What does it mean to be Anglican? IV

http://markdthompson.blogspot.com/2009/10/what-does-it-mean-to-be-anglican-iv_19.html

[Theological Theology] 20 Oct 2009--Anglicanism is both genuinely catholic and unambiguously Protestant. But what type of Protestantism is embedded in the Anglican formularies — Lutheran, Reformed or Anabaptist? It is well-known that Cranmer and his contemporaries began their journey in Reformation theology by avidly reading the banned works of Martin Luther in the early 1520s. They were captivated by Luther's doctrine of justification by faith alone and his insistence on the final authority of Scripture alone. They welcomed the alternative explanation of the real presence of Christ in the eucharist that Luther provided for them — the idea of sacrifice could be jettisoned and so could transubstantiation without denying a real presence.

What is more, the influence of Melanchthon, Luther's off-sider and, just as importantly, a humanist scholar, continued to grow over the next few decades. Cranmer corresponded with Melanchthon, with whom he shared a humanist education, both before and after Luther's death in 1546. Melanchthon became one of the elder statesmen of the continental Reformation, a man of great intellect with a long history of engagement with different strands of the Reformation. He did not have the same strident manner as Luther and was at least willing to listen to others. Did Lutheranism, largely mediated through the person of Philip Melanchthon, continue to shape the English church of Edward VI and Elizabeth I?

The evidence suggests that as time went on others would have a more decisive influence on the English Reformers. As Cranmer's reforming agenda came into the open during the reign of Edward VI, Martin Bucer, a Reformed theologian who had at one time mentored Calvin, was invited to take up the post of Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. Bucer was asked to comment on the first prayer book of Edward VI, the 1549 edition. Cranmer's mature theology continued to embrace justification by faith alone, but his understanding of the sacrament modified under the influence of the Swiss reformers. Bucer's De Regno Christi was an attempt to put forward an agenda for reform and though it was never officially sanctioned (it was published in Basle rather than in England) Bucer's personal influence on Cranmer and the other key players in the Edwardian Reformation was considerable.

However, it was to be Heinrich Bullinger, Zwingli's successor in Reformed Zurich, who was to make the most significant contribution as the English Reformation matured. Bucer did not travel to England but many English refugees travelled to Zurich during the Marian persecutions. When they returned, they brought Bullinger's writings with them. His Decades, collections of sermons expounding a rich pastoral theology, became required reading by all curates in Elizabethan England. Bullinger's sermons presented in an easily digestible form the essence of Reformed theology. His explanation of the authority and efficacy of the Word of God was particularly helpful. He was a principal author of the Second Helvetic Confession (1566) with its insistence that 'the preaching of the word of God is the word of God'. His distinctive development of the notion of covenant would be particularly influential in the century that followed.