THE GENUINENESS AND GENTLENESS OF THOMAS CRANMER
(The noble army of martyrs : praise thee. The Te Deum Laudamus)
By Roger Salter
Special to Virtueonline
www.virtueonline.org
March 24, 2014
No major English leader of the Reformation era has been more seriously misjudged than Thomas Cranmer. The Protestant martyrs of his generation have been admired, deservedly, for their courage. Latimer has been lauded for his fearless preaching, Ridley for his wisdom and measured theological pronouncements, Bradford for his bold doctrinal stance and benign nature, and Jewel for his masterly defense of the Reformed Catholicism of the Church in England. Cranmer is appreciated by liturgiologists and lovers of the traditional 16th/17th century services of the Book of Common Prayer. Scarcely anyone is familiar with the person of Cranmer, his integrity as a servant of the divine appointment of the monarchy, as he believed, his skills as a careful scholar cautious in arriving at sound conclusions, his thoroughness as a theologian with profoundly pastoral motives, and his tenderness as a true child of God. The mind of Cranmer conceived the mental and spiritual architecture of authentic Anglicanism and the mildness of his temperament determined the mature mien of Anglican character. He fashioned both the essence and ethos of Anglicanism as an instrument in the hand of God for the blessing of his nation.
Read the full story at www.VirtueOnline.org
(The noble army of martyrs : praise thee. The Te Deum Laudamus)
By Roger Salter
Special to Virtueonline
www.virtueonline.org
March 24, 2014
No major English leader of the Reformation era has been more seriously misjudged than Thomas Cranmer. The Protestant martyrs of his generation have been admired, deservedly, for their courage. Latimer has been lauded for his fearless preaching, Ridley for his wisdom and measured theological pronouncements, Bradford for his bold doctrinal stance and benign nature, and Jewel for his masterly defense of the Reformed Catholicism of the Church in England. Cranmer is appreciated by liturgiologists and lovers of the traditional 16th/17th century services of the Book of Common Prayer. Scarcely anyone is familiar with the person of Cranmer, his integrity as a servant of the divine appointment of the monarchy, as he believed, his skills as a careful scholar cautious in arriving at sound conclusions, his thoroughness as a theologian with profoundly pastoral motives, and his tenderness as a true child of God. The mind of Cranmer conceived the mental and spiritual architecture of authentic Anglicanism and the mildness of his temperament determined the mature mien of Anglican character. He fashioned both the essence and ethos of Anglicanism as an instrument in the hand of God for the blessing of his nation.
Read the full story at www.VirtueOnline.org
