“Wherfore Amend Your Lyves Yff Yowe Wyll be Savyd”: The Soteriology of Thomas Bilney

Among the few things scholars can agree about Thomas Bilney (1495–1531), enigmatic figure at heart of early English evangelicalism, is that he embraced Luther’s teaching justification by faith. This consensus based chiefly on two Bilney’s statements in a 1527 letter to Cuthbert Tunstall, then Bishop London. By putting these broader context extant writings, this essay aims show while used some same language and concepts as Luther, way developed understood those was fundamentally distinct. In his views law, reception grace, nature justification, soteriology differed markedly from German reformer. distinctive development evangelical soteriology, illustrates experimental evangelicalism dangers seeking prematurely pigeonhole its proponents with anachronistic confessional labels.