ABSTRACT
King Henry VIII’s objection had been to Tindale as a revolutionary Protestant. What he refused from Tindale, he accepted from Miles Coverdale. Nor were the Bishops un-willing. In the Preface to the Institution of a Christian Man they thank God for a King who desires to set forth among his subjects ‘the light of Scripture.’ Coverdale’s Translation of the whole Bible was published in 1535. In 1538, came the Injunctions of Thomas Cromwell, as Vice-regent unto the King’s Highness. This is the first official document recognising the English Bible, from the King who had been appointed Head of the English Church in 1536. It required a large copy of the Bible to be placed in every Church and exhorted every person to read it. The close relation of religious and biblical instruction to the school had been insisted upon by Melanchthon, Bugenhagen, Sturm, Neander, Trotzendorf, and last but not least, Calvin.
