AN ANSWERE VNTO SIR THOMAS MORES DIALOGE

VOLUME 3

The Independent Works

LOCATION

KEY Commentary Side Textual Bibliographic Scriptural

ue not that it is gods worde by the reason that they tell vs so. I answere / that there are .ij. maner faythes / an historicall faith and a felynge faith. The historical faith hangeth of the trueth and honestie of the teller or of the comen fame and consent of many. As if one told me that the turke had wonne a citie and I beleved it moved with the honestie of the man. Now if there come a nother that semeth moare honest or that hath better persuasions that it is not so / I thynke immediatly that he lied and lose my faith agayne. And a felynge faith is / as iff a man were there present whan it was wonne and their were wounded and had there lost all that he had and were taken presoner there also. That man shuld so beleue that all the world coude not turne him from his faith. Even like wise iff my mother had blowen on hir finger and told me that the fire wold burne me / I shuld haue beleued hir with an historicall faith / as we beleue the stories of the worlde / because I thought she wold not haue mocked me. And so I shuld haue done / if she had told me that the fire had bene cold and wold not haue burned / but assone as I had put my fingre in the fire / I shuld haue beleued / not by the reason of hir / but with a felynge faith / so that she coud not haue persuaded me aftir warde the contrarie . So now with an historicall faith I maye beleue that the scripture is Gods by the teachynge of them / and so I shuld haue done though they had told me that roben hode had bene the scripture of God. Which faith is but an opinion and therfore abideth euer frutelesse and fauleth a waye / iff a moare gloriouse reason be made vnto me or iff the preacher liue contrarye.

There are two maner of faithes.[[1573]

And when . . . faith. Cf. CWM 8/2.741/12–17.

historicall faith . . . felynge faith. More claims that Tyndale 's twofold division of "historical faith" and "feeling faith" is a "dystynccyon made by Melancthon [sic]" (CWM 8/2.741/35). Cf. Loci Communes in Werke in Auswahl, ed. Robert Stupperich (Gütersloh: Mohn, 1951–75) 2/1.13–16; Loci Communes of 1521, in Melanchthon and Bucer, ed. Wilhelm Pauck, tr. Lowell J. Satre, LCC 19 (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1969) 27–29. In December 1521, Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560) coined the phrase "historical faith": "For pedagogical reasons I used to call that which was acquired and incomplete,'historical faith'; now I do not call it faith at all, but merely 'opinion.'" In the next paragraph Melanchthon describes the sinner's response to justification by faith, "This trust in the goodwill or mercy of God first calms our hearts and then inflames us to give thanks to God for his mercy so that we keep the law gladly and willingly." From Werke in Auswahl 2/1.92/4–6, 27–30; Melanchthon and Bucer 91–92. Like Melanchthon, Tyndale defines "historicall faith" [D5v] or "story fayth" [Q2v] as "imagination or opinion" (Mammon B3v). He reminds us throughout his corpus that not all faith is the same, citing examples of historical faith in biblical events or miracles ([Q2v, “the hole story of the byble” and following]; Mammon B3v—B4; 1 John A8v, B6, F7). In contrast, "felynge faith" [D5v] or "lively faith" (1 John B6) is characterized by an immutable trust that one has been saved by Christ. Works performed out of love for humanity are the visible tokens of feeling faith (cf. 1 John G1, Matthew p2r—v). Neither reception of the sacraments nor the performance of good works alone justifies the soul (O3, “the faith of a repentynge soule . . . O3v and holy church”; Q2v, ‘Herof ye see . . . Q3 . . . the holygoste”]; 1 John G1; Matthew k5v—k7, p2r—v). When Tyndale writes that "faith justifieth" (Matthew k5v), he emphasizes how God's grace, not human will, delivers us from sin [P7, “Paul saith . . . hate synne”]. God alone justifies us "as cause efficient or workman" of our salvation (Matthew k6v) through grace [P7v, “Now faith . . . by grace”]. Tyndale's concept of faith emphasizes the law of God as good and right.

An historicall fayth.[[1573]

the reason] reason [1573]

A feeling fayth.[[1573]

roben hode. There are at least a hundred references to this chameleon figure between a record of a murder by a servant of the Abbot of Cirencester (1213) and the allusions in More's Dialogue (1529) (CWM 6/1.335/31) and in Tyndale's Obedience (1528). Cf. Lucy Sussex, "Appendix, References to Robin Hood up to 1600," in Stephen Knight, Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994) 262–88. The earliest allusion to Robin Hood in English literature occurs in Piers Plowman (c1377), where Sloth confesses, "I kan noght parfitly my Paternoster as the preest it syngeth, / But I kan rymes of Robyn hood and Randolf Erl of Chestre," Passus V, lines 394–95. Tyndale often cites the legend of Robin Hood as an example of a foolish but widely held belief. Furthering his attack on non-biblical authorities, he insists that Fisher lists so many, he may as well include Robin Hood with Plato, Aristotle, and Origen (Obedience H8v). Compared to the eternal word of God and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the authority of the Fathers is as unreliable as this legend (Mammon D8v, Obedience T4). Tyndale also wonders why the pope permits the laity to read stories of Robin Hood, Bevis of Hampton, Hercules, Hector, and Troilus but not the Bible (Obedience C4). Although Tyndale concedes that allegorical interpretations of the Bible, like tales of Robin Hood, may serve to illustrate a point, he insists that they be used sparingly, since they prove nothing themselves and require a foundation in the Scripture (Obedience R4). References to Robin Hood also occur in the prologues to Genesis (Mombert 11/10;TOT 8) and Jonas (TOT 629) and in a sidenote to Deut. 11 (Mombert 561; TOT 273).

] Deuteronomy