Biographies of John Wycliffe and Jan Hus

1. Our Reformed and
Baptist Heritage
John Wycliffe
& Jan Hus

2. –Iain Murray
“Dr. Lloyd-Jones used to say that he read good
biographies to humble himself. When he read
them he realized how little he had done. Good
biographies not only encourage us, but they do
keep us humble, and they give us a greater
ambition and a vision of what we should be.”

3. Overview
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JonathanEdwards
MartinLuther
JohnCalvin
JohnWycliffeJanHus
TheCrusades
TheInquisition
CouncilofTrent
TheWaldensians
PapalTurmoil
(TheGreatSchism)
GirolamoSavonarola
PrintingPress

4. John Wycliffe - Grandfather of the Reformation
❖ About 1329 - 1384
❖ Lecturer in Philosophy at Oxford
and preached at Lutterworth
❖ Wrote three major works:
❖ On Divine Dominion (1373-4)
❖ On Civil Dominion (1375-6)
❖ On the Truth of Sacred Scripture
(1378)

5. Wycliffe - Grandfather of the Reformation
❖ Supported the government
against the church’s claim to tax
England
❖ Opposed Rome’s claim of the real
presence of Christ in the Supper
(transubstantiation)
❖ Opposed confession to a priest

6. Wycliffe - Grandfather of the Reformation
❖ Charged with heresy about 1377
❖ Continued writing
❖ opposing indulgences
❖ in favor of justification by faith
alone
❖ claimed that priests also sin

7. Wycliffe - Grandfather of the Reformation
❖ Began translating the Bible into
English
❖ The Church objected, “By this
translation, the Scriptures have
become vulgar, and they are more
available to lay, and even to
women, who can read, than they
were to learned scholars, who
have a high intelligence. So the
pearl of the gospel is scattered
and trodden underfoot by swine.”

8. –John Wycliffe
“Englishmen learn Christ's law best in English.
Moses heard God's law in his own tongue;
so did Christ's apostles.”

9. Wycliffe - Grandfather of the Reformation
❖ Wycliffe’s translation was from
the Latin Vulgate
❖ It retains the order of words from
Latin, even if they don’t make
sense in English
❖ Can you recognize the part
beginning at the capital “I”?

11. Wycliffe - Grandfather of the Reformation
❖ Wycliffe’s followers became
known as the Lollards
❖ They spread his teachings
throughout England
❖ Wycliffe’s translation was not
complete at his death
❖ In 1384 Wycliffe died, probably of
a stroke

12. Wycliffe - Grandfather of the Reformation
❖ Three days after his death, he
was condemned as a heretic by
the Church
❖ His books were ordered to be
burned, and his body to be
exhumed
❖ Twelve years later his body
was exhumed and burned

13. Jan Hus - Czech
❖ 1374 - 1415
❖ A priest and seminary professor,
Hus followed Wycliffe’s
teachings
❖ Hus denounced the moral
failings of the clergy, opposed
church doctrines which violated
Scripture, objected to worship of
images, and withholding the cup
from the people at communion

14. Jan Hus - Czech
❖ Hus went, under a safe-conduct
from the Emperor, to a council to
defend his views in 1415
❖ He was given no opportunity to
defend his views, but was
condemned and burned at the
stake

15. Jan Hus - Czech
❖ “You are now going to burn a goose,
but in a century you will have a swan
which you can neither roast nor boil.”
- Jan Hus
❖ A century after the death of Hus in
1415, Luther posted his 95 Theses in
Wittenberg in 1517.

16. 14th Century Issues
❖ Real presence in the elements, and participation in
communion
❖ Immorality in the clergy
❖ Reading the Bible in common languages
❖ Purgatory and Indulgences
❖ Mediation by priests