The Eucharistic Theology of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer

The Lord's Supper in England: Then and Now - A Look at How Thomas Cranmer's Eucharistic Theology Compares with Today

What happens in the Lord's Supper? To answer that question this article critically explores the mature Eucharistic theology of Thomas Cranmer. Cranmer's theology is then used as a point of reference for discussing the doctrine of the Lord's Supper in contemporary English Evangelical-ism. The relevant scriptural passages are also explored when discussing both Cranmer and contemporary Evangelicalism. The conclusion seeks to offer comparative remarks and also provide a basis for further discussion. Read more

A Critical Assessment of Thomas Cranmer's Doctrine of the Lord's Supper, Compared with the Theology of Contemporary English Evangelicalism

This study seeks to answer the question of what happens in the Lord¶s Supper. In order to do so, the mature eucharistic theology of Thomas Cranmer will be explored and critically assessed. Cranmer's theology will be used as a point of reference for discussing the doctrine of the Lord¶s Supper as found in numerous forms in contemporary English evangelicalism. The relevant scriptural passages will also beexplored when discussing both Cranmer and contemporary evangelicalism. In particular John 6 will be discussed in order to further identify what happens in the Lord's Supper. The conclusion will then seek to offer comparative remarks and also provide a basis for further discussion. Read more

The previous article is based upon this study.

Thomas Cranmer: A Eucharistic Theology of True Presence

This paper will seek to explore Cranmer’s Eucharistic theology, with particular emphasis on its expression in the Book of Common Prayer. After a brief historical treatment, the development and complexities of Cranmer’s Eucharistic thought will be outlined. His brilliance lies less in the area of innovative theological development than in a synthesis of various strands of thought in a breathtakingly elegant liturgical presentation. My thesis is that Cranmer, after a lengthy period of theological development in which he assimilated an impressive variety of influences, argued for the true presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper received through the Spirit, which has been immortalized in his reworking of liturgical tradition to create the Book of Common Prayer. Read more

Cranmer's Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper in its Gospel Context

The purpose of this article is to show what the theological wellsprings of his eucharistic theology were, and to explain it as he himself understood it. The religion of the Reformation is in many ways a foreign country to modern evangelicals, because it is diametrically opposed to present ideas of orthodoxy on most of the key points. For example, on the doctrine of man, free will and predestination, the sovereignty of God, justification by faith, decisionism, and the efficacy or otherwise of the sacraments, the Reformation took its stand elsewhere. Read more