Transcript 20130915_pe

3: The Reformation Period
 A. A marriage couldn’t be arranged between a woman
of seventy and a man of twenty-five.
 B. A woman couldn’t say “rest in peace” over her
husband’s grave.
 C. People couldn’t sing songs that made fun of Calvin.
 D. Bread had to be baked in the shape of a cross.
 A. They were all white
 B. They were all warm
 C. They were all alleged relics contained in medieval
churches
 D. They were found last year in a cave in Israel, neatly
labelled and in a remarkable state of preservation.
 John Wycliff (1324-1384) was an Oxford scholar and
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Roman Catholic priest
Rejected transubstantiation, purgatory, pilgrimages,
worship of saints, veneration of relics and the
infallibility of the Church because he couldn’t find
these things in scripture
Declared the Pope to be vicar of anti-Christ
Saw the wealth of the Church as a curse
Translated Bible into English (from Latin)
His followers were called Lollards; lay preachers
 A humanist scholar who sought to reform the Church
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from its abuses
Satirised the Church in works like “Praise of Folly”
His great work was producing the first printed text of
the Greek New Testament, as well as a new Latin
translation
This enabled people to evaluate the Vulgate and to
undertake vernacular translations
This was the springboard for Luther’s German
translation as well as the King James version
 Corruption had reduced the ability to provide spiritual
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leadership
It became rampant in the reign of Innocent VIII (148492) and with Alexander VI who followed.
Popes commissioned art works and spent huge sums;
to raise money they sold indulgences and land
Popular piety surged in the face of the Church’s failure
By 1500, there was a strong groundswell desperate for
true reform in the Church
 In 1500, Europe could still be thought of as
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Christendom, i.e. a Christian Kingdom.
Almost everyone recognised the Pope’s authority on
spiritual issues, but a few years later, this changed
Partly due to: rising literacy, the printing press,
urbanisation, universities, growing awareness of ways
the Church distorted scripture
Crusades damaged Papal credibility
Growing anti-clericalism due to corruption
 An Augustinian monk, desperate to find peace with God, but could
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not, no matter how he tried
Breakthrough with Romans 1:16-17 (cf. the genitive tense)
A Christian is a free lord, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly
dutiful servant, subject to all ... We are justified (made right with God)
by faith alone; salvation cannot be earned by good works. Good works
follow from that faith. The tree bears fruit, the fruit does not bear the
tree.
First came to public attention in 1517 with 95 theses, a reaction against
Tetzel & indulgences
These focused on: papal exploitation of the German people, the Pope’s
jurisdiction over purgatory, and problems with indulgences
In essence, there was nothing substantially new here. What was new
was that the theses were printed and rapidly distributed, thereby
having quick and widespread influence
 These were: On the Babylonian Captivity of the
Church; To the Christian nobility of the German
nation; On the Freedom of a Christian
 Together, these attacked the exclusive right of the Pope
to interpret scripture, compared Rome to Babylon,
argued for 2 sacraments instead of 7, and the
priesthood of all believers
 In the middle of the year, the Pope announced his
intention to excommunicate Luther
 Power play between Pope and Emperor Charles V
 Excommunicated January 1521
 Summoned to Diet of Worms and went at great risk
(despite guarantee of safe conduct)
 Challenged on his teachings, he replied: Unless I am
convicted by Scripture and plain reason, I do not
accept the authority of popes and councils, for they
have contradicted each other, my conscience is captive
to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant
anything, for to go against conscience is neither right
nor safe. God help me. According to tradition, Luther
then said the famous words: "Here I stand. I can do no
other. God help me. Amen."
 Kidnapped by friends for his own safety, taken to Wartburg
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Castle. Karlstadt stirs controversy in his absence
Translates the Bible into German while in Wartburg. New
Testament printed in 1522
1525 controversies with Erasmus over “going too far” and
with Thomas Muntzer over peasant demands cf. Twelve
Articles
Luther writes against the violence of the peasants
The Peasants’ Revolt led to Luther being blamed by both
sides and inhibited the progress of the Reformation
The German Reformation became dependent on the rulers
 The term “Protestant” originated in 1529 when the
reformers protested against Catholic action at the Diet
of Speyer
 Luther published 9 hymnals between 1520s and 1540s
 Luther marries Katherine von Bora in 1525, the same
year the Battle of Frankenhausen sees 100,000 die
 Religious warfare continued until the 1555 Peace of
Augsburg: the religion of the ruler is the religion of the
State
 Surfaced in an early form as the Zwickau prophets,
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emphasising believer’s baptism and charismata;
opposed by Luther
There are different varieties, but all were seen as
radical in 16th century
One group arose from Zurich from Zwingli’s followers
In general, they opposed infant baptism, oaths, State
compulsion over religious belief, warfare, and
Christians holding civic office
They were the first to propose separating Church &
State for 1,000+ years. Everyone else persecuted them
 A French lawyer whose greatest work is The Institutes
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of the Christian Religion, alongside many
commentaries
While studying law, experienced conversion and broke
with the Roman Catholic Church
Was seen as heretical and moved to places of relative
freedom, especially associated with Geneva
Like Luther, a magisterial reformer, i.e. comfortable
with close Church-State ties
Was quite comfortable with executing heretics, e.g.
