On this day 474 years ago (in the year 1534 AD), the British Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy. The Act provided that King Henry VIII was “the only supreme head in earth of the Church in England”. Some commentators have incorrectly suggested that this officially made England into a Protestant country. In fact, the Church of England has never been Protestant, and King Henry VIII had even been given the title “Defender of the Faith” in 1521 by Pope Leo X in recognition of his book “Defence of the Seven Sacraments”, which opposed Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.
The title “Defender of the Faith” was revoked by Pope Paul III after Henry established himself as the head of the Church of England, but in 1544 the same title was conferred on King Edward VI and his successors by the Parliament of England. Henry’s motives for breaking off from the Roman Catholic Church were more to do with his desire for a male heir than any theological differences. His first wife’s children had, apart from one daughter, died in infancy, and he wanted that marriage to be annulled on the ground that his wife had had a previously consummated marriage. The Pope had refused him, but the Archbishop of Canterbury was willing to accommodate him.
It is hard to reconcile the teaching of the Bible with the idea that a new church should be created just so that a King can get a divorce. It also seems very strange that such a king – or indeed anyone else – should be given the title “supreme head” of such a church. There are many aspects of church life – both Protestant and Roman Catholic – from the period of the Renaissance that just seem wrong to us. Perhaps many aspects of church life now will seem wrong when viewed with hindsight.