John Wyclif (d. 1384) has too frequently been described as Morning Star of the Reformation and only recently begun to be studied as a fourteenth-century English philosopher and theologian. This work draws on recent scholarship situating Wyclif in his fourteenth-century milieu to present a survey of his thought and writings as a coherent theological position arising from Oxfords Golden Age of theology. Lahey argues that many of Wyclifs best known critiques of the fourteenth-century Church arise from his philosophical commitment to an Augustinian realism evocative of the thought of Robert Grosseteste and Anselm of Canterbury. This realism is comprehensible in terms of Wyclifs sustained focus on semantics and the properties of terms and propositions, a linguistic turn characterizing post-Ockham philosophical theology. Arising from this propositional realism is a strong emphasis on the place of Scripture in both formal and applied theology, which was the starting point for many of Wyclifs quarrels with the ecclesiastical status quo in late fourteenth-century England. This survey takes into account both Wyclifs earlier, philosophical works and his later works, including sermons and Scripture commentary. Wyclifs belief that Scripture is the eternal and perfect divine word, the paradigm of human discourse and the definitive embodiment of truth in creation is central to an understanding of the ties he believes relate theoretical and practical philosophy to theology. This connection links Wyclifs interest in the propositional structure of reality to his realism, his hermeneutic program, and to his agenda for reform of the Church. Laheys survey also highlights Wyclifs rejection of Bradwardines determinism in favor of a model of human freedom in light of Gods perfect foreknowledge, and also explores the relation of Wyclifs spatiotemporal atomism to his rejection of transubstantiation. This is the first book-length, comprehensive survey of Wyclifs thought, and will be of interest to students of later medieval theology, philosophy, history, and literature.
