ohn Wycliffe was a figure in history who was born in 1330 in the Hinterlands on a sheep farm. around 300 km from London. He is known for his impact on the reformation, and his beliefs are still commonly held today by many people, including the Roman Catholic church, which originally opposed his logic and reasoning. He did a range of activities expressing his beliefs, including being the first credited person to translate the full bible into english, wrote treatises to the church describing his opinions, and developed 5 rules for all people who wished to study the bible. He is also widely recognised as the person who started the reformation (A pretty big statement)
John Wycliffe went to Oxford University in 1346 at the age of 16 with the hopes
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of receiving a degree in theology, but did not receive his doctorate until 1372 due to frequent interruptions of the black death within the college. He was however considered to be the University’s leading philosopher and theologian. Some of his reformation motives came from his bible studies and the law making in his time (mostly from Rome) that seemed to him contradictory to the Bible’s teachings. Wycliffe sought to change these laws in the favour of not only England, but the bible also, as early as in 1366. His status in Oxford and his experience as the rector of the parish in Lutterworth eventually benefitted his career in 1374, when he was invited to be among the english delegates at the peace congress at Bruges (Capital of the province of West Flanders in Belgium).
This peace congress was a group of english representatives involved with series of negotiations with both the Papacy and France. It was in this congress that many of Wycliffe’s motives and opinions were …show more content…
formed. Wycliffe did not waste this opportunity to scrutinise the papacy. He proved himself a patriot when he freely discussed the unfair differences between Rome and England, including papal taxes and appointments to church posts. He did not however think this was enough to bring popularity to his beliefs and start what would later be called the ‘protestant reformation’. Wycliffe wrote treatises on divine and civil dominion, pointing out flaws in the law and the Papacy. He had stated that the Roman Catholic Church had enforced dominion in the same way that God had. Furthermore, he said that if they were in a state of mortal sin, then their dominion was purely in appearance. He said the only people who had the power to have real dominion were God and Jesus, even though they may not have the need or even freedom to assert it. He wrote that the church was therefore in sin, meaning they were obliged to give up their possessions. He even went so far as to say they should do this to the extent they would enter poverty (a bit awkward). Beside his treatises, he also was the first person to create a translation of the full bible.
His reasoning for this was that he believed the holy scriptures should be open to interpretation (really? Or was it that he wanted everyone to be able to read it) for everyone, and not only priests. He also thought it was near impossible for people to understand the faith of Christianity without reading the bible. He did however state five rules outlining how the bible should be studied in order not to taint the true meaning of the bible. These five rules included:
Whoever reads the bible must obtain a reliable text; they must understand the logic of scripture; they must compare parts of the scripture with each other in order to have the most accurate visualisation of God; they must obtain the attitude of humble seeking of the word of God; and finally they must receive the instruction of God and enforce
it. These translations had a huge impact on the Roman Catholic Church, as a few people began to question the innocence and law of the current church. To conclude, John Wycliffe’s impact on the church is more relevant now than in previous centuries. His studies on Christianity and the bible are now commonly accepted worldwide. His demands of the church have also changed the church into what it is now (Like how?)
In argument for the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, they said that reading the Bible not only was essential to the building of good morals and development of the minds of impressionable school children, it was free to be interpreted anyway because of lack of comment and explanation. They claimed that the Bible was not a religious work, but when viewed from the eyes of a Christian, it did express the message of Christianity.
The Bible is read and interpreted by many people all over the world. Regardless, no one knows the absolute truth behind scripture. Walter Brueggemann, professor of Old Testament, wrote “Biblical Authority” to help people understand what he describes as six different parts that make up the foundation to ones understanding of scripture. He defines these six features as being: inherency, interpretation, imagination, ideology, inspiration, and importance. As Brueggemann explains each individual part, it is easy to see that they are all interconnected because no one can practice one facet without involuntarily practicing at least one other part.
... that just learning about the Bible is not enough, but having a deepening understanding and personal relationship with it, so then there will be a transformation with the individual.
MACCULLOCH, D. Tudor Church Militant: Edward VI and the Protestant Reformation. London, Penguin Books, 2001.
