G W Bromiley on Nicholas Ridley

Posted on September 9, 2008 
Filed under Resources

Bishop Nicholas RidleyChurch Society has published online a four-part series on Bishop Nicholas Ridley by Geoffrey Bromiley –

“Nicholas Ridley was one of those three confessor-bishops whose names are linked indissolubly with the English Reformation.

Of the three, Cranmer had the widest sphere of opportunity, and if he lacked the most conspicuous gifts of leadership, he had nevertheless his own capacities which allowed him to exploit many of the advantages of his position. Latimer was an older man. As a contemporary writer put it, “He came earlier in the morning, and was the more ancient workman in the Lord’s vineyard.” Latimer was no great scholar, but he was a moral preacher of singular power, able to catch the ear both of those in high places and also of the common people.

Ridley himself was the youngest of the three, but in many ways he was also the most talented. He excelled not only as a scholar, but also as a diligent and forceful ecclesiastic, and by his activity and learning he came to be recognized in his own day as perhaps the foremost champion of the Reformation movement. …”

– From Church Society.