ABSTRACT
Proponents of the chronology of a long reformation' argue that debates over the location and extent of doctrinal authority were already apparent in the pre-Reformation church. The sacred text required no interpretation or manipulation, and indeed it was this principle of autopisty that justified the reading of the Bible by the ploughboy. Tradition might well have a place in Christian church and society, where that tradition could be shown to be in harmony with the original word of God in the Bible. Once consensus and precedent in matters of doctrine had ceased to be acceptable as the foundation of authority, confessional identity and legitimacy were no longer rooted in an argument constructed upon the continued existence of a visible institutional church. The imperative to provide a mechanism for lay understanding of Scripture was not limited to the more esoteric passages of the sacred text.
