Henry VIII’s fight with Catholicism — for both theological and secular reasons — can, for the purposes of our time together here and now, be summed up as: Henry wanted the Bible in English*.
[* YES I KNOW HENRY WANTED A LOT MORE THAN THAT, LIKE AN ANNULMENT FROM A WOMAN WHO HAD SOMETHING LIKE 42 OF HIS MISCARRIAGES OR MAYBE EVEN A DIVORCE PLEASE AND THANK YOU AND THAT HIS FIGHT WITH ROME WAS MORE THAN JUST A FIGHT. It’s called blogging and I don’t have to get it perfectly right.)
Cromwell is at some risk in Wolf Hall, before the alleged annulment from Katherine of Aragon and the wedding to Anne Boleyn, because his sympathies are, too, with the Bible in English: A Tyndale Bible makes an appearance; we won’t speak of poor Little Bilney.
Which, because ways lead on to ways, and time is a flat circle, is why there’s an article in the Year of Our Lord 2018 titled: Fight to Read the Bible Reaches Britain and yes I know I just linked you to a World Net Daily article, just like I also know you don’t have to click it for two reasons:
(1) You are a human within a socially constructed paradigm of Free Will and you have no more need to click that link than a spider needs needles.
(2) I’m about to tell you everything now anyway:
- There’s something called The Barnabas Fund
- They know a guy named Allan Coote
- Who likes to get arrested outside of St Paul’s in London.
- (This is a little weird, because it turns out St Paul’s are among the ones who asked for Coote to be arrested, and the historical (enough) Barnabas was (a) pretty good friends with Paul; and (b) so kinda connected to any cathedral bearing Paul’s name.)
- YEAH I KNOW THIS IS A WND ARTICLE. Did you know they run a column from our age’s most critical thinker, Chuck Norris? It’s called “Culture Wars” and it’s terrible.
- Because it’s a WND piece — oh, sorry, right, the piece. I haven’t told you about the piece yet. Real quick: Coote reads, generally from The Sermon on the Mount, in front of St Paul’s in London, which hates him. So the police are called, Coote’s arrested, the Barnabas Fund* is on the spot to videotape things and now certain Christians in a Certain Part of Britain believe that the UK’s freedom of religion is being impeded — (con’t), it has this alleged quote from an allegedly nice alleged policeman: “I am of the opinion that this chap isn’t causing any breach of the peace. This chap isn’t impeding anyone. I am happy for him to stay here.”
- [* That Barnabas Fund business isn’t sitting well with me. It sounds ominous, right? Like how, a couple of nights ago, reading Exodus, on account of how I’m saved now and all*, I learned that (a) of all God loves Gold and (b) of all Moses’ brother, Aaron, was made the head of the priests for all time, so that makes me think that (b.2) Aaron and God were running a very David Mamet-style sting going on.]
- [* I’m a Quaker*. We’re cool. I’m not ever going to ask you to be a Quaker. I am going to talk about how I think about religion in Tudor England, and in the novel Wolf Hall. But those are mine own, mine own, mine own.]
- [* Or I’m not?]
- The article ends with a bunch of sturm-und-drang re: TYNDALE BURNED FOR ENGLAND! and whatever. What I find most comforting is that, while America may be home to Christian Nutters, it’s not like they don’t vacation other places.
The Cromwell Trilogy 