Wycliffe

Summer Institute of Linguistics

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In 1917 Cameron Townsend was a young missionary in Guatemala, working among the Cakchiquel Indians. He had trouble learning their difficult language but by 1931 he had completed a full translation of the New Testament. When ill health forced Townsend and his wife back to the United States they decided to start a summer school to show missionaries how to translate the Scriptures into the many unwritten languages around the world. Called the Summer Institute of Linguistics, it began on a farm in Sulphur Springs, Arkansas in 1934. By the 1940s the Institute had grown to the point it required more than part-time staff and temporary facilities. Renamed the Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1942, it became the world’s leading translation ministry.

Impact: Today Wycliffe has nearly 6,500 workers in over 50 countries. Their efforts have produced Scripture portions in hundreds of languages.

Growing discontent with the papacy

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The fourteenth century saw renewed discontent against the papacy. William of Occam, an English Schoolman, attacked the papacy as the ultimate authority in religion and demanded that people rely on the Scriptures instead. In England, John Wycliffe called into question leading doctrines of Catholicism. He was a graduate of Oxford University who later became a teacher at the school. Since he held that the Bible rather than the pope was the ultimate authority in all spiritual matters he made an English translation from the Latin Vulgate in the common vernacular. Not many copies were made but a number of them survived, despite the determined efforts of the Catholic Church to destroy them. He sent out companies of russet-gowned priests who accepted his leadership to preach his ideas throughout the cities and the countryside. His followers were known as Lollards. Wycliffe has been called the last of the Schoolmen and the “morning star of the Reformation.”

Impact: Wycliffe’s Bible must be counted among the many causes behind the Reformation in England.

Wycliffe, John

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John Wycliffe (c. 1329-1384) was known as the first among the great Reformation figures. He was born in Yorkshire, England and studied at Oxford, an institution he remained connected to throughout his life as a teacher and writer. When his opposition to papal abuses became known to the Vatican he was summoned before a tribunal where his ideas were condemned. His popularity was such that the pope’s decree did little to subdue the desire among the general population of England to learn more about his convictions. These included the belief that the Bible is the final authority in all matters of religion, not the pope; that the pope is not infallible; that the Scriptures should be made available to all people, not just the clergy; and that the clergy should serve rather than rule the people. Despite public enthusiasm for his work, the Archbishop of London succeeded in having him suppressed and he was officially prohibited from preaching. He spent the remainder of his life writing and preparing an English translation of the Bible. At the Council of Constance in 1415 all of his surviving books that could be found were ordered burned. He ignited the spark that would blaze forth a century and a half later on October 31, 1517 when Martin Luther posted his ninety-five Theses on the church door at Wittenberg and the Protestant Reformation began in earnest.

Hus, John

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John Hus (c. 1373-1415) was born in Bohemia, or what is today the Czech Republic. Hus was of peasant stock but distinguished himself academically and was accepted into the University of Prague. In 1402 he was ordained to the priesthood and became the chaplain at the University. Although a loyal Roman Catholic he sympathized with the reform efforts of John Wycliffe in England. He became a leading figure in the region, writing and preaching on behalf of the religious rights of the people. For his convictions the church leadership excommunicated him. This only inspired him to further promote his reform views, which now included disputing such matters as worship of the saints, transubstantiation, and the primacy of human authority over the Scriptures. In 1414 he was summoned before the Council of Constance and in 1415, despite promises from the pope that he would not be condemned and executed, he was burned at the stake. His popularity made him a martyr to the people of Bohemia and his death helped lay the groundwork for the acceptance of future reformers.