Reformation 500 Lent Course 2017 (1)
Introduction
Reformation (1517 - the Peace
of Westphalia in 1648) - 500 years
A summary
of key Reformation doctrines - 5 Solas – “Alone”s – Big Ideas
(1) Sola Scriptura – By Scripture Alone – Authority (Method / “Formal
principle”) – rather than church / Tradition etc.
Substance / Content / “Material principle”:
(2) Solus Christus – In Christ Alone – Christ as mediator not a
human priest / Pope / saints
(3) Sola Gratia – By Grace Alone – rather than merit, earning
salvation
(4) Sola Fide – Through Faith Alone – rather than good works / the
sacramental system of the church
(5) Soli Deo Gloria – Glory to God Alone
The importance of the alones! – RC could agree we are saved by
faith / grace / in Christ etc.
Brief, Selective Historical Overview
Background
- Medieval Catholicism
How vibrant / satisfying / corrupt etc.? – certainly abuses - Dante
had placed popes Nicholas III and Boniface VIII in the 8th circle of
hell in The Divine Comedy - ?
Erasmus’ 1513 satire, Pope Julius
[II] Excluded From Heaven – could be
popular and wrong, of course!
Pope as vicar (representative) of Christ on earth – Borgias buying
the votes of cardinals, numerous children
Popes at Avignon and Rome – settled by Council of Constance
1414-18
Latin rather than vernacular languages
How educated were the parish clergy? Magic / superstition?
Pluralism and absenteeism – long tradition of clerks in holy
orders (literate) involved in secular administration – some senior clergy rich
and powerful, some parish clergy impoverished
Monasticism – some education and health care etc. – concept of holiness
Clerical celibacy – supposedly!
Icons and images – a Bible for the poor and illiterate
“Prayer” to the Saints as mediators – veneration not worship? –
Mary as Queen of Heaven, Mary’s mum etc.
The sacrifice of the Mass – transubstantiation - hocus pocus (hoc est corpus) watched by the congregation –
communion in one kind for the laity and rarely
The purgatory system – Masses for the dead – Johannes Tetzel’s
sale of indulgences (the church’s treasury of excess merit) to raise funds from
the rebuilding of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, “when a coin the coffer rings, a
soul from purgatory springs” / “Place your penny on the drum, the pearly gates
open and in strolls mum” – an indulgence would free you from purgatory even if
you were guilty of raping the Mother of God
Relics, pilgrimages, money
Do what is in you, and God will graciously accept it as enough –
but how can I know I’ve ever done my best?
The 7 sacraments as channels of God’s grace
Renaissance
(= rebirth) Humanism
Ad Fontes – Back to
The Sources - A rediscovery of the learning of classical antiquity - Reformation
as a return to the early church / original purity of the Bible
Desiderius
Erasmus
of Rotterdam (1466 – 1536) and the Greek New Testament (published
1516) rather than Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translation (from the late 4th
Century) – Luther said that by publishing his Greek New Testament, Erasmus,
like Moses had led many out of slavery but had failed to enter the promised
land (by relying wholly on the grace of God)
“Hail Mary, full of grace…” – Mary as the reservoir of grace,
rather than as a recipient of grace – “Hello, Mary, you who [God has] highly
favoured”
Jesus’ preaching Mt 4:17, “Do penance” rather than “Repent”,
change your mind
The role of the printing press (invented by Johannes Guttenberg
?1450) in helping to spread the Reformation
Forerunners
to the Reformation
John Wycliffe (c. mid-1320s – 1384)
– attacked clerical abuses – the Bible not Pope as supreme authority – rejected
transubstantiation – Wycliffe’s Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate - the
evening star of scholasticism and the Morning Star of the English Reformation –
condemned after death, exhumed, burnt, scattered
The Lollards (mumblers) – followers of Wycliffe – met secretly to
read Bible – Predestination – Iconoclasm - attacked the veneration of Saints,
the Sacraments, Requiem Masses, Transubstantiation, monasticism and the Papacy
John / Jan Huss (c. 1369 – 1415) – Czech priest - Bohemia – attacked indulgences and
crusades – questioned purgatory - burnt at the stake for heresy – “You may
roast this goose [Huss = goose], but a hundred years from now a swan will arise
whose singing you will not be able to silence” –– Hussites defeated Catholics –
communion in both kinds
Martin Luther
(1483 – 1546)
German – peasant stock - Father
a lease-holder of copper – mines - Law student - Becomes an Augustinian monk
after surviving a thunder storm aged 21
Exhausted his confessors
by up to 6-hour confession – true contrition? – terrified of saying his first
Mass in 1507
Wittenberg 19 000 relics:
straw from manger, strand of Christ’s beard, nail from cross, bread from Last
Supper, twig from burning bush etc. - Attack on (misuse of) indulgences – Later
Luther would mock the idea of outlandish relics such as flames from the burning
bush, half a wing of the archangel Gabriel and an egg from the Holy Spirit!
