDGMENT OF DOCTRINE 168 5: Priestly Magistrates: Thomas Cromwell’s Faction 172 LAY HEADS OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH 173 PROPAGANDA THROUGH PULPIT AND PAMPHLET 177 RADICAL EVANGELICALS IN CROMWELL’S CIRCLE 183 THREE AGENDAS FOR RELATING LAY AND CLERICAL POWERS 186 RADICAL MANEUVERS IN PARLIAMENT 192 CROMWELL AND CRANMER OPEN A SYNOD TO CONFRONT THE ISSUES 196 6: Thomas Cranmer: The Ministerial Priesthood is ‘Necessary’ 200 ‘SACRAMENT’ OF ORDERS 203 CRITICIZING THE CRITIC 210 CRANMER’S LUTHERAN THEOLOGY 213 REFORMED ORDINAL 220 7: Thomas Cranmer: The People’s Priesthood 232 THEOLOGY OF THE LAITY 232 People as Persons 233 People as Community 240 A PRIESTLY PEOPLE 247 Common Proclamation 248 Lay Baptism and Lay Presidency 250 Binding and Loosing 251 Spiritual Sacrifices 252 Sources for Cranmer’s Doctrine of Spiritual Sacrifices 259 Common Intercession 262 Common Judgment 263 SUMMARY 264 8: The Reformation of the Queens 266 THE ROYAL PRIESTHOOD OF THE TUDOR QUEENS 267 Mary I 267 Katherine Parr 271 Elizabeth I 273 THE RIVAL PRIESTHOODS OF THE CLERGY 277 Counter-Reformation Catholicism 279 Conformity 282 Puritanism 286 THE PLACE OF THE PEOPLE 291 Bibliography 298 Manuscripts 298 Primary Sources and Translations 299 Secondary Sources 309 Index 334 This title assesses the understandings of the Christian doctrine of royal priesthood, long considered one of the three major Reformation teachings, as held by an array of royal, clerical, and popular theologians during the English Reformation. This book assesses the understandings of the Christian doctrine of royal priesthood, long considered one of the three major Reformation teachings, as held by an array of royal, clerical, and popular theologians during the English Reformation. __Royal Priesthood in the English Reformation__