John Wycliffe 1328?-1384
Wycliffe was educated at Oxford where he also became a professor. Wycliffe was highly regarded for his learning and was asked to comment on the most pressing issues of his day. Of particular concern were the political conflicts for supremacy between popes and kings. Wycliffe eventually argued that popes were not superior to kings. He also denied the medieval doctrine of Transubstantiation (i.e. that the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper literally and miraculously become the body of and blood of Jesus). Although those loyal to the pope vigorously sought to persecute Wycliffe and his followers (called Lollards), they were never entirely successful and the Lollards helped to pave the way for the Protestant Reformation in England.
Johannes Gutenberg
Christians have long been known as "people of the Book". But what if most Christians could never own a book of their own let alone their own personal copy of the Bible. The reason for this was simple: Books were tremendously expensive. One full handwritten copy of the Bible would cost more than a typical person made in a year. Even a university library in the Middle Ages might have only a couple hundred volumes in it. That all changed when Johannes Gutenberg developed an efficient method of using movable type in the middle of the fifteenth century. The Reformers latched on to this new technology to distribute their own theological treatises as well as for the printing of Scripture. The printing press allowed Luther's and Calvin's teachings to spread around Europe at a rate that would have been unimaginable just a century earlier.
Jan Hus 1369?-1415
Jan Hus was a Bohemian reformer. Many of his teachings anticipated those of Martin Luther. Hus attacked the Church's practice of selling indulgences to pay for the Crusades. Hus was familiar with the writings of John Wycliffe and his most famous work, On the Church, borrows heavily from Wycliffe's teaching. He was burned at the stake for the charge of heresy. During one debate, Luther's opponent tried to back him into a corner by claiming that Luther was teaching the same views that Jan Hus had been condemned for. Luther, not being familiar with Hus' writings asked to have the opportunity to read them. Luther then returned and proclaimed: "We are all Hussite's!"
