Thomas Cranmer: A Life
by Diarmaid MacCulloch
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Description
Thomas Cranmer was the architect of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. He was the Archbishop who guided England through the early Reformation, and Henry VIII through the minefields of divorce. This is the first major biography for more than three decades, and the first for a century to exploit rich new manuscript sources in Britain and elsewhere. Diarmaid MacCulloch, one of the foremost scholars of the English Reformation, traces Cranmer from his east-midland roots to. Early Tudor show more Cambridge, into the household of the family of Anne Boleyn, and through the political labyrinth of the Henrician court. By then a major English statesman, living the life of a medieval prince-bishop, Cranmer navigated the church through the king's vacillations and finalized two successive English Prayer Books. MacCulloch skillfully reconstruction the crises which Cranmer negotiated, from his compromising association with three of Henry's divorces, the plot by. Religious conservatives to oust him, his role in the attempt to establish Lady Jane Grey as Queen, to the vengeance of the Catholic Mary Tudor. In gaol after Mary's accession, Cranmer nearly succumbed to recant his life's achievements, but was able to turn the very day of his death at the stake into a dramatic demonstration of his Protestant faith. From this vivid and fascinating account Cranmer emerges a more sharply-focused figure than before, more conservative early. In his career than admirers have allowed, more evangelical than Anglicanism would later find comfortable. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
After Wolf Hall, I was thirsty to learn more about the era. This was a great next step. Thorough, well-told, balanced in its judgments.
If you're a fan of the Tudors (the family and the time period, not necessarily the miniseries) Cranmer is a man you should know. He helped found Anglicanism and provided a lot of the intellectual basis for that religion. As for the book, I keep trying to read it, but boy is the going hard. MacCulloch is a SRS BIDNESS historian, as Molly Ivins might have said, but he's no Bill Bryson in the wordsmithing department. This book is thorough. It weighs about 10 pounds in trade paperback. Doors have been wedged open with the weight of its knowledge. One time a Robert Jordan book got in a sumo match with this book and it went down like a bowl of JELL-O. Sometimes when I need to exercise my arm whilst lying in bed, I use this book for lifts. I show more keep hoping if I put the book under my pillow then the knowledge will get soaked up like spilled juice into Bounty paper towels. show less
A worthy & important book, but so weighted down with intellectual rigour its almost impossible to read unless you're an Emeritus Professor of Church History. Cranmer doesnt come across as a living being in this book, but a cipher dictated by the times he lived in and the people he interacted with. Its less a biography than a thesis on the reformation church. gets 4 stars for worthiness and scholarship, about half a star for readability, in the end split the difference and its worth 2 1/2.
A very comprehensive book as one would expect from Dr MacCulloch. However, it reads more of a history of the early English reformation than a biography of Cranmer. Of course Cranmer was pivotal to this process, but the book focussess too much on the theological details and progression of his belief, to the exclusion of other equally important aspects of his life. Cranmer's involvement in the politics and events of the period (when not related directly to matters of religion) are too brief and never properly developed. As a result I didn't feel I got a well rounded profile of the man.
An excellent view of how the English church was ripped out of the sphere of influence of Rome.
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Author Information
29+ Works 8,850 Members
Diarmaid MacCulloch is a Fellow of St Cross College and Professor of the History of the Church, University of Oxford. His many books include A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years.
Awards and Honors
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury; Henry VIII, King of England; Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex; Edward VI, King of England; Mary I, Queen of England
- Important places
- England, UK
- Important events
- Reign of Henry VIII; Protestant Reformation
Classifications
- Genres
- Religion & Spirituality, Nonfiction, History, Biography & Memoir, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 283.092 — Religion Christian denominations Anglican churches Biography And History Biography
- LCC
- DA317.8 .C8 .M34 — History of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania Great Britain History of Great Britain England History By period Modern, 1485- Tudors, 1485-1603
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 636
- Popularity
- 45,646
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (3.86)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 2
