[RonF]

If you think that the founding of the Anglican Church was all about Henry VIII's desire for a male heir, you need to do some more reading. The English Church never felt as strong a tie to Rome as the continental churches did.

[FJ290]

If you think that the founding of the Anglican Church was all about Henry VIII's desire for a male heir, you need to do some more reading. The English Church never felt as strong a tie to Rome as the continental churches did.

History of Anglicanism

King Henry VIII

The churches of the Anglican Communion have their historical roots in the English Reformation, when King Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547) wished to obtain a divorce that the pope would not grant. Through the Act of Supremacy of 1534, the king made himself the "supreme head" of the Church of England in place of the Pope. After this dramatic move, King Henry dissolved England's monasteries, destroyed Catholic shrines, and ordered the Great Bible (in English) to be placed in all churches. However, Henry allowed few doctrinal changes and very little changed in the religious life of the common English worshipper. Under Henry VIII, and the Church of England remained almost fully Catholic with the exception of loyalty to Rome.

History of Anglicanism

[RobbyS]

You ignore the radical changes that took place in the English Church after Henry's schism. Eamon Duffy's "The Stripping of the Altars" relates how a revolution from above destroyed the popular religion of the country and replaced it with something very much in accord with the church of Geneva. Cranmer was in correspondence with Calvin , and theologically the two men were quite close. Ecclesiastically, Calvin was not as radical as, say, John Knox, and was quite accepting of an episcopacy and even The Book of Common Prayer.