Robert Barnes: England’s Luther
Robert Barnes was burned alive at Smithfield July 30, 1540, a common end for evangelical (i.e., Protestant) reformers in the days of Henry VIII. The early English reformers were influenced by three primary sources: Erasmus and the humanists (a new Greek edition of the New Testament that led to its translation into English), the writings of the German reformer Martin Luther, and, to a lesser extent, John Wycliffe and the Lollards who started the Reformation ball rolling 150 years earlier. Barnes was introduced to faith in Christ by Thomas Bilney at the White Horse Inn (Cambridge) in the early 1520s. He was fundamentally a humanist reformer until he was put on house arrest in Northampton and faked his own suicide, escaping to Wittenberg Germany where he drank in the teachings of Luther and the Wittenberg theologians. Carl Truman suggests that Barnes might even have been in attendance at the Heidelberg Disputation in 1518 when Luther boldly presented his “theology of the cross” - the Law says “do this” and it is never done; the gospel says “believe this” and it is already done! Barnes returned to England and gained the reputation of being the most Lutheran theologian of the English Reformation. After his martyrdom in 1540, Martin Luther wrote the preface to a German translation of Barnes’ biography: "Saint Robert." Barnes did not write prolifically, but what he leaves us shows an expansive knowledge of the Bible and the church fathers, as well as intimate understanding of Martin Luther and the continental reformers.
It seems clear that the English expression of Reformation was overwhelmingly German Lutheran until its focus shifted to the Swiss Reformation, at least sacramentally. Historian Alec Ryrie discusses the somewhat abrupt end of Lutheranism in England around 1540, citing a number of factors (“The Strange Death of Lutheran England”). In fact, the foundations of Lutheranism - justification by grace through faith alone - continued to be the heart beating in the Church of England until it was challenged a century later with the rise of moralism, even at the same time that Anglican sacramental theology moved from Lutheran to Reformed. Ryrie’s influential article would more accurately be titled: The Strange death of Lutheran Sacramental Theology in England. It would be very hard to overestimate the influence of Martin Luther on the theology of the Church of England.
“The Strange Death of Lutheran England,” by Alec Ryrie
Luther in English: The Influence of His Theology of Law and Gospel on Early English Evangelicals (1525-35), Michael S. Whiting
Luther’s Legacy: Salvation and English Reformers 1525-1556, Carl R. Truman
Luther’s Theology of the Cross, Alister E. McGrath