Servetus
 Grounded in God’s absolute sovereignty; God is
ultimately in charge of everything, even evil serves his
purposes. Cf. Acts 2:22-23; Acts 4:27-28
 Therefore God chooses (elects) whom he will save: the
initiative is his; the response is ours. Therefore
salvation is predestined
 While no-one can really say who is elect or not, the
signs are participation in the sacraments, an upright
moral life and public confession of faith
 The elect can stand against earthly rulers
 Error can be clearly perceived because it can be evaluated
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by scripture
Error needs to be corrected and kingdoms based on error
should be opposed
Therefore Calvin’s thought empowered people to rise up
against rulers perceived as ungodly; it encouraged social
activism
This happened in the Netherlands, where they rebelled
against their Spanish rulers
The Church was only subject to secular government in
clearly secular matters, but had the job of guiding
government on spiritual matters
 Previous attempts to reform the Catholic Church, e.g.
Conciliar Movement, Erasmus, etc. There were others in
the early 1500s also
 By 1540s, Roman Catholicism seemed endangered by
Protestantism, then other forces came into play
 Society of Jesus, founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1540 placed
heavy emphasis on education and missionary work. Took
an oath of loyalty to the Pope, no matter what. “That we
may be altogether of the same mind and in conformity with
the Church herself, if she shall have defined anything to be
black which appears to our eyes to be white, we ought in
like manner to pronounce it to be black.” [Spiritual Exercises]
 One of the most important Councils of the Church
 Met in 3 sessions between 1545 and 1563, considering
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Protestant doctrine. Protestants attended the 1st session
Aquinas made the “official” theologian of the Church
Authority based on scripture and tradition
Latin Vulgate + OT apocrypha affirmed
Vernacular translations discouraged
Salvation included faith and works
Indulgences would continue but improved
Seven sacraments retained
 Bishops were directed to establish schools and
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seminaries
Jesuits took the initiative in this system and they
remain prominent in Catholic education today
An Index of prohibited books was established
The Inquisition was reinvigorated
Trent was a reformation that changed Catholicism and
made it into a disciplined and modern institution.
It was now ready to confront Protestantism
 In one sense, England had 2 Reformations: a politically-
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driven one under Henry VIII and a theological one in the
next century
Wycliffe & Lollards were precursors
Erasmus had been encouraged to his Greek New Testament
by John Colet of Oxford
William Tyndale was a student of Colet’s and translated the
Greek NT into English (printed in Germany in 1525)
Bishop Cuthbert opposed Tyndale by buying up and
burning all the copies he could get, thereby financing the
2nd edition!
 Tyndale was helped by merchants to distribute his
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illegal publication
Completed Pentateuch by 1530
Revised the NT and completed Joshua to 2 Chronicles
before being arrested and burnt at the stake in 1536
with the final prayer, “Lord, open the King of
England’s eyes!”
The complete Bible published the year after his death
(finished by others)
4 years later, the King of England was authorising
English Bibles
 Married to his brother’s widow, Catherine of Aragon,
but wanted a son
 Asked Pope Clement VII to annul his marriage so he
could marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope refused but
Archbishop Cranmer processed the divorce anyway
 Furious, the Pope threatened Henry with
excommunication, and Henry responded by drawing
up the 1534 Act of Supremacy formally separating the
English Church from the Pope
 Although Cranmer was more of a Reformer, Henry was
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not
10 Articles of Faith drawn up, still including purgatory,
prayers for the dead, etc
Henry sold the monasteries
Although there was a brief possibility of alliance with
Lutherans, it didn’t happen
England stayed very Roman in its theology, with
transubstantiation, celibate priesthood, etc.
England’s Reformation was enacted by Parliament
 Under Henry’s heirs: Edward, Mary and finally
Elizabeth, England swerved between Catholicism &
Protestantism
 Elizabeth reigned from 1558-1603: a “Golden Age”
during which a tone of moderate Protestantism was
struck. It was the age of Francis Drake, Walter Raleigh
and Shakespeare
 During Elizabeth’s long reign, Scotland became
thoroughly Presbyterian and Reformed. Many English
looked at this longingly, thinking Elizabeth too
moderate. They wanted to “purify” the Church, hence
the name Puritans
 After Elizabeth’s death, James VI of Scotland became
James I of England. Puritans rejoiced, thinking he
would bring Presbyterian polity with him. However,
James dislike Presbyterianism, thinking it undermined
his monarchy
 The Puritans presented the newly-arrived James with a
petition of their requests. They were annoyed by
things like: priestly robes, marriage rings, sport on
Sunday, etc. They also wanted a new Bible. Only the
latter was granted, for personal reasons. It became the
King James Version of 1611
 The frustrated Puritans were left with three choices:
they could stay within the Church of England and
lobby for change; leave and join dissenting groups; or
leave the country. From the 1620s, many went to
America
 Charles I succeeded his father James. Firmly believed
in divine right of Kings; drawn to Catholicism
 Parliament was becoming increasingly Presbyterian.
Civil war broke out in 1640s between King and
Parliament (nearly 200,000 people died)
 Parliament won, installing Oliver Cromwell as
Protector of a Republic
 Charles was executed: for the first time, people could
conceive of a monarch being guilty of treason against
the people (esp. inviting the Scots to invade England)
 With the rise of the Protestant Reformation, the
Roman Catholic Church ceased to be an authority for
many; the scriptural text replaced it
 Protestant theology (esp. Calvinism) encouraged
revolt against ungodly rulers. These rulers ceased to
be authorities in their own right; the voice of the
people replaced them
 We can see here the link between Church and State
operating in reverse, i.e. its dissolution
 These factors were key factors in the rise of Modernity
 Monarchs were no longer unchallenged
 Kings could be guilty of treason
 Scripture was a new authority: privately read and
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interpreted
Popes and bishops could be defied
Individuals had much greater power
Treaty of Westphalia ended the 30 Years’ War with a
grudging acceptance of religious plurality.
The Church-State alliance was effectively dead