ABSTRACT
Pure theology occupies a smaller space in Cranmer’s life than in that of other great Reformers, such as Luther, Zwingli, or Calvin; he founded no church and gave his name to no doctrinal system. His work was rather to reform a church, and he laboured under conditions unlike those which determined the thoughts and actions of his contemporaries in Europe. Religious forces are potent indeed, but it is doubtful whether religion has fashioned nationality so much as nationality has moulded religion. If religion had been the one supreme test, it would have divided Europe into Catholic and Protestant parties, and not into Catholic and Protestant nations. The predominance of the State in England was unfavourable to the influence of the Church and to the free development of religious speculation, while the loose and impotent political organisation of Switzerland and Germany stimulated independent thought.
