The Protestant Reception of Jan Hus in Great Britain and the American Colonies

Abstract

Czech reformer Jan Hus (c. 1372–1415) has enjoyed a venerated place in Protestantism. Martin Luther’s initial disdain for him was quickly transformed once he read Hus’s sermons. Instead of rehearsing the literature of the early Protestants the article researches the untapped documents of the early modern period. In particular, the reception of Hus is traced in the writings of seventeenth-century British and American Puritans and eighteenth-century British and American Evangelicals. The ecclesiastical histories from this same period are also examined and provide a fuller and more critical exploration into Hus’s life, especially his trial at Constance. Throughout these writings Hus has been highly acclaimed and celebrated as a champion of truth amid the persecution of the Roman Church and a significant reformer of the church.