History of Protestantism History of Protestantism Protestantism originated from work of several theologians starting in the 12th century, although there could have been earlier cases of which there is no surviving evidence. Any prominent dissent was subject to persecution by the Roman Catholic Church, and thus attempts to change anything in the Catholic Church were kept isolated or effectively eradicated up to the 16th century. One of the early Protestant Reformers was John Wycliffe, an English theologian and early proponent of reform in the 14th century. His followers, known as Lollards, spread throughout England but soon were persecuted by both the Catholic Church
Wycliffe College, Toronto those preparing for academic careers of scholarship and teaching. In response to the Liberal Catholic perspective of Trinity College, which is the Toronto diocesan seminary, the Church Association of the Diocese of Toronto, a lay Evangelical group at the Cathedral Church of St. James, founded the independent Protestant Episcopal Divinity School in 1877 to provide an alternative source for evangelical and low-church theological training. Like its Oxford counterpart, Wycliffe Hall, the name "Wycliffe College" was inspired by John Wycliffe, a 14th-century English scholastic philosopher, theologian, Biblical translator, reformer, and theology professor at Oxford. The name was given first to the