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The Authority of Scripture, the Church and the King in the Debate Between Thomas More and William Tyndale 1528-1533

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The Authority of Scripture, the Church and the King in the Debate Between Thomas More and William Tyndale 1528-1533 The Authority of Scripture, the Church and the King in the debate between Thomas More and William Tyndale 1528-1533 Atte-Veikko Kemppainen Master’s Thesis of Church History April 2015 1 HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO − HELSINGFORS UNIVERSITET Tiedekunta/Osasto − Fakultet/Sektion Laitos − Institution Faculty of Theology The Department of Church History Tekijä − Författare Atte-Veikko Kemppainen Työn nimi − Arbetets titel The Authority of Scripture, the Church and the King in the Debate between Thomas More and William Tyndale 1528-1533 Oppiaine − Läroämne Church History Työn laji − Arbetets art Aika − Datum Sivumäärä − Sidoantal Master’s Thesis April 2015 104 Tiivistelmä − Referat This thesis examines the literal debate between Thomas More (1478–1535) and William Tyndale (1494-1535) between 1528–1533. The main theme is authority and what Tyndale and More believe to be the highest authority concerning all matters of faith: The Scriptures, the Church or the King. After the historical background this thesis is divided into three analysis sections: In the first section we examine the need for English vernacular Scriptures and Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament (1525) and especially the meaning of ekklesia and presbyteros in English. In the second section we examine the foundation of the Church, infallibility of the Church, the relationship between written and unwritten word and the interpreting and defining of the Scriptures. In the third part we examine earthly authority and King Henry VIII’s divorce and Tyndale and More’s relationship with the king. The sources selected for this thesis are Tyndale’s The Obedience of a Christian man (1528), More’s A Dialogue Concerning Heresies (1529), Tyndale’s An Answer to Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue (1531) and More’s Confutation to Tyndale’s Answer (1532-33). The method applied to the sources is close reading. The sources are presented in chronological order in each of the subjects and Tyndale’s and More’s views are also compared to Erasmus Desiderius and Martin Luther. Erasmus and Christian humanism is a common theological context for Tyndale and More. Tyndale was influenced by Erasmus and More was a collaborator and a friend of Erasmus. Tyndale is compared to Luther in order to examine his dependence on the German reformer. As a result this thesis shows that the highest authority concerning all matters of faith for Tyndale is the Scriptures and for More the Church. Tyndale believes that all matters that we need to know about faith have been written down and there can be no unwritten tradition or doctrine that contradicts the Scriptures. However, More believes that since Christ promised to be with his Church it is guided by his word both written and unwritten. Avainsanat – Nyckelord Scriptures, Church, Authority, Reformation, King, Thomas More, William Tyndale, Erasmus, Martin Luther, Henry VIII, Vernacular Bible, Papacy, Säilytyspaikka – Förvaringställe Helsingin yliopiston kirjasto, Keskustakampuksen kirjasto, Teologia Muita tietoja 2 [Table of Contents] 1.Introduction .......................................................................................................... 2 2.Historical background .......................................................................................... 7 2.1 The English Church in the early 16th century ............................................... 7 2.1.1 Ordinary Englishmen and the Church: Growing dissatisfaction or steady support? ................................................................................................ 7 2.1.2 Lutheran ideas in England in 1520s ..................................................... 14 2.2 Thomas More and William Tyndale ........................................................... 17 2.2.1 The Life of Thomas More .................................................................... 17 2.2.2 The Life of William Tyndale ............................................................... 23 2.2.3 Erasmus’ influence on More and Tyndale ........................................... 28 3.Sources ............................................................................................................... 32 3.1 Literary debate and its context .................................................................... 32 3.2 The Obedience of a Christian Man (1528) .................................................. 33 3.3 A Dialogue Concerning Heresies (1529) .................................................... 35 3.4 An Answer to Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue (1531) .................................... 