31st Oct (Reformation Day) 1517 Martin Luther nails his
95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg – cf. academic notice
board – points for debate
The authority of the Bible superior to that of the Pope
Luther’s Tower Experience (1519) - Romans 1:17 (Reeves, p41f)
Luther burns Leo X’s Papal Bull (1520) and is excommunicated (1521)
– (bulla = seal)
The Diet of Worms before Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1521)
“Unless I am convinced by
the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either
in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often
erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted
and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant
anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. [Here I
stand. I can do no other] May God help me. Amen”
Outlawed – Elector Frederick III (The
Wise) arranged for masked horsemen to kidnap Luther and take him to the
Wartburg Castle at Eisenach (“my Patmos”) for his own safety - living in hiding
as Sir George for 10 months – lonely, sick, tempted to doubt God’s grace – anfechtung – assaults by the devil -
(ink strain!), frenzy of work - Bible translation so punchy and colourful, made
Luther the father of modern German (preface, illustrations, marginal notes) -
letters
Return to Wittenberg – restraining reforming excesses - The German Mass – congregational singing – hymns: A
Mighty Fortress Is Our God – catechism – Reeves (p51): “The catechism was
something Luther took very seriously. He believed everyone should memorize it,
that anyone unwilling to learn it should be barred from the Lord’s Supper, that
parents should withhold food and drink from such children, and that ultimately,
such people should be exiled.”
Married Kate (1525) – former nun – 26; Luther 41 - The importance
of marriage and family - The dignity of non-monastic life – non-ecclesiastical
vocations - 6 children, both daughters died young – dog – visitors – students
-bowling alley in garden – brewing - "My Katie is
in all things so obliging and pleasing to me that I would not exchange my
poverty for the riches of Croesus"
Attempt at Protestant –
Roman Catholic agreement - The Colloquy
of Regensburg / Ratisbon
(1541) a form of words agreed but ambiguous and later rejected by both Luther
and the Pope
Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560) - German
Lutheran – colleague of Luther - Wittenberg
Martin Bucer (1491–1551) – German based in Strasbourg – exiled to England in 1549, Regius Prof of Divinity at
Cambridge
Huldrych Zwingli
(1484–1531) Zurich,
Switzerland – 1st Jan 1519, begins consecutive exposition of NT
– plague – The affair of the
sausages! (1522) – 1523 Zurich makes only biblical preaching legal - Lord’s Supper as symbolic – removal
of organs, rejection of musical instruments in church – Easter 1525 vernacular communion
in both kinds – Zwingli fights in the battle of Kappel and is killed – Luther’s
response – Mt 26:52
Heinrich Bullinger (1504 – 1575) –
Zwingli’s successor in Zurich
John
Calvin (1509-1564) – b.
Noyon, France – Scholar – The affair of the placards (1534), king’s bedroom, attacking
the mass – Calvin flees – arm-twisted to stay in Geneva (1536), Switzerland and
assist with Reformation – fell out with city council - 1538-41 happy exile to
Strasbourg as pastor of French congregation – return to Geneva, continued from
verse where he left off! – continuing controversies about church discipline –
execution of Trinitarian heretic Michael Servetus (1553) – plans for
evangelisation of France – college and academy (1559 onwards) – lecturing 3x a
week, preaching twice on a Sunday, often daily, commentaries on virtually every
Bible book
The high watermark of the Reformation – doctrinal system - The Institutes of the Christian Religion
(Latin and French) 1536-1559 (1521 pages, only 67 about predestination)
The Doctrines of Grace / 5 Points of Calvinism – TULIP
T – Total depravity
U – Unconditional election
L – Limited atonement
I – Irresistible grace
P – Perseverance of the Saints
Requested to be buried in the common cemetery in an unmarked grave
The
Reformed / Calvinists
Agreement amongst the Reformers at Marburg Colloquy (1529) except on the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper
Luther chalks “Hoc Est Corpus Meum” (This is my body) on the table
The
Radical Reformation – Anabaptists, spiritualists and rationalists
Cf. Magisterial Reformers – mainstream who co-operated with
secular magistrates
Andreas Karlstadt
(1486 – 1541) – fell out with Luther – moderate mysticism – wanted to be
known as “Brother Karlstadt” – dressed as a peasant – rejected infant baptism (Anabaptists
– re-baptizers – adult believers only not infants) and the physical presence of Christ in the Eucharist (which Luther
taught) – shrine smashing rampages – statue of the Virgin Mary accused of being
a witch (floated)
Zwickau prophets at
Wittenberg – the equality of all men – the imminent return of Christ – rejected
infant baptism – slaughter the ungodly, “be born again or die!”
