CHS 505/506: Wisdom from Church History
Marc Cortez
Western Seminary
Portland, OR
Enlightenment Christianity (1660-1789)
OVERVIEW
I.Major Period: The Age of Reason (1660-1789)
II.Political/Cultural Developments
A.Scientific Developments
B.Cultural Developments
C.Economic Developments
D.Political Developments
E.Philosophical Developments
III.Significance of the Era
A.The ______wars of the previous era contribute to the growth of religious ______.
B.This era saw the rise of three distinct approaches to Christianity:
1.The ______: The theological controversies of the previous era led to a growing emphasis on establishing “______” in each of the major theological traditions.
2.The ______: The crisis of authority that developed in the previous eras along with developments in philosophy and a growing confidence in the apparently unlimited capacity of the human mind led others to emphasize the role of human ______as having primacy over religious ______.
3.The ______: concerned about the over-emphasis on the “intellect” and its corresponding spiritual dryness that many associated with both orthodoxy and rationalism, many emphasized the need for something ______, a concern that often manifested itself in significant revival.
C.The era also witnessed the ______influence of the church in some aspects of society; this was particularly evident in the continued growth of the ‘______state.
D.Developments in Missions
1.The first Franciscan missionaries arrive in Texas (1690).
2.Jesuit missionaries are given permission to preach the gospel freely in China (1692)
3.The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is founded (1698)
4.The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts is founded (1703)
5.Jesuit missionaries arrive in Tibet (1713)
6.The Moravians begin their missions endeavors around the world (1732)
7.David Brainerd begins his ministry to North American Indians (1743)
8.Spain expels the Jesuits from its colonies in the New World (1767)
9.The Jesuit order is disbanded (1773)
10.William Carey is ordained and begins promoting worldwide missions (1787)
The Age of Reason (1689-1789)
I.The Orthodox (or Protestant Scholasticism)
A.Orthodoxy in the Catholic Church
1.Orthodoxy and the Issue of Religious Nationalism
a)The rise of a centralized monarchy in France contributed to a growing sense of French nationalism.
b)Many French rulers and clergy resisted the universal claims of the papacy and insisted on the “freedoms of the Gallican church”—i.e., a series of rights granted the French church during the Middle Ages when the papacy was dominated by French rulers.
c)This “Gallican” tendency was resisted by those in the French church who continued to support the authority of the pope. They were thus called “ultramontanes” for seeking their authority “beyond the alps).
d)Although the French church retained a number of distinct rights, the orthodox party largely prevailed and retained the centrality of the papacy in the life of the Catholic Church.
2.The Jesuits vs. the Jansenists
a)In the age after the Catholic Reformation, the Jesuits had become the staunchest defenders of papal authority.
b)Some Catholic theologians, however, were concerned that the Council of Trent had gone too far in resisting Protestant theology and was in danger of contravening the teachings of Augustine (i.e.,. they were concerned that Catholic theology had become semi-Pelagian).
c)These “Jansenists” argued for versions of original sin and predestination that sounded far too Calvinist for many in the church and, as a result, they were condemned and persecuted.
d)In this way, the theology of the Catholic church continued to harden in a distinctly non-Protestant direction.
B.Lutheran Orthodoxy
1.In the beginning, the ‘Lutheran’ churches were characterized by significant theological diversity.
a)This was partly the result of the fact that although all of the German reformers were influenced by Luther, many of them were theologians in their own right with their own theological convictions.
b)Luther’s own tendency to espouse ideas that could be interpreted in significantly different ways did not help any.
2.A number of factors contributed to a growing desire for more theological clarity and unity:
a)Luther’s death left the movement badly in need of some unifying element.
b)Continued pressure from other theological perspectives, brought forth the need to articulate and defend Lutheran theology more clearly.
c)A number of heated theological debates among Lutheran theologians required some theological resolution.
3.Consequently, Lutheran theologians of this age began to focus more on identifying and preserving the “orthodox” understanding of their theology.
a)Such thinkers were often referred to as “scholastic” because…
(1)They emphasized systematic thought.
