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 Royal Priesthood in the English Reformation Copyright Preface Contents Abbreviations List of Plates Introduction RELATED THEMES Individualism Anticlericalism Sacred Kingship ALL BELIEVERS AS PRIESTS AND KINGS 1: John Wyclif’s Universalist Approach to Universal Priesthood WYCLIF’S PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATION DOMINION AND GRACE THE COMMUNITY OF THE PREDESTINED THE EUCHARIST SCRIPTURE AND PROCLAMATION WYCLIF’S DOCTRINE OF UNIVERSAL PRIESTHOOD CONCLUSIONS 2: Royal Priesthood in Late Medieval England PRIESTLY KINGS (AND LAWYERS) Kings Lawyers KINGLY PRIESTS Power Office Anticlericalism John Colet A ROYAL AND PRIESTLY PEOPLE? Universal Kingship Universal Priesthood Lay Empowerment 3: Common Priesthood in the Early English Reformation ERASMUS THE HERETICAL SUCCESSION FIDEI DEFENSOR THREE ENGLISH CONSERVATIVES ENGLISH EVANGELICALS ANTICLERICALISM 4: Royal Priests: Henry VIII and Edward VI TRADITIONAL DIVINE KINGSHIP HENRY’S CONSCIENCE VICAR OF GOD THE KING’S CURE OF SOULS THE REFORMATION PARLIAMEN ROYAL ORDINATION THE ROYAL JUDGMENT OF DOCTRINE 5: Priestly Magistrates: Thomas Cromwell’s Faction LAY HEADS OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH PROPAGANDA THROUGH PULPIT AND PAMPHLET RADICAL EVANGELICALS IN CROMWELL’S CIRCLE THREE AGENDAS FOR RELATING LAY AND CLERICAL POWERS RADICAL MANEUVERS IN PARLIAMENT CROMWELL AND CRANMER OPEN A SYNOD TO CONFRONT THE ISSUES 6: Thomas Cranmer: The Ministerial Priesthood is ‘Necessary’ ‘SACRAMENT’ OF ORDERS CRITICIZING THE CRITIC CRANMER’S LUTHERAN THEOLOGY REFORMED ORDINAL 7: Thomas Cranmer: The People’s Priesthood THEOLOGY OF THE LAITY People as Persons People as Community A PRIESTLY PEOPLE Common Proclamation Lay Baptism and Lay Presidency Binding and Loosing Spiritual Sacrifices Sources for Cranmer’s Doctrine of Spiritual Sacrifices Common Intercession Common Judgment SUMMARY 8: The Reformation of the Queens THE ROYAL PRIESTHOOD OF THE TUDOR QUEENS Mary I Katherine Parr Elizabeth I THE RIVAL PRIESTHOODS OF THE CLERGY Counter-Reformation Catholicism Conformity Puritanism THE PLACE OF THE PEOPLE Bibliography Manuscripts Primary Sources and Translations Secondary Sources Index 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.