Thomas Müntzer (1489 –
1525) – immanent end of the world – rejection of feudal authority – stress of
spiritual experience and ongoing work of the Holy Spirit / visions / dreams /
revelations – a new Gideon – Luther: “Muntzer thinks he has swallowed the Holy
Spirit, feathers and all!”
The German Peasants’ War
(1524-5) – politics and religion intertwined
Münster
Rebellion (1534-5) – communal government - Bernhard
Knipperdolling installed as mayor – equality, distribution of wealth – forced
rebaptisms – New Jerusalem – visions - John of Leiden sees himself as New David,
runs naked through the streets prophesying – takes 16 wives (one beheaded for
being cheeky) – forced polygamy
Jakob Hutter
(c. 1500–1536) - Tyrol, Italy – Moravia – communal ownership - pacifism
Mennonites, followers of Menno Simons
(1496–1561) – Netherlands - pacifist
Faustus Socinus (1539-1604) – rationalist – Socinianism – Poland –
reject Trinity – Jesus more teacher than Saviour
The Family of Love / Familists - mystic sect founded by
German Henry Nicholis (c.1501–c.1580), The Low Countries and England – visons –
pacifist – against death penalty – questioned Trinity
The
English Reformation
William Tyndale – (c. 1494–1536) –
Bible translation used Greek and Hebrew texts – strangled and burnt nr.
Brussels - Last words: “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.”
A group sympathetic to
Reform met in Cambridge at the White Horse tavern from the mid-1520s and known
as Little Germany – Luther being read
in England though banned
Henry VIII (1491 – 1547) – The King’s
Great Matter – divorce of Catherine of Aragon in favour of Anne Boleyn (1533) – Lev 20:21, dispensation from the Pope
A state sponsoured Reformation from Above
The
Ecclesiastical Appeals Act 1532 = the Statute in Restraint of Appeals – England an
Empire
The First Act of
Supremacy (1534) made Henry "the only supreme head in earth of the Church
of England”
Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (1489 – 1556) – married
while in Germany - wife in a trunk!
Dissolution of the Monasteries (1536-) (but not the Cathedrals) –
financial and religious reasons
An English Coverdale Bible for every parish church (1538) – Bible
reading now encouraged
Henry’s personal beliefs? – title Defender of the Faith granted by
the Pope for his work on the 7 sacraments against Luther (published 1521)! –
Catholicism without the Pope? - death bed, Masses in will – Edward’s tutors
under influence of reform-minded Catherine Parr
Edward VI (1537 – 1553) – King Josiah - high watermark of Protestantism before the civil
war – clerical marriage – communion in both kinds – removal of images – tables
not altars – preaching in English – Book of Homilies
The Prayer Book / Book of Common Prayer – in English (1549, 1552,
1559, 1662)
Lady Jane Grey
(1536/1537 – 1554) – evangelical - The Nine Day Queen
Bloody Queen Mary I (1516 –
1558) – the return to Rome – clock turned back
The Reformation Martyrs – about 300 evangelicals burnt under Mary
Bishops Hugh Latimer (1487 – 1555) and Nicholas
Ridley (1500 – 1555) – cross in Broad Street, Oxford
Latimer’s last words: “Play the man,
Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in
England, as I trust shall never be put out”
Thomas Cranmer – recantation sermon – holding hand in the fire
Richard Woodman (c. 1524–1557) and the
Lewes Martyrs
Were these things really worth dying for?
John Foxe (1516/16 - 1587)’s Book
of Martyrs, Acts and Monuments
Elizabeth I (1533–1603)– Ps 118:23 – read NT in Gk daily - The Elizabethan Settlement (1559)
– English Protestantism, neither strongly Lutheran nor Calvinist
John Knox
(c. 1513 – 1572) Scotland, Presbyterian – returned from Geneva
- The First Blast of the Trumpet Against
the Monstrous Regiment [rule] of
Women (1558) – Mary Queen of Scots and Mary I of England but Elizabeth I!
