Overview: This work draws on recent scholarship situating John Wyclif in his fourteenth-century milieu to present a survey of his thought and writings as a coherent theological position arising from Oxford's "Golden Age" of theology. It takes into account both Wyclif's earlier, philosophical works and his later works, including sermons and Scripture commentary. Wyclif's belief that Scripture is the eternal and perfect divine word, the paradigm of human discourse and the definitive embodiment of truth in creation is central to an understanding of the ties he believes relate theoretical and practical philosophy to theology. This connection links Wyclif's interest in the propositional structure of reality to his realism, his hermeneutic program, and to his agenda for reform of the Church.

John Wycliffe, the Morning Star of the Reformation, gave us the first English translation of the Bible. A noted scholar and teacher at Oxford, his reliance on the Bible as the sole source of truth stood in stark contrast to the teachings of the Catholic church. His followers went out, teaching and preaching to the common man throughout England. Bowing himself to the authority of the Bible, his great aim was to bring men to the Word. He saw it as the one great authority, the Law that exceeded all other laws. His life’s work continued through men like John Hus and laid the groundwork for Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox and the other great men of the Reformation.

It was an outlawed book, a text so dangerous “it could only be countered by the most vicious burnings, of books and men and women.” But what book could incite such violence and bloodshed? The year is 1526. It is the age of Henry VIII and his tragic Anne Boleyn, of Martin Luther and Thomas More. The times are treacherous. The Catholic Church controls almost every aspect of English life, including access to the very Word of God. And the church will do anything to keep it that way. Enter William Tyndale, the gifted, courageous “heretic” who dared translate the Word of God into English. He worked in secret, in exile, in peril, always on the move. Neither England nor the English language would ever be the same again. With thoughtful clarity and a reverence that comes through on every page, David Teems shares a story of intrigue and atrocity, betrayal and perseverance. This is how the Reformation officially reached English shores—and what it cost the men who brought it there. Praise for David Teems’ previous work Majestie “Teems . . . pulls together the story of this enigmatic king [ James] with humor and pathos . . . [A] delightful read in every way.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

John Wyclif is known for translating the Vulgate Bible into English, and for arguing for the royal divestment of the church, the reduction of papal power and the elimination of the friars and against the doctrine of transubstantiation. His thought catalyzed the Lollard movement in England and provided an ideology for the Hussite revolution in Bohemia. Wyclif's Trialogus discusses divine power and knowledge, creation, virtues and vices, the Incarnation, redemption and the sacraments. It consists of a three-way conversation, which Wyclif wrote to familiarize priests and layfolk with the complex issues underlying Christian doctrine, and begins with formal philosophical theology, which moves into moral theology, concluding with a searing critique of the fourteenth-century ecclesiastical status quo. Stephen Lahey provides a complete English translation of all four books, and the 'Supplement to the Trialogue', which will be a valuable resource for scholars and students currently relying on selective translated extracts.

John Wyclif has been a controversial figure since his own time, often dividing opinion between devoted followers and intransigent opponents. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, there was already a developing mythos about him, and he was variously used as a symbol of heretical depravity or of valorous defense of the gospel. The Reformation calcified opinions, and the two subsequent centuries did not see much development. The nineteenth century marked the beginning of important changes in scholarly opinion, with confessional approaches weakening and giving way to greater objectivity. This trend was strengthened by the emergence of a professional class of historians around the turn of the twentieth century, but the established confessional biases were not quickly done away with until the postwar period. Today, confessional mythmaking is gone and the goal is no longer to show why one particular branch of Christianity is correct, but to present as accurate a picture as possible of the past. As the concerns of the twentieth century give way to those of the twenty-first, it is encouraging that there are still new things to be learned about the past, new ways of seeing and engaging, even with figures so well studied as Wyclif.

