REFORMATION
A. Martin Luther 1483-1546
1. Had a problem in that he did everything that he was supposed to yet did not feel that this cleansed him of his sins
--- led him to challenge the doctrine of good works and he came to believe that salvation came only through faith and God’s grace
2. 95 Thesis 1517
a. Dealt with the sale of indulgences
b. Debating pts. --- no attack on papal authority
c. Were not, in his opinion, a rebellious protest against the church
3. Leipzig Debate July 4, 1519
a. Challenged the authority of the church
b. His stance & record of the debate spread all over Europe (printing press)
c. This debate with theologian Johann Eck, sends him beyond reform
4. Luther publishes a defense
a. Christian Liberty – On the Freedom of a Christian Man: 1520 faith alone would bring salvation
b. Address to the Nobility of the German Nation: appeal to the lay leaders of HRE asking them to force the church to reform or establish a reformed church
c. The Babylonian Captivity of the Church: reform of monasticism, clergy to marry
--- though virginity is good, marriage is better & freedom of choice is best
5. Diet of Worms 1521
a. Charles V HRE
b. The emperor demanded that Luther renounce his views
c. Already excommunicated, made an outlaw to be captured --- works were burned
6. Frederick The Wise, elector of Saxony hides Luther in castle at Wartburg
a. Organizes a reform church in 1522
b. By 1525 --- Nuremberg, first city in HRE to convert to Lutheranism
B. Peasant War 1524-1525
1. Urban workers unite with rural peasants in Germany led by Thomas Muntzer
2. Twelve Articles of the Peasants 1524
a. List of legal and economic complaints
b. Demanded that parish members should select their priests
3. Common people were associating Luther’s idea of Christian freedom with liberation from political bondage
4. Luther called on German princes to put down revolt
a. knew importance of the backing of the German princes & magistrates
5. Battle of Frankenhausen 6,000 peasants killed in action
6. Luther blamed for war
C. Charles V 1519-1556 (was Charles I, king of Spain)
--- Spain, Austrian Hapsburg lands, Bohemia, Hungary, Low countries, Kingdom of Naples
“I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse”
--- besides problems in HRE, French, the papacy, Turks
1. Use of military & governmental power to preserve the unity of the church
2. Schmalkaldic League
a. 8 princes who opposed Charles V formed a defensive league
b. Battle of Muhlberg Charles defeated the league
3. France supports those who oppose Charles V
4. Peace of Augsburg 1555
a. ***Each German ruler had the right to choose the form of Christianity that would be in his state (Catholic or Lutheran)
b. Everybody in the state had to follow the choice of the ruler
** other conflicts Charles involved in:
--- from 1521-1555 involved in wars with France called Habsburg-Valois Wars (1521-1544) over territory, papacy (sacked & looted Rome in 1527, & the Turks into Hurgary and attacking Vienna
D. Spread of Protestantism
--- by 1540’s thru series of overthrow, Sweden, then Denmark, & Norway made Scandinavian region a Lutheran stronghold
1. Huldrych Zwingli 1484-1531
a. Priest --- influenced by Erasmus
b. Abolished the mass in 1525
c. Commentary on the True and False Religion 1528
d. began the reformation of Switzerland
e. Killed by Catholic soldiers at the Battle of Kappel 1531
f. Swiss Civil War of 1531 provided early indication of what religious passions would lead to in the 16th century lead to violence & decision by force
2. John Calvin 1509-1564
a.French Huguenot who was trained as a lawyer & humanistic studies
b.Institute of The Christian Religion 1536
a. Predestination --- some to be saved (elect), some to be damned (reprobate)
b. Protestant work ethic
c. Theocracy --- rule by clergy
d. Justification by faith alone to achieve salvation close to Luther’s ideas
e. Geneva – vibrant center of Protestantism
1. Special body, Consistory, to enforce moral discipline
2. Use of public penance & excommunication
3. Later stricter laws against blasphemy enforced with banishment & public whippings
f. John Knox called it “the most perfect school of Christ on earth” reformer in Scotland
g. Missionaries sent to France, Netherlands, Scotland, central & eastern Europe
h. Mid 17th century, Calvinism had replaced Lutheranism as the international form of Protestantism
