Well, Henry was a conservative reformer, particularly when compared to activities such as Luther and Calvin, which took place on the continent. He was shrewd. He had a lot of political savvy, and he realized that if he were to undertake many very far-reaching reforms, many of his subjects would become upset. And I suppose he reasoned that he could not execute them all. And so, we see that the Church of England, rather than going afar away from the Roman Catholic Church, stayed fairly closely aligned with it. As a matter of fact, in 1536, a theological statement, called “The Ten Articles,” was issued. This certainly was not a radical Protestant document of any sort. As a matter of fact, it retained many of the Catholic tenants as a part of this. For example, such things as masses for the dead, the use if images, and the invocation of “saints”—all of these things were addressed in these Ten Articles, and they remained a part of the structure and part of the worship of the Church of England. Three years later, Parliament passed “The Six Articles,” and these were even more conservative, for they advocated such things as transubstantiation.

During this period, the Church of England was so conservative that many who were advocating more radical reform longed for ones like Luther and Zwingli—the word of what they were doing in Central Europe and in Switzerland had migrated to England—and some longed for that kind of reform. Well, those ones who were most vociferous—those ones who spoke out the most loudly about this, and complained that Henry was not moving the Church of England far enough and fast enough away from the Catholic Church—they, too, were executed.

In spite of this conservative approach to reform, Henry did take two specific actions that were very much oriented and identified with the Protestant movement—the pro-test-ant movement—and an active reform. The first one was that all of the monasteries—all of the Catholic monasteries—were dissolved. Now, some question Henry’s motives in doing this. Some say that it was part of the reform to move the Church of England away from the Catholic Church. Others, though, think that he had his eye on the great wealth that was contained in and around many of these monasteries. And, in fact, as those monasteries were dissolved, the property and the wealth of those monasteries were confiscated and went into the royal coffers. So, that may make us wonder, as well, about what was Henry’s real motivation.

The other distinctly Protestant action that Henry took during his reign was the publication of the Bible in the English language. Just a few years before, Tyndale’s translation was smuggled into England and was circulated secretly. Tyndale was eventually martyred, as we have mentioned; but, ironically, his translation, which had been so much opposed by church authorities, became the basis, in part, at least, for the Coverdale Bible, and for the Great Bible [of 1539], that were approved by the authorities.

That’s a little bit about Henry, but the Reformation will continue.