1560 – Scottish parliament embraces Calvinism
The English
Puritans – originally a term of abuse -
The hotter sort of protestants from the time of Elizabeth I onwards – John Milton:
‘the reforming of the reformation’ was their goal - some within the Church of
England - some Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Independents etc.
Regulative principle – sign of the cross at baptism – wedding ring
– priestly vestments – kneeling at communion - wafers
Laurence Chaderton, master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge,
apologised for preaching for 2 hours and the congregation pleaded with him to
go on!
William Perkins (1558–1602); William
Ames (1576–1633); Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) - John
Owen (1616–1683) – greatest English theologian? - ?
a flashy dresser?! – John Bunyan (1628–1688) – Owen to King: If I could possess
the tinker’s ability in preaching I would gladly relinquish all my learning
The Mayflower Pilgrims sail to the New World (1620) – New England
to be a city on a hill – 10 000s would follow
James VI of Scotland I of England (1566–1625) – King James Bible = Authorised Version
Charles I (1600–1649) – high church, RC wife – communion rails – kneeling – Prayer Book
riot in Edinburgh – Brechin, bishop led service with 2 loaded pistols pointed
at congregation
Civil War (1642-) - Commonwealth (1649 – 1660) - Oliver Cromwell (1599 – 1658): “Religion was not the thing at first
contested for, but God brought it to that issue at last.” – Presbyterianism –
toleration for Jews and Protestant sects e.g. Quakers and Muggletonians,
Ranters – adultery a capital crime, fines for swearing, Sabbath enforced, no
Christmas
The Westminster Assembly (1643 - 1653) &
Standards – Larger and Shorter Catechisms, Confession of Faith, Directory of
Public Worship
Restoration (1660), Charles II (1630 – 1685) – converted to Rome on his deathbed
The 1662 Prayer Book - The Act of
Uniformity 1662 and the Great Ejection – 1/5 of the clergy of England (2000)
lose their jobs – only Anglicans could hold public office, go to the
universities etc.
And so on!
The
Counter / Catholic Reformation
Council of Trent
(1545–1563) – firmly anti-Lutheran, no more hope of compromise - Attempts to
improve discipline and admin, pluralism condemned, emphasis on the parish,
opposition to absenteeism - Founding of seminaries in every diocese to improve
the training of the clergy - The Roman Inquisition from 1542 – prosecuting
heresy etc. - Reforms to Religious Orders, greater powers for Bishops to
inspect - Missions to Colonies - The Society of Jesus / Jesuits begun by Ignatius of Loyola (1491– 1556) in 1534, recognised by
Pope Paul III (1540) - Renewal of spirituality - Teresa of Ávila (1515 – 1582) - John of the Cross
(1542 – 1591)
The Impact
/ Legacy / Successors of the Reformation
Individualism / Democracy / The nation state?
Post-Reformation
Protestant / Reformed Scholasticism (1560 - 1790) - Even
greater systemisation of doctrine – method of seeking great precision - The Synod of Dort
(1618–1619) - Francis Turretin (1623 – 1687), Principles
of Elenctic Theology
“The Last
Puritan”
Jonathan Edwards (1703 – 1758) –
America’s Theologian
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834 – 1892) - Baptist
Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899 – 1981) – The
Puritan Conference – Banner of Truth Reprints
James I. Packer (1926-)
The
Reformational Churches / Reformed Theology Today
Semper
Reforandum – continual / constant Reformation
The
relevance of the Reformation today
Roman Catholic / Protestant Relations
Co-belligerency on some things (e.g. abortion) – common opposition
to atheism / secularism / Islam
Cf. conservative evangelicals / protestants & Roman Catholics over
against liberal protestants?
Evangelicals
and Catholics Together (1994)
31st Oct 1999 – The Roman Catholic and Lutheran World
Federation Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification
Further
reading:
Michael
Reeves, The Unquenchable Flame: Introducing
the Reformation (IVP, 2009)
Kirsten Birkett, The Essence
of the Reformation (Matthias Media, 1998)
Diarmaid MacCulloch, Reformation:
Europe’s House Divided 1490 – 1700 (Penguin / Allen Lane, 2003)
Owen Chadwick, The
Reformation (Pelican / Penguin, 1964)
A. G. Dickens, The English
Reformation (Second Edition, Batsford, 1989)
Euan Cameron, The European
Reformation (OUP)
J C Ryle, Five English
Reformers (Banner of Truth)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment