What Was John Wycliffe's Motivation?

Corey Keating has written a 12 page article entitled "John Wycliffe’s Motivation for Translating the Scriptures into his Vernacular Language." Enjoy!

But wait, Margaret Deanesly, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of London, has also written an interesting/provocative piece of paper entitled "The Significance of the Lollard Bible." It is interesting because in it she argues that "Wycliffe's intention in carrying through this complete translation can scarcely have been to render the Bible directly accessible to the masses....Wycliffe's translation of the whole Bible was an undertaking with a political side: the lay party could use it against the clericals...." Nonetheless, she concedes, "But the spiritual side of Wycliffe’s intention was much the stronger."

I think what Margaret has to say re the possibility of the accessibility of Wycliffe's translation to the masses for devotional purposes is worth paying attention to. She also reminds us (and Oh how we forget easily) that Wycliffe didn't do all the translation himself/personally - his Lollards did! To read Margaret's article, click here.