The English Reformation cannot be reduced either to:
"Henry VIII wanted a divorce"
or:
"England simply discovered Protestant theology."
Politics, marriage, jurisdiction, reform movements and theology all became intertwined.
1534
The Act of Supremacy is a major landmark in England's break with papal jurisdiction under Henry VIII.
But England's religious transformation continued through subsequent reigns.
The theology, liturgy and institutional identity of the Church of England changed in stages.
Why This Matters for Anglican History
Modern Anglicanism cannot simply be projected unchanged backward before the sixteenth century.
Before separation from Rome, English Christianity had centuries of communion with Western Catholic Christianity.
That raises a historical question for Anglicans and Episcopalians:
What exactly was preserved, rejected or reinterpreted during the English Reformation?
Anglican/Episcopal and Catholic →
Keep Walking Backward
Go before Henry VIII.
Go before medieval England.
Go to the Fathers.
Then to the Apostles.
That longer history provides a better basis for judging the Reformation.