Glimpses #140: Thomas Cranmer, Reluctant Martyr
Product Code: GLM140
Format: 4-page bulletin insert
Our Price: $2.00 per pack (each pack contains 25 copies). Back issues are available only in packs of 25 copies.
Product Description: Cranmer's mission was to get rid of Henry VIII's wife. Henry had married Catherine of Aragon with a special dispensation from the pope, because Catherine was his brother's widow, a match contrary to church law. But having borne him a daughter, Catherine failed to come up with any more children, and Henry needed a son to pass his crown on to. He believed the marriage was cursed by God, as Leviticus 20:21 warns, and another wife was called for. Normally, he would have come to another mutually satisfactory arrangement with the Pope, but the Pope was in serious trouble with Catherine's uncle, the Holy Roman Emperor, so no deal. Cranmer had the idea of canvassing the Protestant leaders of Europe and getting them to declare Henry's marriage invalid. This long debate was ultimately unsuccessful, but it had two huge results for Cranmer. It impressed the King enough to raise him to Archbishop of Canterbury, the top job in the English church—to Cranmer's horror. And Cranmer was so impressed with the Protestants that he started to be gradually won over.
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