John+Wycliffe





Northern England || at Lutterworth, England || = Early Life and Studies =
 * Name || John Wycliffe ||
 * Born || c. 1320 at Yorkshire,
 * Died || December 31, 1384

John Wycliffe was born in c.1320 at the town of Yorkshire, Northern England. His parents, Roger and Catherine Wycliffe, were sheep farmers who leased land from **John of Gaunt**, who later provided Wycliffe with political support against the papacy. [1] Details of Wycliffe’s early education are uncertain, but it is believed that he enrolled at **Oxford University** in c.1354, [2] where he graduated with a Master of Arts. Wycliffe continued his studies at Oxford, and several years later he achieved his Doctor of Theology. While studying at Oxford, Wycliffe began an in-depth study of the Bible, which eventually led him to take a course of action that impacted the entire history of the Christian world.

= = = Conflict with the Church =

Wycliffe’s study of the Scriptures led him to forsake many of the customs, practices and beliefs of the Roman Church. He was very outspoken against the vices and influence of the **mendicant friars**, who, he argued, drained the resources of the country by encouraging habits of ignorance and idleness. [3] He wrote tracts condemning their errors and vigilently opposed them for drawing the youth away from college. [4] Among other things, Wycliffe rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation and opposed the sale of indulgences. [5] During the **schism of 1378**, following the death of **Pope Gregory XI**, Wycliffe produced a tract in which he condemned the pope as “antichrist.” [6] While at Oxford, Wycliffe became convinced that the sole authority for doctrine and the rule for Christian faith lay in the Bible alone. Wycliffe himself stated that “neither the testimony of Augustine nor Jerome, nor any other saint should be accepted except in so far as it was based upon Scripture.” [7] Wycliffe continued to challenge the pope’s supreme authority over Church and State and refuted the traditions of the church as a means of salvation. [8] This principle of //**sola scriptura**,// which Wycliffe adamantly held to, became one of the foundations of **Protestentism**.

= Translation of the Bible =

Wycliffe went a step further than simply holding the belief that the Bible remained the only rule of faith for the Christian, by asserting that every man had an inherent right to access the Scriptures for himself: “The New Testament is of full of authority, and open to the understanding of simple men, as to the points that be most needful to salvation…for Christ did not write His laws on tables, or on skins of animals, but in the hearts of men.” [9] From this belief, Wycliffe embarked on a personal endeavor to place in the hands of the English people a Bible written in the common language. Up until this point, the Bible was predominantly written in Latin and thus inaccessible, not only to the lay people, but also to many of the priests, who did not understand Latin freely. [10] Thus, Wycliffe believed that it was important to give the Bible to the people in their own vernacular, so that they would then have the freedom to form their own accountability to God directly. [11] Despite debates surrounding Wycliffe’s direct role in the translation of the English Bible, it is clearly established that credit for the first translation of the entire Bible into English between 1380-1384 is attributed to Wycliffe and his friends. [12]

= The Morning Star =

It was in 1384, while he was conducting the church services at his parish of Lutterworth, that Wycliffe suffered a stroke that claimed his life three days later on December 31. [13] Forty-one years after his death, the **Council of Constance** formally condemned Wycliffe as a **heretic** and ordered his bones to be dug up, burned, and thrown into a nearby brook. [14] “This brook’, wrote one historian, ‘hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wickliffe are the emblem of his doctrines, which is now dispersed all the world over.” [15]

Wycliffe’s bold claims against the papacy and his resolute allegiance to the Bible alone, has earned him the rightful place, in the words of the historian John Bale, as the “Morning Star of the Reformation”.

References [1] Susan Linda Merritt, “The Protestant Reformation: Historical Changes that made it Possible” (MA thesis, California State University, 1998), 8; //Wyclif (Wycliffe), John and Wycliffites//, ed. Robert E. Bjork, (Oxford University Press, n.d.) www.oxfordreference.com; G.R. Evans, “John Wiclif: The Biography of a Legend,” //Auto/Biography//, 14 (2006): 1 [2] Anne Hudson, ed. //Selections from English Wycliffe Writings// (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997), ix; John Stacey, “John Wyclif as Theologian,” //The Expository// // Times //, 101 (1990): 135 [3] John Lewis, //The History of the Life and Sufferings of the Reverend and Learned John Wiclif, D.D//. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1820), 5 [4] Ibid. [5] Herbert B. Workman, //John Wyclif: A Study of the English Medieval Church//, Vol. 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1926), 6-20; //Wyclif (Wycliffe), John and Wycliffites.// [6] John Wycliffe, “MS. Of the Church and Her Governance.” //Bib. Reg. xviii. b. ix;// as cited in Robert Vaughan, //The Life and Opinions of John de Wycliffe, D.D.//, Vol. 2 (London: Holdsworth and Ball, 1831), 6 [7] John Wycliffe, //Ver. Script//. i, 55; as cited in Workman, Vol. 2, 150 [8] John Wycliffe, “Answer of Wycliffe to Richard II as Touching the Right and Title of the King and the Pope”; as cited in //Tracts and Treatises of John de Wycliffe, D.D//. The Wycliffe Society (London: Blackburn and Pardon, 1845), 295; Workman (1926), Vol. 2, 3-82 [9] Wycliffe, John, //Ver. Script//. ii, 201; as cited in Workman, Vol. 2, 151 [10] Workman (1926), Vol. 2, 153-54 [11] W ycliffe, John, //Ver. Script//. ii, 201; as cited in Workman, Vol. 2, 151 [12] Workman (1926), Vol. 2, 156 [13] J.C. Carrick, //Wycliffe and the Lollards// (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1908), 144 [14] Thomas Fuller, //The Church History of Britain from the Birth of Jesus Christ until the Year MDCXLVIII//, Vol. 1 (London: Thomas Tegg and Son, 1837), 493 [15] Ibid.

Images:
"John Wycliffe" < http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Wycliffe_01.jpg> Public Domain "Oxford University" < http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oxford_University_Colleges-All_Souls1.jpg> Public Domain "The Bible" < http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bibel-1.jpg> Public Domain "Wycliffe reading his translation of the English Bible to John of Gaunt" < http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ford_Madox_Brown_-_John_Wycliffe_reading_his_translation_of_the_bible_to_John_of_Gaunt.jpeg> Public Domain "Wycliffe's church at Lutterworth" < http://TotallyFreeImages.com/188735/John-Wickliffs-[i.e.-Wycliffes]-church-at-Lutterworth,-England> Public Domain "Throwing Wycliffe's ashes into the brook" < http://TotallyFreeImages.com/150339/John-Wickliffs-[i.e.-Wycliffes]-ashes-being-flung-into-the-Swi> Public Domain