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John Wyclif and the Tradition of Biblical Authority

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

William Mallard
Affiliation:
Candler School of Theology

Extract

John Wyclif is remembered today as an innovator. Scholars have not misled us at that point. W. W. Shirley in 1858 stated his role as a pioneer without predecessors: “On most of us the dim image looks down, like the portrait of the first of a long line of kings, without personality or expression—he is the first of the reformers.” The English Bible translated under his inspiration is a monument that stands apart. It established no direct connection with any English version that either preceded or followed it. No prior medieval schoolman quite paralleled Wyclif in setting forth Holy Scripture alone as the final religious authority. Nor had any university leader so encouraged unlicensed preachers to expound the Bible to commoners.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1961

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References

1. Shirley, W. W., ed., Fasciculi Zisaniorum Magistri Johannis Wyclif Curn Tritico—ascribed to Thomas Netter of Walden (London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1858)Google Scholar, in the Rolls Series, Vol. V, p. xlvi.Google Scholar

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7. Cf. De Benedicta Incarnacione, ed. by H. Harris (1886), c. 1, pp. 4, 18Google Scholar; De Civili Dominio, ed. by R. L. Poole and I. Loserth (18851904), I, 399, 402, 437, II, 153Google Scholar; Officio Regis, ed. by A. W. Pollard and C. Sayle (1887) III, 115Google Scholar. Cf. Workman, H. B., John Wyclif (Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1926), p. 149.Google Scholar

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11. For example, in Contra Epistolam Manichaei vocant Fundamenti, c. 5, par. 6.

12. De Veritate, I, c. 9, pp. 194205Google Scholar. Wyclif acknowledges the helpfulness of interpretations by the Fathers, but this is very different in his thinking from accepting the interpretation of the hierarchy.

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19. “in hos siquidem puto me ease certum, quod non est philosophicum negare crcacionem mundi cum omnibus partibus suis vel increatam trinitateni cum ydeis et allis veritatibus eternis.” De Veritate, c. 2, p. 31.Google Scholar

20. “et ista philosophia naturalis eat utilis pro intellectu scripture.” De Veritate, I, c. 5, p. 96.Google Scholar

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24. Confessiones, VI, c. 4.

25. Cf. De Doctrina Christiana, passim, but especially II, c. 10 to end.

26. Senator, Cassiodorus, Institutiones, ed. by Mynors, R. A. B. (Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 1937)Google Scholar. The two parts are entitled “Liber Primus Divinarum Litterarum” and “Liber Secundus Saecularium Litterarum.”

27. Cf. Spieq, P. C., Esquisse d'une Histoire de 1'Exégèse Latine au Moyen Age (Paris: Librairie Philosophique J. Vrin, 1944), p. 26Google Scholar. Also, Smalley, , Bible, pp. 3739.Google Scholar

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31. Tollinton, R. B., trans., Selections from the Commentaries and Homilies of Origen (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1929), pp. xvi–xxix.Google Scholar

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34. Smalley, , Bible, p. 197.Google Scholar

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37. Cf. the so-called English works of Wyclif, , e. g., Select English Works, ed. By Arnold, Thomas (Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, 18691871), I, 170171, ser. lvi.Google Scholar

38. “et ideo ut sentencia Dei sit planior. et servus suus inutilis excusabilior, videtur quod in illo ocio quo a scolasticis ociamur et in particulari edificacioni ecclesie in fine dierum nostrorum sollicitamur, sint sermones rudes ad populum colligendi, ut si qul sane doctrine Christi consenserint plus notentur, et qui a veritate catholica deelinaverint declinentur.” Sermones, I, Praefatio.

39. Sermones, III, 6269Google Scholar, ser. ix on Isaiah 60.

40. Sermones, III, 125Google Scholar, ser. xvi. English Works, II, 277278Google Scholar, ser. xix.

41. “… certum tractatum ad declarandum logicam sacre scripture cómpilare.” De Logica, ed. by H. Dziewicki (1893), p. 1.Google Scholar

42. Cf. Coulton, G. G., Chaucer and His England (New York: Russell and Russell, 1957), pp. 35.Google Scholar

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46. Cf. e. g., Sermones, III, 25Google Scholar, ser. iv; 230–239, ser. xxix; 273–274, ser. xxxiii. English Works, II, 226227Google Scholar, ser. ii; 254, ser. xi.