With the hindsight of the 1960s, it is easy for us to view how influencers of the era have reformed and revitalised the Christian tradition to a great extent. Because of this hindsight of the 1960s, an era in which the zeitgeist was full of intellectuals, poets, musicians and authors, we can see the traditions of Christianity were considered to be backward to a world that was changing in terms of beliefs and ethics as society embraced these social reforms. The statement then clearly reflects Pope John XXIII and his impacts on Catholicism. Pope John XXIII recognized these changes and through his leadership, the impacts he had on Christianity had a substantially large influence over the Catholic Church as he ultimately altered the Christian tradition by creating the Vatican II. By doing so, he adjusted traditional Church Scriptures (ressourcement), involved himself with promoting ecumenicalism and also interfaith-dialogue as well as becoming engaged in the modern world (aggiornamento), therefore meeting the needs of the evolving society by revitalising the old traditions.
William C. Plachers’ article, “Is the Bible True?” explores deeper into the subject of the Bible and if it content it contains is credible information. Through Plachers’ statement, “We need to understand the genre to understand a text. Reading a text literally is not always reading it faithfully,” we are able to reach the idea that the Bible is in fact true, but it all depends on how the individual interprets the text.
The Catholic Church leaders had the elitist mentality that only the Catholic clergies, not the laity, were intelligent enough or had the reasonable judgement to read and interpret the Bible in a correct manner. While they placed a ban on the Bible in the pretense of holding the biblical doctrines pure and holy and preventing the spread of the contagion of heresy, the fact of the truth was that they did not want to lose the control over people.
Oxford University and in 1512 he received his Bachelors Degree. After another three years at
and the holy page, as he read the scriptures Did he seek to hide it from the
To begin, before a person can debate the validity of anything, they must first understand the topic they are debating. So is the case here. A person must first understand the Bible and its origins before they can try and prove or disprove it. The Bible itself is composed of 66 books divided int...
John was enrolled at Westminster School in 1647. The school was located in London. John was honored with the title of King’s Scholar. This title was only awarded to selected boys, and allowed a straight shot for John to attend Christ Church, Oxford in 1652. Christ Church was one of Oxford’s most respected schools.
It was not as a teacher or preacher that Wycliffe gained his position in history; this came from his activities in ecclesiastical politics, in which he engaged about the mid-1370s, when his reformatory work also began.
First off, Wycliffe is the reason for the Reformation because he argued that the Bible and Jesus Christ were above the Pope. This is an issue because the Pope was seen as a leader in the times before the Reformation. Wycliffe argued against the Pope saying, “Trust wholly in Christ; rely altogether on his sufferings; beware of seeking to be justified in any other way than his righteousness.” (Christianity today, John Wycliffe). At this point John has been saying that Christ is first, so therefor Jesus has the last word. You cannot argue with the Bible in this era, so how can the Pope be above Christ? He can't.
John Locke was a British born philosopher, physician, and writer that played a significant role in the framework of The United States. He was born in Wrington, England on August 29th, 1632. A father, also named John, who was a country lawyer, and his mother Anges Keene, raised Locke. Both his parents were Puritans, which influenced his later work immensely ("John Locke"). Locke’s parents sent him to the famous Westminister School in London where he was led by Alexander Popham, a member of Parliament. He later did his studies in philosophy at prestigious Oxford University, while also gaining some medical background. Locke did not enjoy the curriculum at Oxford, as he was more interested in the works of modern philosophers. Locke received his bachelor of medicine in 1674, and was a physician for much of his early life after college ("John Locke"). He was put to learn medicine under Thomas Sydenham, who had a major effect on John Locke’s philosophical thinking. Locke’s medical awareness was tested when Sydenham had a liver infection and Locke undertook a life-threatening operation to remove the cyst. The operation was successful and Locke was credited with saving Sydenham’s life. After that experience, Locke decided that the medical field was not for him so Locke became more fascinated with philosophy as he joined the Whig movement ("John Locke"). He traveled across Europe gaining new ideas that would later turn be featured in two of his major publications, A Letter Concerning Toleration and Two Treatises of Government.
“Be obedient in the word of God brings forth wisdom and Knowledge, when reading His word it tells us to study to show ourselves approval onto God.