The Edwardian Homilies

Thomas Cranmer was a significant figure in the English Reformation. The Reformation began in England under Henry VIII, but Henry often kept Cranmer's reforming efforts in check. When Henry was succeeded by his son Edward VI, Cranmer and the Reformation were able to make some real progress. And a key part of that progress was a document from 1547 known as the Edwardian Homilies.

During the early years of the Reformation, there was a preaching crisis in England, as many of the priests throughout the country had never been trained in how to preach. The service that they conducted was the Mass, that is, the Eucharist. So, the priests would know how to conduct the liturgy of the Mass, and occasionally, during Lent or Advent for instance, there would be a short homily. But the priests weren't trained in how to preach and weren't used to preaching.

Cranmer created the Edwardian Homilies to rectify this situation in two ways. First, the homilies could be read from the pulpit so that the people could hear a sermon even if the priest didn't know how to write one himself. And second, as priests read these homilies, they would learn from the model of the homilies how to construct, write, and preach a sermon.

But the Edwardian Homilies are also a great way of getting at the essence of the theology of the Reformation. In these twelve sermons, Cranmer lays out for us a wonderful statement of the Reformation doctrine of sola Scriptura—the idea of Scripture alone as the church's authority. In fact, the very first sermon is titled, "A Fruitful Exhortation to the Reading and Knowledge of Holy Scripture." This is how this sermon begins:

Unto a Christian man there can be nothing either more necessary or profitable, than the knowledge of Holy Scripture; forasmuch as in it is contained God's true word, setting forth his glory and also man's duty. And there is no truth nor doctrine necessary for our justification and everlasting salvation, but that is, or may be, drawn out of that fountain and well of truth.

Scripture is our "fountain and well of truth." It is God's Word to us. It stands over us. And the homilies remind us of that right from the start.

The sermons also address the doctrine of justification, the other crucial doctrine of the Reformation. On this doctrine, the Edwardian Homilies say this:

Our justification doth come freely by the mere mercy of God; and of so great and free mercy, that whereas all the world was not able of themselves to pay any part towards their ransom, it pleased our heavenly Father, his infinite mercy, without any of our desert or deserving, to prepare for us the most precious jewels of Christ's body and blood, whereby our ransom might be fully paid, the law fulfilled, and his justice fully satisfied.

Christ alone is our righteousness. His sacrificial death on the cross is, as theologians call it, the passive and active obedience of Christ. That alone makes us righteous before God. So the sermons declare the doctrine of justification. They also go on to remind us that though we are justified by faith, the life of faith is a life of good works and obedience to the law of God. And so, the Edwardian Homilies were a clear and concise introduction to the art for preaching—for the priests as well as the people in the pew—and to the theology of the Reformation.