142 - John Wyclif and Reform

John Wyclif and Reform
By John Stacey
169 pp. Philadelphia, Westminster Press, 1964. $3.75.

John Wyclif is a man concerning whom historical judgments have differed widely. Popular Protestantism has called him "the Morning Star of the Reformation," and Dean W. F. Hook described him as "one of the greatest men our country has produced." But, on the other hand, Dr. F. J. C. Hearnshaw maintained that Wyclif was not a religious man at all, since he had "no religious experience, no sense of sin, no consciousness of conversion, no assurance of salvation, no heart of love, no evident communion with God." And K. B. McFarlane, a very recent critic, contends that Wyclif did "little or nothing to inspire (the Reformation) and everything possible to delay (it)."

In this book John Stacey seeks to present a more balanced estimate of Wyclif's character and historical significance. He admits that Wyclif was not religious enough. He agrees that he was often intemperate in expressing his views. He allows that Wyclif had little or no popular appeal, such as, for example, John Wesley had in the eighteenth century, and that, in fact, he (Wyclif) was more of a scholar than a prophet. He concedes that Wyclif was not worldly-wise, since he "placed less and less importance upon learning and never bothered his head about whether Oxford was for him or against him. In fact if Wycliffism had not been suppressed in Oxford the history of England would have been very different" (p. 129). Stacey also grants that Wyclif was lacking in political astuteness, since, by his sympathy with the Peasants' cause and his attack on the deeply cherished doctrine of Transubstantiation, he alienated the court and the governing classes, the only groups in the England of that day capable of carrying through such church reforms as Wyclif advocated.

But, on the other hand Stacey contends that Wyclif, in his writing and teaching, focused attention on the very issues which later became central with the founding fathers of Protestantism-with the significant exception of the doctrine of sola fide. In particular, Wyclif criticized vehemently the abuses which were so rampant in the contemporary Roman Catholic Church. He set up the Bible as the final objective authority for Christian belief and practice; and he inspired, if he did not directly instigate,

143 - John Wyclif and Reform

the translation of the Latin Vulgate into the English vernacular. He expounded a more biblical interpretation of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper than Transubstantiation offered. He emphasized the necessity of virtuous character among Christian believers. He stressed the importance of preaching; and he dispatched missionaries on tour through England in order to expound his views to the people and to gather groups together for Bible study and discussion of his teaching. And some of these groups, known as the Lollards, survived in subterranean fashion till the coming of the Reformation in the sixteenth century.

What Stacey's argument amounts to is this, that Wyclif expressed much the same kind of criticism of Roman Catholicism as did the sixteenth century Protestants and suggested some lines of church reform which were followed in the course of the Reformation movement. He thus may be described as, in a sense, a precursor of the Reformation. But there is no evidence that lie exerted any direct causal influence upon the Protestant Reformers: there is no linear development between Wyclif and Luther. And such followers of his as survived into the sixteenth century, while they welcomed the Reformation movement when it came, did not make any distinctive contribution to it. That seems to be a fair appraisal of Wyclif's place and influence.

Norman V. Hope
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton, New Jersey