William Tyndale, Henry Viii, and the Obedience of a Christian Man

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8957640
AutoresDavid Coast (0000-0002-9300-6684, Bath Spa University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2020
Volumen64
Número4
Páginas823-843
Fecha de publicación2020-12-22
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Historical Journal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0018-246X • E-ISSN: 1469-5103
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0018246x20000552
OpenAlexW3116621585
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas33

William Tyndale's The obedience of a Christian man has been credited with influencing the Henrician regime's thinking and propaganda on the subject of obedience to royal authority. According to an anecdote first recorded by the archdeacon of Nottingham, John Louthe, Henry was so delighted by Tyndale's tract that he called it a book ‘for me and all kings to read’, and historians have argued that Henry tried to recruit Tyndale as a royal propagandist or diplomat in 1531. This article argues that Louthe's anecdote was probably a later invention, and that Henry disapproved of the Obedience and its author. There is little evidence that the king tried to recruit Tyndale, but wanted instead to silence him and force him to abjure his heresies. The Obedience contained very little that would have pleased Henry, presenting him as a mere ‘shadow’ of a king, manipulated by evil prelates. While Tyndale rejected rebellion against even tyrannical rulers, this should not be confused with advocating obedience of the kind that Henry might approve of, and the Obedience sanctioned disobedience of various kinds. From the outset, remarkably radical ideas were contained within an apparently ‘conservative’ tradition of English evangelical political thought

Aesthetics · Anecdote · Art · Heresy · Literature · Obedience · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Punishment (psychology · Shadow (psychology · Silence · Theology · Classics · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy · Psychology · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity