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John Jewell
The 16th century was a highly contentious time in the relationship between the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Issues that had been brewing since the days of Henry VIII began to resurface as both denominations attempted to assert their theological and historical legitimacy. John Jewell, Bishop of Salisbury, played a significant role in this dispute and his classic Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanae (Jewel, 2010) raised many highbrows throughout both England and Rome and remains one of the most significant documents in the history of the Anglican Church.
John Jewell was born in Bude, a small seaside resort town on the Atlantic Ocean in 1522 (Jenkins, 2006). As a young boy he demonstrated tremendous academic ability and he was educated in the Anglican tradition. When Catholic Queen Mary ascended to the throne outspoken Anglican followers such as Jewell were subject to some pressures to endorse certain Catholic theological provisions. Initially Jewell did so but he eventually fled to Germany in order to avoid being forced to endorse further Catholic doctrines.
Jewell returned to England when Queen I took over the English crown. Soon thereafter Jewell was elected bishop of Salisbury in which position he remained for the rest of his life. Jewell died in 1572 at the age of 50 years.
The crowning achievement of Jewell's life was the publication of his treatise, Apologia Ecclesiae Anglicanae (An Apology in Defence of the Church of England). Jewell's treatise was published in 1562 and includes a brief history of the persecutions that Protestants of all sects had to undergo at the hands of the Catholic Church. The most significant contribution made by Jewell's treatise, however,...
He argues that the Anglican Church is the true apostolic succession to the first centuries of Christianity and that it was not a new Church. In an effort to make his point to the entire world and not just to members of the Anglican Church in England Jewell published his work in Latin so that it could be disseminated throughout all of Europe. As a final point in his treatise, Jewel also took serious issue with the various ways that he felt that the Catholic Church was morally and theological corrupt. This corruption Jewell claimed had been going on in the Catholic Church since its earliest days and that such corruption was absent in the Anglican Church.
The importance of Jewell's work is that it was the first attempt by anyone associated with the Anglican Church to address the Roman Catholic hierarchy regarding the split between the two denominations. Jewell is careful to point out the differences between the two Churches is not political but theological. He challenged the Roman Catholic Church by asserting that the Anglican Church had not revolted from the Church and the Church should cease from referring to followers of the Anglican Church as heretics.
Jewell's primary theological differences, and those of the Anglican Church, concerned the Roman Church's views on transubstantiation, purgatory, celibacy…
Bibliography
Collinson, P. (1986). The Tudors & England: A Chosen People?: The English Church and the Reformation. History Today, 14-21.
Hooker, R. (1977). Of The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, II: The Folger Library Edition of the Works of Richard Hooker. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Jenkins, G.W. (2006). John Jewel and the English Church: The Dilemmas of an Erastian Reformer. Surrey, UK: Ashgate.
Jewel, J. (2010). The Apology of the Church of England. Memphis, TN: General Books LLC.
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