i. Calvin’s Geneva stood as the fortress of the Reformation
Radical Reformation
1. Anabaptists --- collective group of radicals
2. Characteristics
a. Attractive to peasants, weavers, miners, artisans affected by economic change
b. Advocated adult whether than infant baptism
c. Return to practices & spirit of early Christianity
d. Strict sort of democracy were all believers considered equal
e. Lord’s Supper as a remembrance , a meal of fellowship celebrated in the evening
f. Complete separation of church & state
3. 1535 defeat of Anabaptist in Switzerland led the Dutch Anabaptism to revert to pacifist tendencies under leadership of Menno Simons 1496-1561
a. Stressed separation from the world in order to truly emulate the life of Jesus
b. Imposed strict discipline & banned those who would not conform
c. Mennonites --- followers
d. & Amish are descended from the Anabaptists
3. England
1. Henry VIII 1490-1546
a. For dynastic reasons he required a male heir
b. 1529 he was given the title ‘Defender of the Faith’ by the pope for his In Defense of The Seven Sacraments
c. His wife, Catherine of Aragon, was the niece of Charles V, the pope refused to annul the marriage
d. Archbishop Thomas Cramner annulled Henry’s marriage (archbishop after previous one dismissed for not getting marriage annulled)
e. Thomas Cromwell, king’s secretary, worked out details for successful annulment and marriage to Anne Boleyn (lady in waiting to Queen, already pregnant, born a daughter --- Elizabeth
2. Parliament
a. Act in Restraint of Appeals Jan. 1533
b. Act of Supremacy
1. King became the head of the church of England
2. Monasteries dissolved and their wealth reverted to the king
3. Thomas More refused to sign the act and was beheaded
c. Some people wanted all remnants of the Catholic and Lutheran faiths stripped out of the Church of England: Puritans
d. Mary 1553-1558 daughter of Catherine of Aragon
1. Intended to restore England to Roman Catholicism
2. Called “Bloody Mary”
3. Her push led to opposite: England more Protestant by end of her reign
a. Marriage to Philip II, son of Charles V, loss of Calais, burning of Protestant heretics
e. Elizabeth I
1. Was ambiguous about religion until challenged
2. Tried to exclude religion from state decisions and foreign policy
3. Act of Supremacy
a. All government officials required to take an oath of loyalty to her
b. Failure to take the oath or failure to comply with the law after taking the oath was considered treason
4. Act of Uniformity
a. Restored the religious doctrine and liturgy (Book of Common Prayer) that had been eradicated during Mary Tudor’s reign
5. Time of Spanish Armada
4. Catholic Reformation
1. Period of new religious orders brought some change and revived the church
2. Society of Jesus 1534
a. Ignatius Loyola 1491-1556
b. Unable to be a soldier, decided to be a soldier of God
c. Spiritual Exercises
1. Training manual for spiritual development
2. Emphasizing exercises by which the human will could be strengthened & made to follow the will of God
3. Through God’s instrument, the Catholic Church
d. Religious order by papal Bull 1540
e. Principles:
1. Absolute obedience to the papacy
2. Strict hierarchical order
3. Use of education to achieve its goals
4. Dedication to engage in “conflict for God”
f. Like a military command
1. 2 year probation period to weed out those not dedicated
2. A general who nominated all important positions
3. Special vow of obedience to pope
4. Became an important instrument for papal authority
g. Three major activities
1. Established highly disciplined schools borrowed from humanist ideas
--- thorough education of young people was crucial to combat advance of Protestantism
2. Propagation of the Catholic faith among non-Christians
--- Francis Xavier --- 1506-1552 carried message to east
3. Determined to carry Catholic banner & fight Protestantism
Won back Poland for church
h. Educate rulers children
i. Opposed killing of Protestants
3. Inquisition: chief purpose was to keep people in the church
a. Not to kill Protestant & Jewish people
4. Index of Prohibited Books: last edition published in 1966
5. Council of Trent 1545-1563
a. Define official church doctrine
b. Bishops had to live in their dioceses
c. Bishops were to see to the pastoral needs of their parishioners
d. God granted salvation through the church