Consensus And Divergence:A Study On The Historical Writing Of The Biographies Of John Wycliffe In The 16th-19th Century

John Wycliffe(1320-1384),known as the "Morning Star of Religion Reform",was an important figure in the British Reformation.His theological ideas and religious reform ideas not only reflected the development trend of British society in the 14 th century,It also provides a theoretical basis for the religious reform movements set off across Europe.Since the 16 th century,the Reformation Movement has swept across the continent.Many religious reformers have refined the theoretical weapons that support the reform by tracing the Reformation thought.Scholar Wycliffe is the keen target of many biographical historians.The historian of biographies tries to restore his life experience,to find his trajectory of development,to reassess his ideological value,and to scrub Wickliffe's slander on him after his death.Due to the relative scarcity of the original materials of Wycliffe,the literature of the works is difficult to verify.Most of the Wycliffe biographies before the 20 th century were "intellectual biographies",containing many academic information that is difficult to distinguish between true and false,and the subjective consciousness of the historian.Studying the historical writing of Wycliffe's biography before the 20 th century can not only grasp the knowledge of Wycliffe in different historical periods,but also reveal the controversial issues and historical truths in Wycliffe's research.The full text is composed of three parts: introduction,body and conclusion.The introductory part mainly states the reasons for selecting this article and the research trends of Wycliffe at home and abroad.The main text of the second part is composed of three chapters.The firstchapter reviews the evolution and development of Wycliffe biographies from the 16 th to the 19 th centuries,and points out the characteristics of the writing of Wycliffe biographies in different historical periods.It includes not only the biography of Wycliffe written by British biographers,but also the writing of Wycliffe by German religious historians.The second chapter summarizes the commonality of the writings of the biography of Wycliffe from the 16 th to the 19 th centuries,explores the construction of the characters in the biography of Wycliffe,and analyzes the academic and political careers and religion of Wycliffe from the biographic historian Reform ideas,and social and cultural background research,found that 19th-century biographical historians formed a consensus on Wycliffe's political attitude,religious thought,and socio-cultural background: Wycliffe is concerned about the sovereignty of the nation-state,opposed to the Pope's Interference in nation-state affairs supports the establishment of churches in nation-states;Wyclif respects the supremacy of the Bible and regards it as the supreme authority of Christianity,opposes the church's cumbersome religious etiquette,and opposes variations in the sacrament.The third chapter analyzes the differences in the historical writing of Wycliffe biographies from the 16 th to the 19 th centuries,and sorts out the differences in the three aspects of the biography of Wycliffe biographies: First,whether Wycliffe is an English translation The translator of the Bible has three views.After reading and thinking,this article believes that although Wickliffe is not a translator of the English-Chinese Bible,he has a contribution that cannot be ignored in the advent of the English Bible;second,There is no fundamental difference between the identification of Wyclif's status as a "scholar" or "religious reformer".It's just that the starting point of biographers is different.The definition of the two roles of Wyclif is naturally different: the former focuses on research In terms of Wycliffe's education,experience,works,etc.;the latter focuses on the study of the social situation in the14 th century England,the relationship between the Pope and the British King,and the trend of anti-clericalism;third,biographical historians There are also differences in the evaluation of Wycliffe's religious reform ideas.In this study,Wyclif is still not a “ reformist ”.He just explained in advance before the Reformation in Europe.After that,what the Reformers had to do was to lay the groundwork for the Reformation,and it was more appropriate to call Wycliffe "the pioneer of the Reformation".The conclusion of the third part summarizes the historical value and research significance of Wycliffe's biography,and further expands the academic horizon and ideological depth of Wycliffe's biographical history research.On the basis of grasping the development context of Wycliffe's biography before the 20 th century,the full text sorts out the "consensus" of historical writing in it to highlight the focus of Wycliffe's research;on the other hand,it summarizes the Wycliffe's biography The various "dissent" in the historical writing of Clarify the academic division of the core issues in Wycliffe's research.Finally,the article believes that: cross-contrasting the similarities and differences of the historical writings of Wycliffe's biography is the more comprehensive and rigorous way of examining historical figures.