John Wycliffe Essay

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John Wycliffe “The Morning Star of the Reformation” John Wycliffe is regarded as one of the most authoritative theologians of the 14th Century. He lived during a period when the Roman Catholic Church was large, wealthy, influential and corrupt. He spoke out against this corruption and that many of the Church’s doctrines were not supported by Scripture. In his early work, “The Truth of Scripture,” he wrote on the value and authority of Scripture, and that all men have the right to be able to read it. This he achieved by promoting and translating the Latin Bible into English. Pope John XXIII condemned this work, referring to Wycliffe as “this pestilent and wretched John Wycliffe, of cursed memory, that son of the old serpent.” Arnold 2008 pg 46 Wycliffe was born around the year 1324. He went to Oxford in 1345 to further his studies, and later became lecturer, earning a reputation as the most “brilliant theologian in England’s first and highly prestigious university.” Miller & Huber, 2004, pg 154. He showed interest in natural science and mathematics, but it was in theology, ecclesiastical law and philosophy that he excelled. He had a firm knowledge of Roman and English Law and became well known at theological debates. In 1366 he became a doctor of theology and in 1368 moved into the rectory of Ludgershall in Buckinghamshire, near Oxford. He was rector of Fillingham (1361-1368); Ludgershall (1368 – 1384) and of Lutterworth (11374 – 1384). Wycliffe could see the discrepancies between scripture and the practices of the Church, and he declared that the Bible was the highest authority, and that all authority was in God’s Word and not in the teachings and practices of the Church. In “The Truth of Sacred Scripture” (De veritate Sacrae Scripturae) he wrote that Scripture proceeds “from the mouth of God.” Ferguson & Wright,
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