John Wycliffe
Scholar, Preacher and Reformer
d. 31 December 1384

English theologian and reformer John Wycliffe (or Wyclif) was a precursor of the Reformation. Born in Hipswell, Yorkshire around 1330, Wycliffe was educated at Balliol College, University of Oxford. He received a Doctorate in Theology in 1372. Wycliffe was a towering intellectual force at Oxford, writing some 200 books during the course of his career. For most of his life he was a staunch and orthodox Roman Catholic. There were, however, two events that sowed the seeds of his discontent with the papacy. The first was the total submission of the pope to the demands of the French, historically loathed by the English. The second was the spectacle of rival popes excommunicating each other during the Great Schism. These two episodes seemed to call into question both the pope's political authority and his infallibility.

His outspoken criticism of the Church and its hierarchy wherever he saw affluence or power which was not accompanied by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, attracted the support of Parliament and of some of the nobility, notably John of Gaunt. In 1374 he was one of four commissioners sent by King Edward to meet Papal delegates at Bruges. They were complaining at the high "tax" demanded by the Papacy and the growing tendency for the Pope to appoint the Bishops and other clergy from among foreigners, who took the stipend, but sent poorly paid substitutes to do the duties.

"All law, all philosophy, all logic and all ethics are in Holy Scripture," he said. The Bible is "one perfect word, proceeding from the mouth of God," and is "the basis for every Catholic opinion." Wycliffe's thinking broke sharply from medieval scholasticism, which considered church tradition as co-equal in authority with Scripture; many saw the Church as the primary authority, a view articulated by Guido Terreni, when he said that "the whole authority of Scripture depends upon the church." Wycliffe said this was wrong, and that in fact the opposite was the case: "In Holy Scripture is all truth."

Wycliffe's writings against some of the teaching of the medieval Church, especially the doctrine of "transubstantiation", lost him some of his popularity and brought down upon him the censure of the Church authorities. He was cited to appear at St. Paul's in 1377, but the hearing broke up over matters of procedure, prompted by John of Gaunt and Lord Percy, Earl Marshall of England. He was again summoned to Lambeth Palace, but this time the popular voice and then the intervention of the Queen Mother prevented him being condemned.

It was during his last days in the Parish of Lutterworth that he initiated the great work for which he is particularly remembered - the translation of the whole Bible into the English language for the first time.

Today we almost take for granted that we should be able to read God's Word in our own language, but in Wycliffe's day this was certainly not the situation. Until Wycliffe produced his translation, Jerome's Latin Vulgate was the only version of Scripture available for English people to read. Added to this was a prohibition on anyone other than the clergy reading the Scriptures. Wycliffe's work in making the Scriptures available to ordinary people was much opposed by the clergy and some years later the Church passed a decree which virtually prohibited the translation of God's Word.

Wycliffe believed that the translation of the Bible was absolutely essential. People had to be able to read God's Word in a language they could understand. He believed that the Scriptures were inspired by God and every part was to be accepted without reserve.

Even with the translation completed, there still remained the enormous task of publishing. Every word had to be hand-written because the printing press had not yet been invented. Even today, after more than 600 years, there are about 170 handwritten copies still available. This gives us some idea of the great number of people who worked at this task for the even greater number who wished to have their own copy of the Scriptures. It has been estimated that it would have cost a man six month's wages to pay for a copy of the New Testament!

On "How to Read the Bible", Wycliffe’s advice is still relevant:

It shall greatly helpe ye to understande Scripture,
If thou mark
Not only what is spoken or wrytten,
But of whom,
And to whom,
With what words,
At what time
Where,
To what intent,
With what circumstances,
Considering what goeth before
And what followeth.

Wycliffe died of a stroke in his parish at Lutterworth in 1384, in nominal communion with the Roman Catholic Church. He was convicted posthumously of heresy by the Council of Constance and in 1482, Richard Flemming, Bishop of Lincoln, exhumed Wycliffe's bones from consecrated ground, burned them, and scattered the ashes into the River Swift. Though Wycliffe himself probably did not fully understand the momentous implications of his own work, he had put into motion a spiritual, intellectual, and political force that would shatter the medieval church-state world. His brand of Protestantism - more than a century before the actual Reformation - was far more radical than either Luther's or Calvin's. Both Luther and Calvin believed in a state church - just a different kind of state church than what existed during their day. Wycliffe opposed all official religious establishments, and his ideas would continue to express themselves in the Lollard movement.

Acknowledgements:
     Text adapted from James Kiefer's Christian Biographies, Island of Freedom, "My Journal",
                              Saint Mary's Church Lutterworth, Wycliffe Commentary, Faith and Freedom
       Image from Wycliffe Bible Translators