Did king Henry VIII make the Church of England (branch of christianity)?
Actually, he didn’t ‘make’ the Church of England. All he did was to say that the Pope no longer had and say over what went on in the English Church. He remained a ‘Roman Catholic’ to the end of his days. It was left to churchmen during the short reign of his son, Edward VI, to complete the break with Rome and create the Anglican Church. Despite the suggestion in one answer that the Anglicans and Roman Catholics are now ‘pretty much reconciled’, fundamental doctrinal differences still exist. The primacy of the Pope is not acknowledged, clergy are free to marry and (perhaps most importantly) women are ordained as priests. What has happened is that the laws which banned Roman Catholics from universities and from offices of state, even from commissions in the Army ended 200 or more years ago. Nevertheless, a Roman Catholic is forbidden by law from sitting on the throne of the United Kingdom. Must just comment on the later remark that ‘Calvin made the Methodist Church’ he most definately di
Rdenig has a good answer. I should like to add that the English/Anglican church (ecclesia Anglicana) had kept its identity for hundreds of years before Henry VIII. Although it was a part of the RC church, it had its own liturgies (Sarum Use, York Use etc.) and under the statutes of praemunire and the statute of provisors the right of the Pope to parachute candidates into English clerical positions and to levy church taxes in England was severely restricted. Seen in this light, the break with Rome (under Henry merely administrative and jurisdictional, later to involve a more Protestant theology) merely continued a centuries-old tradition. The final statement on the issue is contained in the Anglican Church’s 39 Articles: …The Bishop of ROME hath no jurisdiction in this realm of ENGLAND.
King Henry VIII wanted to free England from the clutches of the Roman Church – thus he created the Anglican Church, the Church of England – which is a broad church, Anglo Catholic at one end and near Protestant at the other end. From this same Church of England sprang the Methodist Church and Movement following the death of The Reverend John Wesley MA. The British people are not deeply religious and over the centuries have allowed almost any religion that the people want to flourish here. Who or what is God anyway? For some, a belief in God has become a fanatical fight for the minds of the people. For most of us we simply turn our backs and switch on the TV. Here then is the Church of England in all it’s magnificent glory. http://www.youtube.com/watch?
The Church of England existed before, but it was Catholic and the Pope was the head of it. Henry VIII did not create the official idea of a Protestant Church of England, that was done by Elizabeth I. He maintained all the Catholic traditions of the English church, only he established himself as the head as opposed to the Pope. Many people followed Henry because Lutheranism had already taken root in England, particularly in the South, although it wasn’t very popular at first, only the nobles followed King Henry in the first few years of such a dramatic change, also it was treason not to follow the King, so you could either change your religion or die ( most people didn’t at first by the way).
