Self-serving lacky, self-deceiving puppet, Swiss Protestant partisan, or sensible Erasmian humanist: which, if any, was Thomas Cranmer? For centuries historians have offered often bitterly contradictory answers. Although Cranmer was a key participant in the changes to English life brought about by the Reformation, his reticent nature and lack of extensive personal writings have left a vacuum that in the past has too often been filled by scholarly prejudice or presumption. For the first time, however, this book examines in-depth little used manuscript sources to reconstruct Cranmer's theological development on the crucial Protestant doctrine of justification. The author explores Cranmer's cultural heritage, why he would have been attracted to Luther's thought, and then provides convincing evidence for the Reformed Protestant Augustinianism which Cranmer enshrined in the formularies of the Church of England. For Cranmer the glory of God was his love for the unworthy; the heart of theology was proclaiming this truth through word and sacrament. Hence, the focus of both was on the life of on-going repentance, remembering God's gracious love inspired grateful human love.

Thomas Cranmer played a key role in the changes brought about by the Reformation. This text aims to reconstruct his theological development on the Protestant doctrine of justification, examining his cultural heritage.

This volume provides the first modern scholarly editions of four works on the rhetoric of counsel by Sir Thomas Elyot (1490-1546), humanist scholar and advisor to Henry VIII of England. The Doctrinal of Princes, a translation of Isocrates’ To Nicocles, and probably the earliest English book translated directly from Greek into English, consists of a collection of aphorisms, all advising moderation, addressed to monarchs. Pasquill the Playne, the first English pasquinade, is a comic dialogue on the ethical challenges involved in counseling a prince. Of That Knowledge Which Maketh a Wise Man is a direct imitation of a Platonic dialogue, in which Plato’s confrontation with the Sicilian tyrant Dionysius is given dramatic form. A third dialogue, The Defense of Good Women, is the first printed English book that argues for the moral and political equality of women to men. Included in the volume are a general introduction to Elyot’s life and political career, extensive critical introductions to each of the texts, full recordings of the variations between printed editions, and substantive notes.

This volume documents the ninth theological conference of the Church of England and the Evangelical Church in Germany held in London in January 2016 as part of their Meissen process. The two churches are committed to engage within the Meissen process in joint theological work which, on this occasion, focused on similarities and differences of their respective reformatory origins. The twelve conference papers also paradigmatically discuss the consequential impact that reformation movements have for the churches, for ecumenism and the churches' socio-political responsibilities today. Reformatory origins and evolving tasks merge in light of the upcoming Reformation anniversary of 2017. Mit Beiträgen von Nicholas Baines, Richard Chartres, Carolyn Hammond, Margot Käßmann, Torrance Kirby, Jörg Lauster, Friederike Nüssel, Stephen Plant, Sigurd Rink, Gury Schneider-Ludorff, Elaine Storkey und Michael Weinrich. [Reformation damals und heute] Dieser Band dokumentiert die neunte Theologische Konferenz im Rahmen des Meißen-Prozesses der Kirche von England und der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland, die im Januar 2016 in London stattfand. Die theologische Arbeit, zu der sich beide Kirchen verpflichtet haben, konzentrierte sich bei dieser Konferenz zum einen auf die gemeinsamen und verschiedenen reformatorischen Wurzeln beider Kirchen. Zum anderen werden in den zwölf Konferenzbeiträgen vor dem Hintergrund des bevorstehenden Reformationsjubiläums im Jahr 2017 exemplarisch auch einige aus den jeweiligen Reformationen ableitbare Konsequenzen für die Kirchen, die Ökumene und die heutige gesellschaftspolitische Verantwortung der Kirchen erörtert.

When Socinianism was at the height of its power, Andrew Fuller challenged it in its self-professed point of greatest strength --the virtue encouraged by its principles of theistic rationality. Do the extended implications of its principles compare favorably with Calvinism in the development of virtue? Using their own writings and the admissions they make concerning piety and virtue among Socinians, Fuller compared both systems in their tendency to convert profligates to a life of holiness, to convert professed unbelievers, their development of a standard of morality, to encourage love to God, candor and benevolence toward men, encourage humility and charity, promote love for Christ and veneration of Scripture, develop happiness, cheerfulness, gratitude, obedience, and heavenly-mindedness in the followers of the respective systems. If challenged that he is being judgmental and has focused on subjective criteria, Fuller replied that he is merely engaging the Socinians at the place where they have invited investigation. Fuller intended to lay bare the emptiness of the Socinian boast to virtue. The work first was published in 1793.