(2)They had a renewed appreciation for Aristotle’s philosophy.
(3)They tended to be university professors who wrote for an academic audience.
(4)Their methodology often reflected the kind of rigorous concern for terminological precision and fine theological distinctions that one often found among the medieval scholastics.
b)The legacy of Lutheran orthodoxy:
(1)A renewed emphasis on scriptural inerrancy, often combined with a dictation theory of inspiration, to ground their theological arguments.
(2)A spirit of rigid confessionalism.
(3)A growing concern about the apparent intellectualism and spiritual dryness that seemed to accompany these developments.
C.Reformed Orthodoxy
1.Although Calvin’s more systematic theology proved less susceptible to confusion than Luther’s more occasional theology, Reformed theology nonetheless went through a period of clarification and explanation after Calvin’s death.
2.The Arminian Controversy
a)Jacobus Arminius was a Dutch pastor and professor who had studied under Theodore Beza, Calvin’s successor in Geneva.
b)He became dissatisfied with certain Calvinist teachings, particular predestination. Though he did not reject predestination, he argued that it was based on God’s foreknowledge of a person’s faith rather than God’s unconditional decree.
c)After his death, a group of like-minded Protestants, set forth five propositions to clarify their position in five points. (This “remonstrance” led to the group being known as the “Remonstrants”).
(1)The divine decree of predestination is conditional.
(2)The intention of the Atonement is universal.
(3)A human person cannot of himself exercise a saving faith.
(4)The grace of God for salvation is resistible.
(5)Believers can resist the influence of sin, but are not beyond the possibility of falling from grace.
d)The Synod of Dort (1618-1619)
(1)These “Arminian” thinkers were strongly opposed by many in the Dutch church, who quickly summoned a council to which they invited members of all the reformed churches in Europe.
(2)The canons of Dort responded to each of the five principles of the Remonstrants and is often summarized with the acronym TULIP:
(a)Total depravity
(b)Unconditional election
(c)Limited atonement
(d)Irresistible grace
(e)Perseverance of the saints
(3)The Remonstrants were outlawed and persecuted until 1631 when they were granted official tolerance.
e)The Westminster Confession (1646)
(1)The Westminster divines were likewise concerned with defending the orthodox understanding of Calvinism against the Arminian tendencies in the Anglican church.
(2)They, correspondingly, laid out a Calvinist perspective that adhered closely to the ideas contained in the canons of Dort.
II.The Rationalists
A.A number of factors contributed to the development of a growing emphasis on human reason in this period.
1.Descartes (1569-1650), though he lived during the previous era, exerted tremendous influence on the philosophy of this time.
a)Descartes sought to ground all human knowledge on that which was indubitable.
b)Since everything available to the senses could conceivably be doubted, one must turn to reason in order to discover that which is certain and can be the foundation for knowledge.
c)For Descartes, the only thing that was absolutely certain was the existence of the thinking subject itself (i.e., “I think, therefore I am”).
d)Though he never intended his skeptical method to undermine the authority of the church, his methodology contributed to the growing independence of human thought from ecclesial authority.
2.The religious wars caused many to become dissatisfied with strong religious convictions in general, and knowledge based on external authorities in particular.
3.The expanding science of the day, led by thinkers like Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, contributed a growing confidence in the human mind to understand the very nature of the universe.
B.John Locke and the Rise of Empiricism
1.John Locke (1632-1704) argued that everything we know comes to us through experience—either directly through the senses or indirectly as we reflect on what we receive through the senses.
2.Although we can make judgments on the basis of this empirical knowledge (e.g., religious judgments), the only things that we can know for certain are those which come through experience.
3.Religious intolerance stems from mistaking the certain truths of experience with the merely probably truths of judgment.
4.Although Locke argued that Christianity was the most reasonable of all religions, he also argued that it did not add anything that could not be understood through the proper application of reason on experience.
