Henry VIII declared to be “Supreme Head of the Church of England” by the English Parliament, an explicit rejection of obedience to the pope in Rome. This “Act of Supremacy” is considered to be the beginning of the “official” English Reformation. It would be some time before this “official reformation” had any genuine connection to the Reformation gospel, as already advocated in English by William Tyndale among others. King Henry himself was and would remain an egomaniacal tyrant whose personal theology was eclectic, if not incoherent. Nevertheless, through the providence of God, his political and religious manouverings proved the beginning of a process that would ultimately leave England among the most Scripture saturated nations on the planet.