John Huss came from the ancient Kingdom of Bohemia, but his voice belongs to our collective religious heritage. He carved a place for himself in the history of revolutionary theology by taking a position that was dangerously contrary to the orthodoxy of his time and his church. Whether Roman Catholic, protestant or of an orthodox denomination this work has far reaching implications for all Christians and scholars. Orthodox denominations find in his style of preaching a resonance with the roots of their church and an older style of religious leadership. Huss can rightly be said to have rocked the Roman Catholic Church to its very foundations, threatening to rip Bohemia permanently from the bosom of mother Church. His subsequent death sentence was utterly unsuccessful in attempting to consign his views to the inferno. To Protestants, particularly those who know the roots of rebellion run deeper and further than Martin Luther ever dreamed, Huss is a hero and a martyr for the cause of religious reformation. He redefined church, fellowship within Christianity and the nature of religious orthodoxy was changed forever by his radical message. To those who do not believe he represents the powerful figure of a man of conscience, determined to get his message to the masses, no matter what it cost him personally. To some John Huss remains unabsolved, unforgiven, but his resolute conviction, right to the very end ensures that as readers we realise he also remains unapologetic. A tragic, racing read by David Schaff that ensures that we know the value of standing up for those beliefs we hold dear as well as the terrible cost. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

*Includes pictures *Includes a bibliography for further reading In the mid-14th century, the Vatican called upon England and sought financial aid in the hopes of boosting papal defenses against French forces. It was then that a man named John Wycliffe boldly stepped forth and appealed to the John of Gaunt, urging the Duke of Lancaster and Parliament to repudiate Rome's demands and citing what he believed to be the Church's abundance in wealth. According to Wycliffe, Christ's disciples, particularly clergymen, must aspire to live modestly and shun all material pleasures. Such was the word of the Lord. Despite the growing tensions between Wycliffe and the Catholic Church, he was invited to partake in a religious committee that aimed to find solutions for the apparent failings of the institution in 1374, but progress was slow, impeded by the corruption of the priests who readily accepted bribes and immoral incentives. Wycliffe, on the contrary, was equipped with a cast-iron will and refused to cave in to temptation. His strength of character earned him the approbation of the Duke and members of Parliament. The same could not be said about his fellow clergymen. Wycliffe's relentless criticism of the Church only continued to escalate, and eventually he was summoned to London and charged with the unforgivable crime of heresy. To the dismay of his detractors, the hearing was anything but black and white, and heated verbal exchanges soon spiraled into physical altercations. This resulted in a temporary deadlock that was broken only three months later when Pope Gregory XI published five papal bulls that unequivocally banned all of Wycliffe's teachings and found the heretic, dubbed the "master of errors," guilty of 18 counts of heresy. The end, it appeared, was nigh, but Wycliffe remained unfazed, declaring, "I profess and claim to be by the grace of God a sound...Christian and while there is breath in my body, I will speak forth and defend the law of it." Wycliffe told the archbishop at Lambeth Palace, "I am ready to defend my convictions even unto death...I have followed the Sacred Scripture and the holy doctors." While Wycliffe's critics rejoiced at the news of his demise, they soon discovered that his influence was far more difficult to extinguish than they initially anticipated. In 1427, a whole 43 years after Wycliffe's passing, his corpse was exhumed by local authorities and cremated, and the ashes were dumped into the River Swift, but Wycliffe's indelible ideas had taken on a life of their own The revival of Wycliffe's ideas, many believe, was ignited by receptive Bohemian students who were introduced to the reformer's works at Oxford University and became so moved by his thoughts that they felt it absolutely imperative to spread the good word in their own kingdoms. Questioning Christians quietly perused compilations of Wycliffe's books and were, at the very least, intrigued by the nonconformist's opinions. One curious mind, however, was supposedly so inspired by Wycliffe that he was at once galvanized into action. Instead of simply parroting Wycliffe's seditious ideas, he launched an entire movement and remained fervidly true to his cause, even when his own life was at stake. This fearless firebrand was none other than Jan Hus, the father of the Bohemian Reformation and one of the most infamous heretics in all of Europe. Hus started as a Czech priest, but he quickly became notorious for debating several Church doctrines such as the Eucharist, Church ecclesiology, and many more topics. Today, he is viewed as a predecessor of the Lutherans, but the Church viewed him as a threat, and the Catholics eventually engaged Hus' followers (known as Hussites) in several battles in the early 15th century. Hus himself was burned at the stake in 1415, but his followers fought on in a series of battles known as the Hussite Wars.