38 3.5 The Confutation to Tyndale’s Answer (1532-33) ........................................ 39 4.What is the highest authority: the Scriptures, the Church or the King? ............. 41 4.1 Scripture and vernacular Bible .................................................................... 42 4.1.1 What is the meaning of ekklesia? ......................................................... 46 4.1.2 What is the meaning of presbyteros? ................................................... 53 4.2 The Church and its foundation .................................................................... 58 4.2.1 Is the Church founded on Peter or faith? .............................................. 58 4.2.2 Can the Church err? .............................................................................. 67 4.2.3 Was the church before the gospel or the gospel before the church? .... 72 4.2.4 Interpreting and defining the Scriptures ............................................... 76 4.3. Authority on Earth ...................................................................................... 82 4.3.1 King Henry VIII and his ’Great Matter’ .............................................. 82 4.3.2 More, Tyndale, the King and conscience ............................................. 85 5. Conclusions ....................................................................................................... 97 Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 101 Primary Sources .............................................................................................. 101 Secondary Sources .......................................................................................... 102 1 1.Introduction Thomas More (1478–1535) is one of the most important and controversial figures of 16th century England. He was a lawyer, Christian humanist and a very productive writer. More has been held as a fanatic and a great statesman1 and he is a saint both in the Anglican and the Catholic Church. He was a friend of Erasmus Desiderius2 (1466–1536) and served in the court of King Henry VIII (1509–1547) from 1518 to 1532 eventually rising to the position of lord chancellor in 1529.3 He was heavily involved in fighting against the Reformation4 from the early 1520s and was authorised in 1528 to be the official voice of English Church writing against the heretics in vernacular.5 William Tyndale (1494-1535) was a priest, theologian and linguistic who translated the New Testament and parts of the Old Testament in English in 1520s and early 1530s and wrote many treatises criticising the Church. He was influenced by Erasmus, Lollards and Martin Luther but had his own distinctive theology on sola scriptura.6 Tyndale was the most prominent English ‘Lutheran’ theologian and the anti–Lutheran campaign of Thomas More and the English Church was mainly aimed at Luther and Tyndale. This thesis examines the debate between More and Tyndale which started from the publishing of More’s Dialogue Concerning Heresies in 1529. In the Dialogue More attacked Tyndale’s English translation of the New Testament and his two treatises The Obedience of a Christian Man (1528) and The Parable of the Wicked Mammon (1528). Tyndale answered with An Answer to Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue (1531) and More responded with The Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer (1532–1533). Therefore the time span chosen for this thesis is 1528-1533 and the primary sources are Tyndale’s The Obedience of a Christian Man and An Answer to Sir Thomas More’s Dialogue and More’s Dialogue Concerning Heresies and The Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer. Tyndale’s The Parable of the Wicked Mammon was left out since it concentrates on the matter of justification. The Confutation was chosen to be the last work since Tyndale did not answer to it although More wrote against Tyndale even after The Confutation. When the 1 Richard Rex ’Thomas More and the heretics: statesman or fanatic’, in George M. Logan (ed), Cambridge Companion to Sir Thomas More, Cambridge 2011, 93-94. 2 Gerard Wegemer Thomas More A Portrait of Courage Princeton 1998, 61-64. 3 Cathy Curtis ’More’s Public Life’, in George M. Logan (ed), Cambridge Companion to Sir Thomas More, Cambridge 2011, 75, 83, 87. 4 For More and in his lifetime the Reformation, as we know it, was simply heresy. 5 Richard Marius Thomas More A Biography, New York 1985, 338; Curtis ’More’s Public Life’, 77. 6 Ralph S. Werrell The Theology of William Tyndale, Cambridge 2006, 14-21. 2 debate began More was on the height of his career as the lord chancellor, the king’s right hand, and Tyndale was an exile in the continent writing and trying to avoid attention. The debate was only literal since More and Tyndale never met and did not really know each other. The subject of this thesis is whether the Church, the Scriptures, or the king is the highest authority concerning all matters of faith. Authority was chosen as the main theme since in everything from pilgrimages,
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