Published on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the Book of Common Prayer.

The first major biography of its subject in more than thirty years makes use of new British manuscript sources to draw a rich portrait of Henry VIII's archbishop of Canterbury who guided England through the Reformation. UP.

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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.

Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) played a formative role in the creation and development of the Church of England, from his dramatic appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1532, through his granting of Henry VIII's divorce from Queen Katharine, his emergence under Edward VI as a determined reformer in the mould of his European contemporaries, and to his martyr's death under Mary Tudor in 1556. He is best remembered as the prime creator of the two Books of Common Prayer of 1549 and 1552 which stand at the head of Anglican liturgical identity and tradition. This book seeks to offer a survey of his growth and development as theologian and leader of the church through the lens of his written work: not only liturgy, but also homilies, correspondence and official doctrinal statements. This volume introduces Cranmer as a churchman, theologian and liturgist whose original contribution to Anglican spirituality in its earliest, formative moments cannot be underestimated.