C.Deism as an Empirical Christianity
1.Building the empirical insights of John Locke, a number of thinkers began to argue that natural religion based on human reason is more fundamental than the special revelation of Christianity.
2.Affirming only what could be maintained on the basis of empirical knowledge, the deists denied that God had been miraculously involved in his creation since its inception.
D.David Hume (1711-1776) and the Beginning of the End of Pure Rationalism
1.Although rationalism reigned supreme in English and continental thought, Hume began the process of unraveling rationalism as a viable position.
2.Hume pointed out that such basic things as cause-effect and the idea of a “substance” (i.e., a thing that continues to exist over a period of time) could not be established on empirical bases alone.
3.This critique, along with substantial apologetic defenses of traditional Christianity by people like William Berkely and Bishop Butler, effectively put an end to deism and set the stage for the pivotal turn initiated by Immanuel Kant.
III.The Spiritualists
A.A number of movements rejected the intellectualism and spiritual dryness they felt characterized Protestant orthodoxy and the abstract rationalism of the Deists by turning to an emphasis on mystical spirituality and direct communion with God.
B.The French Quietists
1.Some French thinkers like Miguel de Molinos and Madame Guyon advocated that the human person must be totally passive before God, indeed spiritual effort of any kind was strongly discouraged.
2.Like some branches of mystical theology, they affirmed that our eschatological destiny is a mystical union with the being of God that ultimately results in the total absorption of our being into the divine being.
C.Jakob Boehme (1575-1624)
1.Boehme exalted the inner, spiritual life of the individual believer against the cold formalism that he felt characterized the institutional church.
2.He was particularly notable for his emphasis on believers being guided by individual revelation rather than Scripture.
D.The Quakers
1.George Fox (1624-1691) similarly emphasized the “inner light” that is present in all humans, which is our human capacity to recognize the presence of God and understand Scripture.
2.Called “Quakers” by their critics for the shaking that often accompanied their spiritual experiences, Fox and his followers were widely persecuted.
3.Key tenets:
a)Convinced that all believers have this “inner light” Quakers reject any structure in worship, the congregation sits silently until someone is led by the Spirit to speak or pray aloud.
b)The traditional sacraments are rejected as physical elements that would draw attention away from spiritual realities.
c)To protect against the danger of excessive individualism, Quakers emphasize the importance of community and love.
d)Physical violence in most forms (all forms for some) should be rejected.
IV.The Pietists
A.Philipp Jakob Spener (1635-1705)
1.Spener, a German pastor, began preaching against spiritual laxity and “dead orthodoxy,” arguing that there was more to Christianity than knowing the answers to a catechism or debating minor points of doctrine.
2.He also formed collegia pietatis (“pious assembly”), a small group devotional meeting which would form the backbone for the resulting reform movement known as Pietism.
3.Pia Desideria (1675), his main work, laid out the basic principles in the development of Christian piety.
a)Home discipleship groups for Bible study
b)Expanded lay “shepherding” ministry
c)A new emphasis on experiencing and practicing biblical truth
d)Reducing the amount of time spent debating minor theological points while seeking an evangelical ecumenism
e)Training clergy in piety so that pastors themselves modeled the life of devotion
f)Relevant, practical preaching aimed at their lay listeners
4.Along with August Hermann Francke (1663-1727), his most influential follower, Spender founded the University of Halle, which became the focal point of pietism and missions
B.The Moravian Brethren
1.The Moravians were spiritual descendants of John Hus who had experienced significant persecution.
2.In 1722, a group Moravian refugees settled on the estate of Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf (which became known as Herrnhut, “the Lord’s Watch”).
3.Influenced by pietist thinking and motivated by a revival that swept the community in 1741, the Brethren became a catalyst for spiritual renewal and foreign missions.
C.Later developments
1.Pietism later degenerated (in places, at least) to an anti-intellectualism that emphasized religious sentiments and personal subjectivism at the expense of the careful study of biblical truth.
