Who’s Thomas Cranmer and Why Should I Know Him?

Today’s guest blogger is Richard Wardman, a Logos-using Assistant Pastor from England currently studying for his MTh.

Who was Thomas Cranmer?

So who was Thomas Cranmer, you ask? Made Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII, Cranmer (1489-1556) played a pivotal role in the separation of the Church of England from the Church of Rome (due largely to Henry VIII’s desire to divorce). During his time as Archbishop he partnered with Thomas Cromwell to produce an English translation of the Bible. He also wrote extensively about and against the doctrine of transubstantiation. All of this, and more, is chronicled in The Thomas Cranmer Collection (10 vols.), both in Cranmer’s own writings and in the biographical works of others.

But he might be best known for producing The Book Common of Prayer. It was Cranmer’s desire to see the worship of the Church of England transformed into “the tongue understanded of the people” (from Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church). Along the way, Cranmer began to adopt many of the ideas coming from the Reformation happening on the European continent, perhaps most clearly seen in his radical change of opinion with regard to the Eucharist. The impact of his life and work are still felt today, not least as millions still continue to use The Book Common of Prayer.

However, Cranmer didn’t achieve all of this without getting burnt—literally. Under Queen Mary (a.k.a. Bloody Mary) Cranmer was tried under reinstated blasphemy laws and sentenced to death by burning at the stake. In desperation, Cranmer attempted to save his life by recanting his Protestant views and pledging allegiance to the Pope. Despite this the execution went ahead, the hand he had used to sign papers repudiating his denial of the Pope was the first thing thrust into the flames, as Cranmer repeatedly declared, “This hand hath offended.”

Cranmer’s legacy is summed up in the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church:

“To Cranmer the C of E owes not only the masterly English style of the liturgy in use almost universally for some 400 years, but also its essentially scriptural spirituality for which he was largely responsible.”

So, The Thomas Cranmer Collection (10 vols.) is a worthy edition to your Logos resources. Not only do you invest in your knowledge of the Reformation in England, but you also gain insight into the mind and heart of a great (though, like all of us, not faultless) disciple of Jesus Christ.