John Jewel's Apology of the Church of England - Chapters I-IV

So in chapter one, Joule's strategy is really interesting.

And it would be really easy to skip a chapter like this because today we just kind of think, well, duh, you're going to defend your principles.

But Joule gives a kind of defense of defending his principles.

Now, why would he do that in a time like this? Well, we have to think in the medieval context, that late medieval context that Joule is speaking in.

Remember, at this time, prior to the Reformation, if Rome says it, then end of discussion.

No further opportunity for the defense of your principles when Rome speaks that ends the argument.

And so Jewel gives an initial defense of his need to defend the Church of England.

Because at this time, the Council of Trent had happened.

England had been excommunicated again under the Elizabethan settlement.

If you remember, after Henry VIII's break with Rome, the Church of England actually reconciled to Rome under Queen Mary.

And then under Queen Elizabeth, who brings back Protestant doctrine and yet keeps a lot of the sort of Catholic practices of the church in accordance with the principles of Reformed Catholicity.

Nevertheless, that's not good enough for Rome because Queen Elizabeth appointed bishops who were Reformed Catholics, who upheld the Reformation.

And consequently, the Pope had declared her subjects free of obeying, of the obligation to obey Queen Elizabeth.

And this, of course, upset the whole country that the Pope was interfering with English politics.

So the excommunication solidified Anglican identity at this time.

And Jewel then is giving a defense of the Anglican church as the Anglican church, as the Church of England now excommunicated from the Church of Rome.

And we would say unjustly so.

Now, the need for this is that a people swarmed by charges of things like heretic, pagan, Samaritan, right? By really smart people that can be destabilizing, especially if you're a lay person at this time.

If you're a lay person and you're hearing this intelligentsia say, you're a heretic, you're a pagan, you're schismatic, right? Even before even examining that charge, that can be destabilizing.

And so Jewel is going to start to pastorally deal with that sense of destabilization.

And he points out that Christ himself was called a Samaritan, a glutton, etc.

Christ himself was accused of novelty by the Pharisees.

He says the following, to torments to the pikes to be thrown down headlong from rocks and steep torments to be cast to wild beasts and to be burned and made great fires of their quick living bodies for the only purpose of giving light by night and for a very scorn and mocking stuff now jules point is that look the burning of christians as heretics for promoting novelty is not anything new that this was the sort of fate of christians over against the pagan world and the sheer fact that this is happening does not actually show the church of england to indeed be novel so this actually the reason that we we would say well duh today the reason this is relevant right is if you read cardinal cardinal newman's development of doctrine written in the year he became a roman catholic one of his arguments that rome is the true church and that was actually echoed in prior writers is that well look the church of rome today resembles the early primitive catholic church because like the early primitive catholic church the church of rome is mocked as irrational mocked by all of these modernists that's his defense of the church of rome in the 19th century Jule is actually pointing out, no, we actually do have continuity with the primitive church.

Now, one might reply, well, Roman Catholics under the reign of Queen Elizabeth were in this position.

And that's true.