John Jewel’s Theological Contribution: The Centrality of Salisbury Cathedral

This paper argues that certain beliefs and practices that originated in Zurich enabled John Jewel to make a great theological contribution. Torrance Kirby’s recent argument that an epistemological and ontological shift in the public sphere resulted from Jewel’s preaching of the ‘Challenge Sermon’ at Paul’s Cross in 1559, is reconsidered with reference to the transfer of protestant politics via the life and work of Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury 1559-1571. Jewel was in exile in Zurich for 2 ½ years, where he stayed in the home of Heinrich Bullinger, who greatly influenced his thinking. His letters to Bullinger, written between 1559-1571, demonstrate the connection to Zurich’s reformation framework. Jewel’s major work, Apology of the Church of England, originally a commissioned apology for the absence of the English clergy from the Council of Trent, further illuminates the particulars. Jewel’s controversy with his Catholic opponent Thomas Harding, which began in Salisbury, comprises the additions to the original Apology under the new title Defence of the Apology of the Church of England, and provides key evidence of Jewel’s appropriation of Zurich politics. The paper is part of a larger argument which modifies Torrance Kirby’s emphasis on Jewel’s ‘Challenge Sermon’ by considering Jewel’s theological contribution in greater depth and this part of the research focusses on the Zurich relationships.