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69 The Anglo-American trajectory of Reformed political theology begins in Zurich and Geneva in the sixteenth century. These legacies then combined with new elements of English and Reformed Protestantism in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Reformed political theology developed further during both the crucible of war in Britain during the mid–sixteenth century and the Reformed Protestant migration to the New World at roughly the same time. The threads that run from Geneva and Zurich to America concern the same theological questions that were raised by the first generation of reformers. Who is in the covenant? What is the jurisdiction of the church vis-á-vis the state? What is necessary to keep covenant faithfulness in either, if not both together? What should be done with a civil authority who violates the terms of the covenant? THE INFLUENCE OF CALVIN AND BULLINGER ON EARLY REFORMATIONS IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND Although the English Reformation was accelerated by Henry VIII’s break with Rome, many English churchmen were already sincerely interested in the new theology and motivated beyond Henry’s political expediency. Thomas Cranmer, Henry’s archbishop, was an early English reader of Luther, though Henry himself was not. Both Cranmer and Henry were also admirers of Phillip Melanchthon. But the influence of Luther and Melanchthon did not hold.Archbishop Cranmer was corresponding with Bullinger and others in the Reformed tradition as early as 1536. He had the highest regard for Bullinger’s work and approved its publication in England. Henry VIII, after his break with Rome, also approved of Bullinger’s work.1 Cranmer invited Jan Laski, Martin Bucer, and Peter Martyr The Legacies of Geneva and Zurich in England and Scotland 6 70 POLITICS REFORMED Vermigli to take prestigious posts in England.All three had done impressive work in helping to establish the particulars of Reformed theology. Bucer and Peter Martyr would have a special legacy in Cranmer’s view of communion and liturgy , respectively. Archbishop Cranmer is representative of the complexity of the English Reformation. He was author of the Forty-Two Articles in 1552, predecessor to the Thirty-Nine Articles (1563). Both are in agreement with the reformers on major points of theology. Cranmer tried unsuccessfully in 1552 to organize an ecumenical council with Calvin, Bullinger, and Melanchthon. His great legacy, the Book of Common Prayer, official liturgy of the English church, reflects his work with key Reformed theologians, primarily Peter Martyr and Martin Bucer.2 But Cranmer is not necessarily remembered as someone in the tradition of the reformers, let alone Reformed theology. Later in the sixteenth century, the Book of Common Prayer was deemed by Puritans to be a tool of Rome. Its reputation among English Protestants and Scottish Presbyterians was further poisoned by Laudian excesses in the seventeenth century. It is ironic that Cranmer’s legacy is not better known among Reformed Protestants, given the fact that he died under Bloody Mary as an opponent of the Mass. Both Calvin and Bullinger were widely read by English clergy. The first English edition of Calvin’s Institutes was translated by Cranmer’s son-in-law, Thomas Norton, in 1561. The sermons in Bullinger’s Decades began to appear in the 1540s, with the final work published between 1549 and 1551, eight years before Calvin’s magnum opus. English clergy were using the Decades in its Latin edition by 1552, in its German edition by 1566, and in English translation by 1577.3 Bishop Cooper was ordering clergy to read the Decades in 1573, before the complete English-language edition was published.4 In 1577 Bishop Cooper required clergy to buy it in English or Latin and read one sermon each week and be able to give an accounting of it.5 In 1586, Archbishop Whitgift and the Convocation required ministers in training to read the Decades along with their Bibles.6 The English reformers had extensive contact with prominent continental reformers at home, in correspondence, and especially during the Marian exile. Laski,Vermigli, and Bucer took up residence in England and worked with members of the English church during the reign of Edward and Elizabeth Tudor. The Swiss reformers had regular correspondence with many prominent persons in the English church throughout the sixteenth century. Of the thousand or so Marian exiles, about one-quarter made their way to Geneva and established an English church.7 Other exiles went to other Reformation centers, including Zurich and Frankfort. Mary Tudor’s intention was...

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