2.Some argue that this underemphasized role of the intellect contributed to the appeal of Rationalism.
3.Pietism was also perverted at times as an excuse for focusing upon one’s own sense of communion with God at the expense of performing good deeds that benefit others.
4.A legitimate rediscovery of lay ministry also contributed to a growing anti-clericalism.
5.Spener would have resisted all these tendencies, but they illustrate the pattern of one’s followers sometimes losing the biblical balance of their leader.
D.Though pietism is rightly regarded as a Lutheran phenomenon, its early emphasis on missions and its influence on the Wesleyan movement and American revivalism led to its enduring influence on many strands of contemporary Protestantism.
V.Revivalism and the Wesleyan Movement
A.The Wesley Brothers
1.John and Charles Wesley were two of nineteen children born to Samuel and Susannah Wesley. Samuel pursued the labors of an Anglican clergyman in Epworth, England, while Susannah, ever the model Christian, formed both the spiritual and academic inclinations of her children.
2.Although quite different in temperament, John and Charles pursued similar academic and religious interests. Both entered ChristChurch, one of Oxford’s largest colleges; John began in 1720 and Charles in 1726. After receiving his education, John was elected Fellow at LincolnCollege, Oxford, and ordained two years later.
3.Charles and a number of friends formed a “Holy Club,” a group later joined by John which was committed to living disciplined Christian lives focused on Bible study, prayer, fasting, and charitable works. They were labeled “methodists” by the other students.
4.The brothers spent a few frustrating years as pastors in Georgia before returning to England.
5.Both John and Charles were influenced by Moravian friends who bore witness to salvation by grace through faith in Christ and each had significant conversion experiences.
B.The Wesleyan Revival
1.Strongly influenced by the example of George Whitefield and largely excluded from Anglican churches through procedural rules, John Wesley began preaching to the common people in open air meetings.
2.Though his ministry was resisted by the church establishment, it is estimated that he rode over 250,000 miles on horseback and preached over 40,000 sermons (averaging two a day from his conversion to his death), often in the face of heckling and malicious interruptions.
3.Brother Charles also preached widely, eventually settling in London. He became the most prolific and skilled hymnwriter in English history (some estimates run as high as 10,000 hymns composed), including many that are still sung widely today such as “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling.”
4.Key Emphases:
a)preaching;
b)the organization of small groups for prayer and Bible study;
c)the importance of book and tract distribution;
d)a concern for the poor, oppressed, and disenfranchised;
e)a commitment to an Arminian approach to theology;
f)and a concern for personal holiness based on the Wesleyan concept of “entire sanctification.”
5.Organization
a)He emphasized the importance of using lay preachers and small “societies” to spread the movement and minister to the 120,000 followers the movement had gathered by the time of his death.
b)He was a master organizer of converts into groups of various sizes and levels that facilitated pastoral care and mutual edification.
c)He was especially concerned that any converts receive appropriate follow-up.
C.Significance
1.Impact on Society
a)The Wesleyan revival took place at a time in which economic and social needs were becoming overwhelming problems in society; the Wesleys made social activism an inherent part of their revival program.
b)Many historians attribute to the Methodists credit for preventing the same kind of bloody revolution in England that was experienced in France at the end of the 18th century.
2.Impact on the Church
a)The Methodist Denominations
(1)The Wesleys did not intend to start a new denomination, but rather desired a renewal society within the Church of England; after their deaths, however, a separation from that church was almost inevitable and did in fact occur.
(2)Methodism in America soon parted company with their brethren in England as they tended to be less concerned about maintaining unity with the Anglican Church, particularly after the Revolution.
(3)Many Methodist denominations today (worldwide, the Methodist communion numbers some 50 million people) still embrace those notable elements of the Wesleys’ ministry:
b)The theology of John and Charles Wesley also has an ongoing influence outside of strictly Methodist denominations. The Wesleys’ emphasis upon the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer and the church has affected the holiness movement and even the recent charismatic movement.