Nicholas Ridley (1500–1555)
Nicholas Ridley was one of the leading theological architects of the English Reformation. As Bishop of Rochester and later London, he worked closely with Thomas Cranmer to shape the doctrine and liturgy of the reformed Church of England.
Theological Contribution
Ridley's influence on the Book of Common Prayer and his careful argumentation against transubstantiation gave the English Reformation much of its theological precision. He was a scholar of the first order who took the Reformation seriously at the level of ideas.
Trial and Death
Under Queen Mary I, Ridley was imprisoned with Latimer and Cranmer. At his trial he defended the Protestant understanding of the Lord's Supper against charges of heresy. On October 16, 1555, he was burned at the stake in Oxford alongside Hugh Latimer.
Ellen White and the Great Controversy
Ridley appears in The Great Controversy as one of the noble company of martyrs whose faithfulness under fire demonstrated that no earthly power could extinguish the light of the gospel once truly kindled in a human heart.