HumanitiesReligionReligious StudiesBiblical StudiesScriptural StudiesTextual CriticismBiblical ExegesisSacred TextsClerical ScriptLutheran HermeneuticsOrthodox TheologySacramental Real Presence
The two parts of Anne Askew's Examinations (1546–47) offer a first-hand retrospective narrative of the interrogation, condemnation, and execution of a woman who ran afoul of English clerical and secular authorities because she violated prohibitions on public Bible reading when she read the scriptures at Lincoln Cathedral. This was not a capital offense in itself, but her devotion to Luther's doctrine of sola scriptura (“by scripture alone”) led to her execution for denying orthodox belief in transubstantiation and the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Mass. Her experience provides an outstanding example of how reading and interpretation of the English Bible as it was translated by William Tyndale (1494–1536), individuals associated with him, and their successors led a literate laywoman to being burnt alive for heresy. This investigation clarifies our understanding of reading practices, the materiality of early modern books, book editing, contemporary politics and religion, and other subjects related to her Bible reading.