Editing Thirty-nine Articles (section)

=== ''Bishops' Book'' (1537) ===

[[Image:Thomas-Cranmer.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[Thomas Cranmer]] headed the committee that authored the ''Bishop's Book''.]]

The failure of the Ten Articles to settle doctrinal controversy led [[Thomas Cromwell]], the King's [[vicegerent]] in spirituals, to convene a national [[synod]] of bishops and high-ranking clergy for further theological discussion in February 1537.{{sfn|MacCulloch|1996|pp=185–186}} This synod produced a book called ''The Institution of the Christian Man'' (popularly called ''The Bishops' Book''), the word ''institution'' being synonymous with ''instruction''.{{Sfn| Blunt | 1878 | p = 444}} ''The Bishops' Book'' preserved the semi-Lutheranism of the Ten Articles, and the articles on justification, purgatory, and the sacraments of baptism, the Eucharist and penance were incorporated unchanged into the new book.{{Sfn | Marshall | 2017 | p = 255}}<ref>''The Institution of A Christen Man'' (Thomas Berthelet, cum privilegio, London 1537), full page views at [https://archive.org/details/institutionofchr00chur/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater Internet Archive].</ref>
 
When the synod met, conservatives were still angry that four of the traditional seven sacraments ([[confirmation]], marriage, [[holy orders]] and [[extreme unction]]) had been excluded from the Ten Articles. [[John Stokesley]] argued for all seven, while [[Thomas Cranmer]] only acknowledged baptism and the Eucharist. The others divided along party lines. The conservatives were at a disadvantage because they found it necessary to appeal to [[sacred tradition]], which violated Cromwell's instructions that all arguments refer to scripture.{{sfn|MacCulloch|1996|pp=187–188}}

In the end, the missing sacraments were restored but placed in a separate section to emphasize "a difference in dignity and necessity." Only baptism, the Eucharist and penance were "instituted of Christ, to be as certain instruments or remedies necessary for our salvation".{{Sfn | Marshall | 2017 | p = 254}} Confirmation was declared to have been introduced by the [[early Church]] in imitation of what they had read about the [[Christian laying on of hands|practice of the Apostles]].{{sfn|MacCulloch|1996|p=189}}

The ''Bishops' Book'' also included expositions on the creed, the [[Ten Commandments]], the [[Lord's Prayer]] and [[Hail Mary]].{{Sfn| Blunt | 1878 | p = 446}} These were greatly influenced by [[William Marshall (translator)|William Marshall]]'s primer (an English-language [[book of hours]]) of 1535, which itself was influenced by Luther's writings.{{Sfn | Marshall | 2017 | p = 256}} Following Marshall, ''The Bishops' Book'' rejected the traditional Catholic numbering of the Ten Commandments, in which the [[Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image|prohibition on making and worshiping graven images]] was part of the first commandment, "[[Thou shalt have no other gods before me]]". In agreement with the [[Eastern Orthodox]] and [[Huldrych Zwingli]]'s church at Zurich, the authors of the ''Bishops' Book'' adopted the Jewish tradition of separating these commandments. While allowing images of Christ and the saints, the exposition on the second commandment taught against representations of [[God the Father]] and criticised those who "be more ready with their substance to deck dead images gorgeously and gloriously, than with the same to help poor Christian people, the quick and lively [[Image of God|images of God]]".{{Sfn | Marshall | 2017 | p = 256}} Such teachings encouraged [[iconoclasm]], which would become a feature of the English Reformation.{{sfn|MacCulloch|1996|p=192}}

The list of the 46 divines as they appear in the ''Bishop's Book'' included all of the [[bishop]]s, eight [[archdeacon]]s and 17 other [[Doctor of Divinity|Doctors of Divinity]], some of whom were later involved with translating the [[Great Bible|Bible]] and compiling the ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]'':{{Sfn| Blunt | 1878 | p = 445}}

[[Thomas Cranmer]] –
[[Edward Lee, Archbishop of York|Edward Lee]] –
[[John Stokesley]] –
[[Cuthbert Tunstall]] –
[[Stephen Gardiner]] –
[[Robert Aldrich, Bishop of Carlisle|Robert Aldrich]] –
[[John Voysey]] –
[[John Longland]] –
[[John Clerk, Bishop of Bath and Wells|John Clerk]] –
[[Rowland Lee (bishop)|Rowland Lee]] –
[[Thomas Goodrich]] –
[[Nicholas Shaxton]] –
[[John Bird (Bishop)|John Bird]] –
[[Edward Foxe]] –
[[Hugh Latimer]] –
[[John Hilsey]] –
[[Richard Sampson]] –
[[William Repps]] –
[[William Barlowe]] –
[[Robert Partew]] –
[[Robert Holgate]] –
[[Richard Wolman]] –
[[William Knight (royal servant)|William Knight]] –
[[John Bell, Bishop of Worcester|John Bell]] –
[[Edmund Bonner|Edmond Bonner]] –
[[William Skip]] –
[[Nicholas Heath]] –
[[Cuthbert Marshal]] –
[[Richard Curren]] –
[[William Cliffe]] –
[[William Downes (divine)|William Downes]] –
[[Robert Oking]] –
[[Ralph Bradford]] –
[[Richard Smyth (Regius Professor)|Richard Smyth]] –
[[Simon Matthew]] –
[[John Pryn]] –
[[William Buckmaster]] –
[[William May (theologian)|William May]] –
[[Nicholas Wotton]] –
[[Richard Cox (bishop)|Richard Cox]] –
[[John Edmunds (academic)|John Edmunds]] –
[[Thomas Robertson (divine)|Thomas Robertson]] –
[[John Baker (English statesman)|John Baker]] –
[[Thomas Barett]] –
[[John Hase]] –
[[John Tyson (divine)|John Tyson]]

In August 1537, it was presented to the King who ordered that parts should be read from the pulpit every Sunday and feast day. Nevertheless, the King was not entirely satisfied and took it upon himself to make a revised ''Bishops' Book'', which, among other proposed changes,<ref>{{Harvnb| Marshall | 2017 | pp = 257–258}}: "Most notoriously, [Henry VIII] took it upon himself to improve the wording of both the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. He wanted the final petition of the latter to read 'and suffer us not to be led into temptation' (rather than 'lead us not into temptation'). And he amended the First Commandment ('Thou shalt have none other gods but me') to read 'Thou shalt not have nor repute any other God, or gods, but me Jesu Christ.'"</ref> weakened the original's emphasis on justification by faith. This revised version was never published.{{Sfn| Marshall | 2017 | p = 259}} Because the ''Bishops' Book'' was never authorised by the Crown or Convocation, the Ten Articles remained the official doctrinal standard of the Church of England.{{Sfn|Davie|2013|p=17}}