Thomas Cranmer’s appropriation of the eucharistic theology of Cyril of Alexandria: The construction and defence of a reformed agenda

Thomas Cranmer appropriated the eucharistic theology of Cyril of Alexandria for the purposes of constructing a Reformed eucharistic theology and in a way that did not do justice to Cyril’s eucharistic theology. Cyril argued for a mingling of both the corporal and spiritual presence of Christ in both the incarnation and the Eucharist, whereas Cranmer affirms such a mingling in the incarnation alone but not in the Eucharist. Ashley Null has recently defended Cranmer’s appropriation of Cyril for the construction of Reformed eucharistic theology. This article concludes that both Thomas Cranmer’s appropriation and Null’s defence of Cranmer are not viable interpretations of Cyril’s eucharistic theology.