WI: A Different Church of England

[Pesterfield]

Two ideas for a different Church of England.

Charles* VIII wants to make sure he doesn't have to consult anyone, so besides making himself Supreme Head of the church he also makes the monarch the chief priest as well. This lets him perform and annul his own marriages as needed.

ASB since Christianity has probable been too ingrained, but Charles decides to just go all the way and declare himself a god king.

*Replace with Henry VIII.

 

[Elfwine]

Charles VIII?

Huh?

 

[Pesterfield]

Sorry, Henry VIII no clue where Charles came from.

 

[Elfwine]

Sorry, Henry VIII no clue where Charles came from.

I blame the French threads on the board, everyone is thinking of Charles now.

Um, I think this is too ASB to happen. If Henry tried he'd be viewed as a complete and total heretic, possibly even a heathen.

 

[Pesterfield]

What about the first one of just declaring himself chief priest?

As to the second, I wonder what it would take for it to happen. Perhaps when the Roman Empire turns Christian the emperors decided keeping godhood would be a good idea, and presumable edit the Bible to comply?

Probable expanding on "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness" and other Genesis mentions of multiple gods.

From there it becomes a common claim of European royalty to proclaim direct divinity instead of just divine right.

 

[Elfwine]

What about the first one of just declaring himself chief priest?

As to the second, I wonder what it would take for it to happen. Perhaps when the Roman Empire turns Christian the emperors decided keeping godhood would be a good idea, and presumable edit the Bible to comply?

Probable expanding on "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness" and other Genesis mentions of multiple gods.

From there it becomes a common claim of European royalty to proclaim direct divinity instead of just divine right.

I think it would still be considered unspeakable, but I don't know Christian theology well enough.

And yeah, a different approach to the issue of divinity would make a difference - technically, the Ten Commandments say No God Above Me, not No God Besides Me, so you could get a polytheistic structure and god-kings with an early enough POD and enough changes.

Would be Christianity in name only, but...

 

[Philip]

What about the first one of just declaring himself chief priest?

In the XVI Century? Way too late. Christian doctrine is established on this matter by then.

As to the second, I wonder what it would take for it to happen. Perhaps when the Roman Empire turns Christian the emperors decided keeping godhood would be a good idea,

That makes absolutely no sense. The principle charge against Christians was that they did not acknowledge the Emperor as a god. Why would they suddenly change their minds on this matter?

and presumable edit the Bible to comply?

And edit all of the post Apostolic writings. And erase the collective memories of the bishops, including those outside the empire. And....if he could pull all off, why bother using Christianity in the first place?

Probable expanding on "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness" and other Genesis mentions of multiple gods.

Both the Jewish and Christian understandings of these concepts were well established by the time of Constantine.

 

[Lord Grattan]

Two ideas for a different Church of England.

Charles* VIII wants to make sure he doesn't have to consult anyone, so besides making himself Supreme Head of the church he also makes the monarch the chief priest as well. This lets him perform and annul his own marriages as needed.

ASB since Christianity has probable been too ingrained, but Charles decides to just go all the way and declare himself a god king.

*Replace with Henry VIII.

If Henry VIII declares himself to be "chief priest" of Christianity a "god-king" then his nobles and the major powers of Europe will remove him from the throne.

 

[black angel]

when Henry VIII made the Church of England he made himself "the only Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England" more or less in the 1500s the King/Queen's word on Religion was law, they wrote new books of prays that the whole nation used, every Bishop was appointed by the King/Queen, Henry VIII even changed the Lord's pray, the one thing that kept Henry in check was he was a Catholic in his heart of heats and did not want to change anything, but I can see Henry VIII taking his Supreme Headness to mean he has the right to say name saints or marry some one, though he'd likely not do his own marriage or anything he needed to cover for such acts.