The English Bible

Today the church observes the 507th anniversary of the day Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg. Although many people believe that the Reformation began with Luther, most of the typical doctrines that we associate with that movement had precedents in mediaeval England and subsequently spread to the European continent. In other words, the doctrines of grace, as recovered by Luther and Calvin and so many others in the 16th century, were already understood and believed by Christians centuries earlier, especially among the Lollards, the Hussites, and the Waldensians.

But of course all of this depended on ordinary Christians being able to read the Bible for themselves in their own languages and thereby to discern its true teachings. Today the English language in particular boasts a huge number of bible translations for every conceivable use and occasion. We speakers of the language are singularly blessed by such an abundance of spiritual riches. But there was once a time when most Christians did not have access to the Bible and had to depend on hearing only sections of it read in the liturgy in a language with which they might not be familiar. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century changed all this, laying the foundations for the Reformation.